Leah Rose
Self portrait by Leah Rose
Leah Rose
Artist, photographer, visionary, and Goddess, Her talent and unique eye have brought a layer of dreaminess and effortless ease to the pages of Indigenous Goddess Gang. We are excited to profile Leah Rose in Thru Indigenous Lens and to share more about her journey through her career as an artist.
Leah Rose (b. 1989 in Pennsylvania) is an enrolled member of the Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Tribe, in what is now known as Baraga, Michigan. She received her Bachelor's Degree of Fine Art Photography from the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design in 2013. There she concentrated on dark room photography, alternative processes, and in-camera visual techniques, such as double exposures.
Photos courtesy of Leah Rose
In 2015 Leah moved back to her tribal homelands, and spent time reconnecting with her family and community. This was a major shift as she began a new journey and purpose to her life's work. Reconnecting with her Anishinaabe heritage has helped her mend and heal the many generations of trauma that existed in her family.
To keep her tradition alive, she passes down stories that are followed with her photographs.
Photos courtesy of Leah Rose
After years of roaming parts of Indian country and photographing her journeys, she relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2017. Leah still resides in Santa Fe with her small family of three.
Since moving to the Southwest she has participated and showcased her work at Native American art markets such as SWAIA (Santa Fe, NM) and the Heard Museum (Phoenix, AZ). In 2018, Leah studied under award winning photographer, Cara Romero, for a year long apprenticeship. After that, she received an artist-in-residency in Oregon through the Native Arts and Culture Foundation. She has worked with the Indigenous Environmental Network to raise awareness on climate change and its impact on Indigenous communities. Leah creates captivating and beautiful imagery, but uses her photographs as a tool to educate and uplift others when she can.
“Leah draws inspiration from Indigenous people, the Land, and storytelling. Her work is a mixture of fashion editorial, documentary, portraits, landscapes, and double exposure photographs. ”
