Erika Haight: “Apsáalooke Beauty”

Photographs portray Crow people at Western Heritage Center in Billings

Art Beat
“Apsaalooke Beauty"
“Apsaalooke Beauty” by Erika HaightPhoto © Erika Haight

“Apsáalooke Beauty” is a striking collection of traditional black and white fine-art photography by Erika Haight that honors the people of the Crow Nation. A gifted storyteller, Haight combines a bold, clean perspective with negative space and framing to elicit strong emotional response.

The photographs reflect the Crow people’s by-gone traditions, and what remains in their absence. The images celebrate human resilience, family, and a rich cultural heritage.

The award-winning photographer was born and raised in Montana and currently resides in Roundup, where she has a photography studio. She’s devoted the past four years to documenting and spending time with her adopted Crow family. She credits “the kindness, love, and acceptance of the Real Bird family” with giving her a unique perspective of contemporary Crow life.

The images in “Apsáalooke Beauty” reflect that ease and closeness, capturing intimate moments of children at play, compelling portraits, and glimpses of reservation life.

Haight is a graduate of the New York Institute of Photography. Among a long list of accomplishments, her work has appeared in, and won awards from, Cowboys & Indians, Range and Black and White magazines, won a Nevada Press Association Award, and took third place in the Ex Arte Equinus International Competition (and been published in Ex Art Equinus 4).

“I believe that black and white images remove distraction, forcing the viewer to look past outward appearances and into the soul of the subject,” she writes. Learn more about the artist at erikahaightphotography.com.

– Kristi Niemeyer