Braiding Wounds
Kali Spitzer, Kaska Dena / Jewish, born 1987
Bubzee
2022
Archival pigment print of scanned tintype photograph with digital illustration
3/5
Image: 8 5/16 × 11 5/16 in. (21.1 × 28.8 cm)
Sheet: 10 3/8 × 13 in. (26.4 × 33 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Mrs. Harvey P. Hood W'18 Fund
2022.26
Geography
Place Made: North America
Period
21st century
Object Name
Photograph
Research Area
Native American: Northwest Coast
Photograph
Not on view
Inscriptions
Signed, on reverse, lower right, in black ink: Kali Spitzer + bubzee; inscribed, on reverse, lower center, in black ink: "BRAIDING WOUNDS"; numbered, on reverse, lower left, in black ink: 3/5
Label
Indigenous artist Kali Spitzer explores the body as a site of colonial trauma and repair. The artist sits adjacent to mirrored reflections of her partner. Five sets of hands appear at work and at rest.
Blood is a typical motif of familial relations, but here hair is the source of intimate bonding. Braiding is at once an act of care, grooming, and emotional connection. The strands of light that radiate down the three faces suggest connection and memory sparked through touch. Hair holds history and its related traumas, and this braiding circle implies that healing is mutual and reciprocal rather than individual.
From the 2025 exhibition Visual Kinship, curated by Alisa Swindell, Associate Curator of Photography, Dr. Kimberly Juanita Brown, Dr. Thy Phu and Dr. Iyko Day
Course History
SART 30.01/SART 75.01, Photography II/III, Eva O'Leary, Fall 2022
WGSS 10.01, Sex, Gender, and Society, Francine A'Ness, Fall 2022
Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 2.01, Introduction to Queer Studies, Eng-Beng Lim, Winter 2023
Native American and Indigenous Studies 42.01, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality, Studies 40.01, Gender Topics in Native American Life, Jami Powell, Fall 2024
College Course 26.01, What’s in Your Toolbox?, Casey Aldrich and Mokhtar Bouba, Fall 2025
Women’s, Gender, Sexuality Studies 65.07, Queer Popular Culture, Eng-Beng Lim, Fall 2025
Exhibition History
Femme is Fierce: Femme Queer Gender Performance in Photography, Class of 1967 gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 1-December 17, 2022.
Visual Kinship, Lathrop, Jaffe and Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 30 - November 29, 2025.
Provenance
The artist, Kali Spitzer; sold to present collection, 2022.
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