Ulli Steltzer
Ulli Steltzer’s Haida Gwaii Photography: 1974 to 2002
The Haida Gwaii Museum is honoured to host the first exhibition of Ulli Steltzer's collection of Haida Gwaii photographs and to celebrate a photographer whose curious lens documented the renewal of Haida culture in recent history. The 58 photographs selected are presented in five groupings- Carvers, Weavers, Portraits, Celebration and Food. These represent only a fraction of the 20,000 or more black and white photographs that Ulli produced during 30 years of visiting Haida Gwaii. Within the groupings of photos, however, the exhibition strives to show their interdependence as a vital aspect of Haida life and culture. For example, the work of artists such as mask-making or totem pole carving is integral to ceremonies. Chiefs and their fishing boats offer the means for gathering food from the sea. “Everything depends on everything else” is a strongly held Haida belief.
Ulli first visited Haida Gwaii in 1974 while working on a project to photograph BC’s First Nations artists, carvers, and weavers for her 1976 publication, Indian Artists at Work. A big part of her inspiration for this project was her concern with the way First Nations art was being presented and sold in the shops and galleries in Vancouver and Victoria at the time. Carvings and woven baskets were displayed anonymously with little or no reference to the people who made them. Determined to address this lack of identity, her investigations led her to meet Haida artists Bill Reid and Robert Davidson, both working in the Vancouver area at the time. Through them she was able to make connections with artists and weavers working in Old Massett and Skidegate as well as with others in First Nations communities throughout BC. Ultimately, Indian Artists at Work brought to public light the portraits and names of 93 First Nations artists, carvers, weavers and craftspeople. The book was instrumental in launching the careers of many of the artists featured as well as increasing the market value and demand for their work.
Ulli’s first trip to Haida Gwaii coincided with a surge of artistic growth occurring among a new generation of Haida artists who were actively seeking connections with their ancestors and with the old cultural practices and art forms. Haida political awareness and growing concerns with the impacts of logging were also on the rise during this time. The Council of the Haida Nation was formed in 1974, the same year that Ulli first visited the islands. Over the next three decades, her work as a photographer on Haida Gwaii became part and parcel of this cultural and political awakening. Adopted into the Yagu Jaanas Raven clan by Florence Davidson of Old Massett, she became a member of the extended Haida community and her role as photographer was recognized. Throughout the 1970’s and 80’s, she accepted invitations to return to Haida Gwaii and continued to document the work of artists and weavers. She participated in seafood gathering expeditions, excursions into the forest to gather cedar bark and spruce roots, feasts, monumental pole raisings, and hereditary chieftainship potlatches. Throughout this critical period of change, artistic renewal, and Haida political assertion, Ulli was there as an empathetic witness, capturing many of the highlights with her medium format Rolleiflex camera.
Ulli Steltzer is the first professional photographer to document Haida life over a sustained period of time (1974- 2002). Earlier photographers working at the turn of the last century, including George Dawson and Richard Maynard, focused their cameras on a way of life that they believed to be disappearing. On their short visits to Haida Gwaii, they photographed the monumental poles, houses and canoes before they gave way to decay. They produced few photographs of Haida people at the time. The portrait photographer, Edward Curtis, asked Haida people to pose with long-haired wigs, Hudson Bay blankets and cedar bark clothing; customs that had already been given up in the early 1900’s when he visited here. Nearly a century later, Ulli began documenting the living revival of Haida cultural expression. However affected by the ravages of disease, colonialism, and residential schools, her photographs reflect a vibrant and resilient people. Today, a fresh generation of emerging Haida artists and culture bearers look upon Ulli’s work with a new perspective. They acknowledge the contribution she has made to deepen their understanding of contemporary Haida life and society. They use her published work for insight into the experience of renewal and pride that took place a generation before them when Ulli began her work on Haida Gwaii.
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