Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist practicing in amiskwaciwâskahikan on Treaty 6 Territory. She grew up West of the city near the hamlet of Calahoo where she lived with her relatives on a quarter section of land. Her family lines are Cree and Métis descending from Michel Band, as well as Dutch and mixed European.
In 1958, the entire Michel Band was enfranchised, meaning they no longer have a reserve or government recognition as a band. Kiona’s moshom still has a quarter section of land he received after enfranchisement of the band, and is the last member living on the original reserve.
Grounded in this land, Kiona collaborates with her family through shared recollections and visits to the land she grew up on. In her artistic projects, consultation and visiting are an important part of her practice.
Kiona works in painting, printmaking, drawing and installation, recollecting personal stories of grief and tenderness. Her practice uses a non-linear telling of her memories through narrative work as a form of diaristic archiving. It draws from feelings of loss and enfranchisement, but also from deep belly laughter, mundane gestures, and a gentle fondness for where the histories between herself and her family overlap and disperse.
Kiona has had solo exhibitions at The New Gallery, Calgary, AB; Harcourt House, Edmonton, AB; and Latitude 53, Edmonton, AB. Her work has been featured in group exhibitions at Ociciwan Contemporary Art Centre, Edmonton, AB; Khyber Art Centre, Halifax, NS; Neutral Ground, Regina, SK; and Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH. Her work is in the collections of the University of Alberta Hospital, Alberta Foundation for the Arts and MacEwan University.
Kiona was a recipient of the Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund Award (2024), the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal (2023) and the Lieutenant Governor Emerging Artist Award (2022). Her debut graphic novel with Conundrum Press, We Were Younger Once, was a nominee for the The Doug Wright Award for emerging talent, and she is working on her second graphic novel rosehips to be released by Emanata Press in 2027.
Working alongside other artists in initiatives of community care, Kiona co-organizes Making Space in partnership with Sanaa Humayun. She likes visiting her moshom on the farm, and gossiping with her mom, relatives, and friends on the prairies.