Kali Spitzer Opening Reception

Kali Spitzer is an Indigenous, femme, queer, photographer living on the traditional unceded lands of the Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish and Musqueam peoples. Kali’s work embraces the stories of contemporary BIPOC, queer and trans bodies, creating representation that is self determined. Her collaborative process is informed by the desire to rewrite the visual histories of indigenous bodies beyond a colonial lens.

Kali is Kaska Dena from Daylu (Lower Post, British Columbia) from her father who is a survivor of residential schools and Canadian genocide. Kali’s Mother is Jewish from Transylvania, Romania. Kali’s heritage deeply influences her work as she focuses on cultural revitalization through her art, whether in the medium of photography, ceramics, tanning hides or hunting. She has documented traditional practices with a sense of urgency, highlighting their vital cultural significance.

Kali studied photography at the Institute of American Indian Arts, the Santa Fe Community College, and under the mentorship of Will Wilson. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at galleries and museums internationally including, the National Geographic’s Women: a Century of Change at the National Geographic Museum (2020), and Larger than Memory: Contemporary Art From Indigenous North America at the Heard Museum (2020). In 2017 Kali received a Reveal Indigenous Art Award from Hnatyshyn Foundation.