"Photographer Gains Recognition"

TORONTO - Street signs to the north indicate the beginning of Little Italy. A couple blocks south, it's Tortugal Village.

Nestled in between the two downtown Toronto communities is the home where Mohawk photographer Greg Staats lives and works.

The art world is starting to take notice of the 27-year-old Six Nations photographer, an intense man whose voice can be difficult to hear over the jazz music which played softly during a recent interview.

"I don't want to be termed 'the native photographer' but a photographer who happens to be native."

Native people are often his subjects, he says, because he photographs people he respects.

"We are all given a gift to share with others and it is up to us to discover and nurture that gift throughout our lives," he wrote in an artist's statement last year.

Mr. Staats' work is beginning to be shared by people across the country. His prints are in the collections of the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Victoria Museum.

Two of his photographs have also been included in a controversial exhibition titled Children in Photography: 150 Years, which will be at a Toronto's Koffler Art Gallery in May as part of a national tour.

Mr. Staats began using a camera to interpret the world around him when he was 16. After graduating from Hagersville High School be studied photography at Sheridan College in Oakville.

"I aspired to be a fashion photographer, but once I got into it I learned really quick that the respect and integrity was just not there, so I began to look for it in my own community."

The result has been a fascinating collection of subtly shaded black and white photographs which combine traditional and non-traditional images.

He uses plain wooden frames and "the simplest of equipment. If a so-called professional was to see my lights..."

Mr. Staats develops his film in the kitchen sink and prints it at a co-op gallery just down the street. His studio is in his house, a grey room on the top floor barely larger than a closet.

He says he tries to convey a sense of hope for the future of native people and native culture through his work.

Mr. Staats is selling his prints through the Jane Corkin Gallery in downtown Toronto. Gallery director Patti Cooke says his work through the Jane Corkin Gallery in downtown Toronto. Gallery director Patti Cooke says his work is well received by corporations and private collectors.

"It's fresh and it's different. It's really documenting a different kind of life that we're not aware of," she explained. "He wants people who don't know so much about native customs to learn a bit more so they can treat them with a bit of respect."