Louise Siddons is professor of visual politics and Head of the Department of Art and Media Technology at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton. She is author of Centering Modernism: J. Jay McVicker and Postwar American Art.

"Louise Siddons writes with warmth, originality, and scholarly depth, employing the fascinating personal archives of Laura Gilpin to consider anew the intersection between lesbian and Navajo politics across the mid-twentieth century. By incorporating the voices and works of contemporary, queer Navajo artists, she encourages us to think about the implications of visual sovereignty in our own moment in powerful and engaging ways."--Cara Rodway, British Library

"Louise Siddons has written a vital book that explores the complex relationship of queer, Indigenous, and settler histories and representations through a focus on Laura Gilipin's photographic studies of the Navajo. By refusing to shy away from hard questions, Good Pictures Are a Strong Weapon grapples sharply with the meanings and practices of intersectionality, the artistic gaze, Indigenous-settler collaborations, and Indigenous sovereignty. This book produces a compelling personal and political portrait and analysis that demands our attention and allows us to see things in new ways."--Kevin Bruyneel, author of Settler Memory: The Disavowal of Indigeneity and the Politics of Race in the United States

"Weaving together new archival findings, skillful visual analyses, and cultural theory from queer and Indigenous studies, Siddons recuperates Gilpin's lesbian identity--something previous scholars blotted out--and argues for its significance to her understanding of Navajo politics and photographic practice."--The Brooklyn Rail

"[Good Pictures Are a Strong Weapon] will appeal to students and scholars interested in cultural appropriation and authority in photography, as well as the relationship between LGBTQ+ and Native American identities." --CHOICE

"Weaving together new archival findings, skillful visual analyses, and cultural theory from queer and Indigenous studies, Siddons recuperates Gilpin's lesbian identity--something previous scholars blotted out--and argues for its significance to her understanding of Navajo politics and photographic practice."--The Brooklyn Rail