Matika Wilbur, a member of the Tulalip people, was raised in the Swinomish Tribal community and currently resides in La Conner, Washington. As a long-form photo documentarian, writer, filmmaker, and podcaster, she integrates fine art and social justice. She is also a public speaker who has made appearances at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and given a TEDx Talk titled "Changing the Way We See Native Americans."

Wilbur is best known as the founder and photographer of Project 562, a documentary project dedicated to changing the perception of Native America. After earning her BFA from the Brooks Institute of Photography, she launched her career as a fashion and commercial photographer in Los Angeles. Quickly, however, she shifted gears, employing photography as a tool for social justice. In her pursuit of this mission, she has traveled an impressive 250,000 miles to photograph Indigenous people.

Project 562 is Wilbur's fourth major endeavor, elevating Native American identity and culture. Her first project, "We Are One People," captured portraits of Coast Salish elders. Her show “We Emerge” followed this, which featured Native people in contemporary urban and traditional settings. Wilbur's third show, “Save the Indian and Kill the Man,” addressed the forced cultural assimilation of Native Peoples. She has had selected exhibitions at a variety of museums and art galleries, including the WhatCom Museum, the El Segundo Museum of Art, and the Anne Kittrell Art Gallery.

Since 2015, Wilbur has offered more than three hundred keynote speeches at various institutions such as Harvard, Stanford, Google, the National Education Association, and TED. She is a National Geographic Explorer and the distinguished Leica Photo Award recipient. She also co-hosts the popular Native issues podcast "All My Relations" alongside Adrienne Keene, inviting guests to explore connections between land, creatural relatives, and one another. Moreover, she has been featured in a CNN article titled "What Native Americans really look like" and made appearances on C-SPAN. Her book, "Seeds of Culture: The Portraits and Stories of Native American Women" adds to her extensive work, while Wilbur's Project 562 book is slated for publication in the Spring of 2023.

Photographers, Photography, Fine Art Photographer, Literary, Native American Heritage, Diversity & Inclusion, Art, Indigenous Heritage