ACADEMIC

Kyler Zeleny (b. 1988) is a Canadian photographer, educator, and author of Out West (2014), Found Polaroids (2017), Crown Ditch & The Prairie Castle (2020), and Bury Me in the Back Forty (2024). He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Alberta, a master’s in Photography and Urban Cultures from Goldsmiths, University of London, and a PhD from the joint Communication & Culture program at Toronto Metropolitan University and York University. His work has been exhibited internationally in twelve countries and featured in numerous publications, including The Globe and Mail, The Guardian, The Washington Post, VICE, Maclean’s, and The Independent. He now lives a prairie-based life.

ARTIST

Kyler grew up on a farm in Central Alberta. The farm isolated him, it taught him lessons about the great prairie landscape and the importance of a vibrant imagination. As a result, he is left with a propensity towards open spaces, a residue of his upbringing, and mega cities, a response to his need to connect with people.

His work is influenced by a fascination for elements of the past and pondering the future. As a result, he rarely lives in the present. He believes one of the highest virtues is not intellect itself but the pursuit of knowledge, whether that is learning how to weld or reading Bourdieu.

Over the last five years, his pursuit of knowledge has taken him onto the back roads of rural Western Canada and the occasional dip into Montana. Sleeping in his car, showering in lakes and community pools, he occupies his time trying to understand present-day ideas of rurality and how it has been visually represented. This pursuit of understanding the rural consumes him, but that’s ok because he thinks it’s important work.