Shane Balkowitsch documents living history: an ambrotype session with Leonard Peltier

By Sabrina Hornung

sabrina@hpr1.com

Photo by Chad Nodland, "Artistic Freedom"

On January 19, 2025, the last full day of Joe Biden’s presidency, he commuted Leonard Peltier's two consecutive life sentences to home confinement at his residence in Belcourt, North Dakota. On February 18, 2025, Peltier was released after 49 years in prison.

Peltier is a Native American activist and a leader in the American Indian Movement (AIM). He was convicted of murdering two FBI agents in a shooting on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota on June 26, 1975. Peltier has always maintained his innocence.

When the news came that Peltier would serve the rest of his sentence at home, Bismarck wet plate photographer Shane Balkowitsch’s phone went wild.

“I was just inundated with messages, text messages, emails, Instagram, Facebook. I mean, things just blew up,” said Balkowitsch. “Everyone was saying, ‘When are you going to photograph Leonard Peltier now that he’s out?’ My answer was, ‘I don't have a way to get a hold of Leonard Peltier. I'm sure that he's very busy — he just spent 49 years in jail, you know? I don't see this happening.’”

So far, Balkowitsch has taken 5,335 plates of 862 Indigenous men and women from all over the country and has released three books of portraits. In June 2019, then New Mexico State Representative Deb Haaland (and now former United States secretary of the interior), flew to Bismarck to speak at Balkowitsch’s first book signing at the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck and to sit for a portrait. Since then, the two have remained close.

Haaland was one of those insisting that the portrait had to happen. Thanks to her persistence and connections, after a month, Balkowitsch was on his way to Belcourt. But he kept it quiet.

“First of all, I'm very superstitious, I mean, what if I say something, and then it doesn't happen, right? Or something happens to him, or something happens to me… you just never know,” said Balkowitsch. “I couldn't tip my hat until I actually had plates drying on the rack. The photo of me standing out in front of the reservation sign — once I shared that, everyone knew what I was up to. I've never been up to Turtle Mountain before, though I’ve photographed probably 100 people from there over the years.”

Balkowitsch is a wet plate photographer. He uses collodion to create a film base on a piece of glass or metal. It is then submerged in a silver nitrate solution, making it light sensitive. The photo is exposed, usually in a wood bellows camera box. It’s called wet plate photography because the chemicals on the plates must remain wet during the entire process and cannot be allowed to dry.

The images that are created are called ambrotypes and are the photo positives captured in silver on glass. The photography process used by Balkowitsch dates back to 1848. But it soon went by the wayside in the 1880s, when it was replaced by gelatin dry prints, which made photo technology more convenient.

“I cannot think — since 1881, when Orlando Scott Goff took a photograph of Sitting Bull here in Bismarck —that there's been a more significant Native American portrait,” he said. “Not because it's my portrait, but I can't think of a more controversial Native American since 1881 with Sitting Bull, coming back from Canada. That's where they got Leonard from, too. I can't help but draw from the history of these similarities.”

Belcourt is approximately three hours north of Bismarck. To say Balkowitsch packed (and overpacked) is an understatement. In an online post, he mentioned that there would have been no room for even the family pet hedgehog. It’s not unusual for Balkowitsch to take a mobile studio on the road. But for a portrait opportunity of this caliber, he made sure to check all the boxes.

“My entire Bronco was full to the gills with gear and chemistry,” Balkowitsch explained. “I had to have double chemistry, I mean, if I dropped the bottle of silver nitrate, I needed to have another bottle of silver nitrate, right? I had double collodion, double developer, double fixer, double lenses. I had extra light fixtures. You just can't be given this opportunity and show up and then this process of 174 years ago punches you right in the nose and says, ‘Nope, you won't be making a portrait today!’ So that, so that's what I was up against. I even toted 20 gallons of water from my studio that I know works, because I could get up there and their city water may be hard, or something like that, and it messes up my chemistry.”

In addition to the lighting and backdrops, water and chemical elements, Balkowitsch brought a chair from his Bismarck studio. Boxer Evander Holyfield, Ernie LaPointe (the great-grandson of Sitting Bull), Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills, musician and composer Jon Batiste and the one and only Deb Haaland all sat in this same chair during their sessions.

The portrait was taken in a conference room at the Sky Dancer Casino & Resort. Balkowitsch was greeted by two security guards assigned by Turtle Mountain Tribal Chairman Jamie Azure (not that he anticipated any problems; he wanted to make sure this photo happened). The guards even helped him with some of the chemistry and made sure everyone was comfortable.

As far as the initial shoot, Balkowitsch requested two hours with Peltier. He spent close to three and a half hours with him, as he and Deb Haaland texted back and forth offering feedback and encouragement.

Balkowitsch treats each sitting as a collaboration and each sitter offers insight on every image. He said one of the things Peltier was most surprised about was how much the cost of everything was so high — he remembers buying a ‘68 Dodge Challenger for $7,000. He described Peltier as having a great sense of humor. He said that Peltier was genuine, kind and thoughtful, and at — 80 years old, even after having a stroke and his eyesight not being the best — he still had the fight in him.

Photographer and Balkowitsch’s close friend Chad Nodland came along to document the ambrotype session in Belcourt. So in addition to the glass ambrotypes created by Balkowitsch, Nodland captured images of what happened behind the scenes.

“I was so focused, but I thought I should finally try to get a portrait of us,” said Balkowitsch. “I was standing above Leonard, and he was in his chair. I quickly thought to myself, ‘I can't stand above Leonard Peltier. I can't be above him.’ So I got down on one knee, and I was below him. He said, ‘Shane, put up your fist.’ He goes, ‘We're brothers now.’”

Seven plates were created that day. One went to Peltier’s family. The others found homes at the Library of Congress, The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, the State Historical Society of North Dakota, South Dakota State Historical Society, the Heard Museum in Phoenix, and the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford in the U.K.

In addition to the plates Peltier signed, three items went directly to the North Dakota State Historical Society. They include an AIM flag, Peltier’s book, “Prison Writings,” and a duplicate copy of the signed clemency document from President Biden.