Tekoa Predika: Enduring Spirit

Curated by Arin Fay

“Tintypes are more than just a photograph, they are a dynamic recording of the moment it was made, with the fingerprints of the maker and environmental impact on the chemical alchemy. Mastering a craft is an important part of my artistic practice and wet plate collodion photography gives me the authenticity and learning curve I need to create.” – Tekoa Predika 

The people that populate Tekoa Pedika’s dark and suspended tintype photos are those that live on the edges of the status quo, far from the predictability of cookie cutter suburbs and Lawn and Garden layouts. These photos capture the outsider and creative quality of people who build shelter as both a means to an end, but also a reflection of a counterculture ethos; ardent and inventive architecture. The images show a symbiosis between people and place, past and present, a melding that the wet plate collodion photo process dramatically accentuates with its timeless aesthetic. There is no Grant Wood ‘American Gothic’ type demarcation between the people in the foreground and the house in the background, all ramrod straight, pitchfork clasping and white-washed, but a fluid and organic connection between all aspects of the built, embodied, and natural environment. Alternative building materials, intuitive design and salvaged and re-used materials are on display, along with the pride of place and creation that is evident in these moments immortalized by Tekoa’s immutable camera and sensitive eye.

The ‘enduring spirit’ so captured in these evocative photos could not be presented at a more appropriate and poignant time in the Kootenay region, as those who embody this spirit find it more and more difficult to carve out such beautiful places, within an environment that shifts and spikes. The privilege and precariousness of belonging to and feeling connected to a particular landscape is a time-immemorial saga that continues unabated here as elsewhere. The concept of home is not a simple matter, it is political, fundamental, a socially stratified symbol and reality, and also provides basic shelter from the storm. 

Tekoa Predika

Tekoa Predika is an artist and photographer living in Calgary AB. Tekoa has been working with analogue photography processes since his days as a student at ACAD in the late 1990’s. For the past 9 years Tekoa has honed his craft with the historical photography process called wet plate collodion and has created over 800 portraits on metal and glass plates, using large format cameras. Tekoa has made collodion tintypes on site at many different locations over the years, such as art galleries, museums, artist run centres, book stores, and wilderness locations. In 2018 Tekoa received CKCA Communities Grant that greatly helped with opening a new chapter on his ongoing project of documenting Homesteaders and individuals that live off grid. This Grant allowed his primary focus to be in the Kootenays and all the amazing characters that live there. For the last 5 year Tekoa has had the honour of mentoring National Indigenous Artist Alexa Black and has been an assistant on her on going Wet Plate Collodion interpretation of the tarot.

Rainika PhotoGraphik is the husband and wife team of Tekoa Predika and Michelle Rainey. Together they share a passion of all things analogue, photography being their craft. Combine this passion with their love of road trips and the darkroom trailer was born. Following in the tradition of travelling tintype photographers from the 1850’s they created a completely contained and moblie darkroom from a Triple E Surf Side trailer. The trailer plays an important role in the creative process for Rainika, it also allows them to take the ‘studio’ to markets, events and private functions. Rainika PhotoGraphik offers tintype parlours, workshops, pinhole parties, film and good old digital photography.