Flies Above, identified on the mount as Chief of the Cut-off Sioux and a performer with Buffalo Bill's Wild West, stands at full length before a painted woodland studio backdrop in this albumen cabinet card produced by Anderson, photographer, at 785 Broadway, New York. The image dates to the period of Buffalo Bill's Wild West appearances in New York, most likely the late 1880s, when the show brought Lakota performers to eastern studios for portrait sittings. Anderson's Broadway address places this firmly within that documented series.

Flies Above wears a full eagle feather warbonnet with bison horn attachments at the crown, a striped breastplate, a dark vest over a white shirt, and geometric-patterned leggings in a diamond motif. He holds a pistol in his right hand and a long-handled tomahawk or pipe axe in his left, and beaded moccasins are visible at his feet.

Buffalo Bill's Wild West began touring in 1883 and regularly brought Lakota Sioux performers to New York studios for souvenir portraits during its Madison Square Garden engagements of 1886 and 1887, generating a recognized body of albumen cabinet cards by Anderson and his contemporaries.

The mount recto reads in print: "FLIES ABOVE." and in italic script: "Chief of the Cut-off Sioux. — Buffalo Bill's Wild West." The reverse bears the imprint: "Anderson, Photographer, 785 Broadway, cor. of 10th, New York."