"Indigenous Femme Queer Photographer Kali Spitzer ignites the spirit of our current unbound human experience with all the complex histories we exist in, passed down through the trauma inflicted/received by our ancestors. Kali's photographs are intimate and unapologetic and make room for growth and forgiveness while creating a space where we may share the vulnerable and broken parts of our stories which are often overlooked, or not easy to digest for ourselves or society."
— Ginger Dunnill, Creator and Producer of Broken Boxes Podcast
About.
Kali Spitzer is an Indigenous, Femme, Queer artist living on the Traditional Unceded Lands of Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh in Vancouver, BC. The work of Kali embraces the stories of contemporary BIPOC, Queer and Trans bodies, creating representation that is self determined. Kali’s 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), BC, on her father’s side and Jewish from Transylvania, Romania, on her mother’s. She is motivated by her heritage to uplift and preserve Indigenous culture and knowledge ways through artwork and documentation of her community, and traditional practices through photography.
Throughout Kali’s career, she has documented traditional practices with a sense of urgency, highlighting their vital cultural significance. She studied photography at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and the Santa Fe Community College. Under the mentorship of Will Wilson, Kali explored alternative processes of photography. She has worked with film in 35 mm, 120 and large format, as well as wet-plate collodion process using an 8x10 camera. Her work includes portraits, figure studies and photographs of her people and culture.
Kali’s work has been featured in exhibitions at galleries and museums internationally including: Smoke in Our Hair: Native Memory and Unsettled Time at the Hudson River Museum (2025); Returning Home: A Contemporary Native Photography Exhibition at The Bard College (2024); In Our Hands: Native Photography, 1890 to Now at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (2023); and Speaking With Light: Contemporary Indigenous Photography at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art (2023). In 2022, Kali received the Aftermath Grant to pursue her ongoing works An Exploration of Resilience and Resistance.
Kali would like to extend her gratitude to all who have collaborated with her, she recognizes the trust and vulnerability required to be photographed in such intimate ways.
Sṓgā sinlā