Born and raised in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, photography has long been a “back burner” interest for Vera (she/her), but she didn't become serious about it until she moved north to Nunavut. Struggling to fit in, she turned to her photography to build a bridge between herself and the Inuit, a friendship of sorts - a visual record of an intangible exchange.
After returning south, Vera studied full time at the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa (SPAO), completing their portfolio development program. Through her work, she focuses her attention on issues of identity and the development of a "sense of place," the passage of time and the fragility of life. She currently lives in Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan.
Vera received the top prize in the Saskatchewan Prairie Light Photography Festival which resulted in her first solo exhibition at the Godfrey Dean Gallery, Yorkton. She has also received two Applied Arts Awards for creative excellence and her series “The Shacks” won a place in the international journal The Creative Quarterly. She was a finalist for the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards (International), a top 200 finalist for Photolucidia’s Critical Mass (International) and short listed for FotoFilmic 18 (International).
Her work has been displayed nationally, including in Photoville FENCE (Calgary) Art Toronto, and the Ottawa Art Gallery. She has also shown her work internationally, in Oregon, San Francisco, Spain, and South Korea. It has also appeared in numerous publications and online sites.
She is represented by Slate Fine Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan. For general inquiries, please email her at vera.saltzman@icloud.com.