By Jimmy Steinfeldt
Photos by Jimmy Steinfeldt
Palm Springs Art Museum, California (The Hollywood Times) 11/18/2023
I never met Kali but her photographs are unforgettable.
Photographer Kali (Joan Archibald) passed away in 2019 at age 87. Her daughter Susan discovered a trove of images Kali kept in suitcases in a closet. Susan decided to share them with the world. Kali has now been recognized as an innovator in a form of photography Kali herself called “Artography.”
Some of the unique methods Kali used in which she blended photography and painting include selecting pieces of negatives and combining them into a final composition to make black and white prints. Washing her prints in her swimming pool. Hand coloring the prints. Applying dyes to her prints while dancing around them. Drying the final prints on her sun deck.
Kali would dress her daughters for photo shoots including with wigs and flowers. She would shoot anyone who she felt would be a good subject including the Mailman.
Her work could be both upbeat and filled with light while other photographs could be deep and dark.
The exhibit includes her later photographs taken of her UFO sightings. Also included are displays of her cameras, notebooks, poems and other artifacts that were involved in creating her Artography.
I highly recommend this amazing exhibit which runs through April 8, 2024.