To capture the spirit and essence of her portrait sitters, Matika spends several hours or even days with a participant, often even residing in their homes. She honors traditional potlatch protocol, bringing gifts to honor traditional trade culture, and shares songs and prayers. Sitters choose their portrait locations, most frequently geographically remote reservations, but also urban settings. An oral history accompanies each portrait, capturing the subject’s unique experience, and fully bringing an individual to life. These relationships and approaches reveal an intimacy in her portraits unlike popular street photography or classic journalism, an approach Matika describes as “an indigenous photography method.”

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