Benjamin Levi West

Benjamin Levi West, "Short Nose", is an Emmy Award-winning photojournalist, published photographer and digital artist. He is also the creator of the LANDBACK MVMT & Chapter 1, and the core Director of the Arkeketa Project, a Non-Profit initiative founded in 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.¹

Biography

West grew up on the plains of Oklahoma. He spent most of his childhood with his father Jon West who was an enrolled Cheyenne Arapaho Tribal member and who raised him with strong Southern Cheyenne traditions. After High School, West moved to Corpus Christi with his mother Annette Arkeketa, who is a published writer, poet, and Otoe-Missouria Tribal Member and who educated him on the need to protect Native American tradition and culture, and to pass it on to the next generation. He developed a passion for the values of the Native American culture and its derivative religious beliefs.

Career

West's photography journey began in 2001 where he took an interest in photojournalism while living in south Texas. He began his career in television news at a Spanish-language TV station in Corpus Christi before moving into English-language stations in Tulsa, Atlanta, Minneapolis, New York City and Miami.

Over the course of his journey and growth as a photographer during the past 20 years, Benjamin West has accumulated over 10 awards for his outstanding skills, including numerous Emmys.

In 2020, in his personal life as an artist, he delved into the world of digital art and NFT's with the advent of META in 2020. He is the creator of the LANDBACK MVMT and Organization Chapter 1, a nonprofit organization that was founded in 2022. LandBack Inc.’s mission is to preserve indigenous religions and repatriation.

In 2020 West purchased a Presidential Medal after being notified by the Otoe Missouria Tribe that it belonged to James Arkeketa a direct relative of Benjamin Arkeketa, Benjamin West's grandfather.

He is also the founder of The Arkeketa Project (#TheArkeketaProject), which was created at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Benjamin Levi West has created several digital arts, NFT's and social media posts. The word "Arketeta", an Otoe-Missouri word that translates to “stand together.” Arkeketa is also his mother’s family name. West meant it was a gesture of hope during the pandemic serving as a reminder that the world had to stand together to combat the spread of the life-threatening infection globally.

Works

West has had some prominent works over the years, some of which brought him to the center stage of photography and saw him actively involved in relevant, revolutionary photography projects over the years.

In 2021, his work was part of the Hudson Valley MOCA’s online gallery Truth Telling: Voices of First People.

His work was also an approved entry into the Smithsonian magazine photo contest.

His most popular photo however is the "Standing Bear" as part of the Arkeketa Project, that was a reminder and an urge for people to stay together in unity as they fought against the life threatening Coronavirus Pandemic that threatened humanity's existence back in 2020. This photo was eventually accepted by the Newark Museum of Art’s ReVision and Respond gallery. Afterward, the piece was purchased by the museum and added to its permanent collection.

Awards

West is an accomplished photographer and photojournalist who has received numerous awards over the course of his 20-year professional career as a photojournalist.

• In 2005, West received an Emmy award for Videography.
• In 2006, he won the Emmy award for lighting location and the "Teen Program feature/segment/special". He also won the Minnesota National guard coverage in Iraq later that year.
• In 2006, he won the Emmy award for “Teen Segment”. He also received the 'National press photographers association awards for photography/editing", and the National Beacon award for the Fox Posts network for a program called "operation home base" and he ended up the runner-up for the national press photography editor award of the year in what was a spectacular year for his career.

References

[1.] Benjamin West (2022). "LANDBACK". [2.] Benjamin West (2020). "TheArkeketaProject". . Retrieved 14th of August, 2022.

[4.] Benjamin West (2022). "LANDBACK". [5.] Link to Otoe-Missouria. [8.] Link to the Emmy Awards official page [9.] Newark Museum of Art. [9i.] Essex News Daily. [10.] Tap into West Orange News. [11.]www.landback.io

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