Kali Spitzer facts for kids

Kali Spitzer, born in 1987, is a talented photographer from Canada. She is an Indigenous artist, belonging to the Kaska Dena people. Her family comes from the Yukon and Daylu (Lower Post), British Columbia. Her father is Kaska Dena, and her mother is Jewish from Transylvania, Romania.

Learning Photography

Kali Spitzer studied photography at the Western Academy of Photography. She also learned at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. There, she was mentored by a well-known photographer named Will Wilson.

Her Photography Work

Kali Spitzer uses different types of film for her photos, like 35mm and 120 film. She also uses a special old method called the wet plate collodion process. This process uses a large camera and creates unique images.

She often takes portraits of people. She also photographs important cultural practices and ceremonies in her community. When she was 20, she went back to the Yukon, where she grew up. There, she took pictures of traditional activities. These included hunting, fishing, trapping, and preparing animal hides. She also documented the art of beading.

Spitzer sometimes uses a type of photography called tintype. This is another old method that creates images on thin metal plates. She uses this style to connect her work with the history of how Indigenous people have been photographed.

In 2017, Kali Spitzer received a special award. It was called the Reveal Indigenous Art Award from the Hnatyshyn Foundation.

One of Spitzer's photographs, called Sister (taken in 2016), was used for a sculpture. This sculpture is part of a project called the MMIWQT Bead Project. The artist, Cannupa Hanska Luger, created this project to help people understand important information. Over 4,000 clay beads were made by people across North America. These beads helped create a portrait to "rehumanize data" about missing and murdered Indigenous people.

Art Exhibitions

Kali Spitzer's artwork has been shown in many places. In 2018, her work was part of the Contemporary Native Art Biennial.

She has also had exhibitions at several museums and art centers. These include the Sherbrooke Museum of Fine Arts in Quebec. Her work was also shown at the Portland Art Museum's Center for Contemporary Native Art. Other places include the Never Apart Centre in Montreal, Quebec, and the grunt gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia.