Ivette Spradlin is an award winning, Cuban-American artist whose work centers around the emotional aspects of transition, adaptation and communal ties. She holds a MFA from Tyler School of Art and a BFA from the University of Georgia. Since the 1990’s she has photographed and recorded the stories of members of different subcultures and their environs, such as punks and skateboarders, Cuban exiles in the United States, female-identifying artists, elderly jazz musicians in Pittsburgh, those who have experienced a Bigfoot sighting and her friends and neighbors during the 2020 lockdown.
Spradlin has shown her work nationally and internationally, and has taught photography and art at colleges and universities in and around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, including Carnegie Mellon University for eleven years.
In 2015, Spradlin and Lenore Thomas formed a collaborative team called BUFF. BUFF has created four bodies of work, shown in several exhibitions, publications and screenings, and continues to produce new work despite living in separate states.
After twelve years in Pittsburgh, Spradlin relocated back to the Atlanta area where she is working on an oral history project, reconnecting with her former punk community, taking long night walks, and enjoying being an aunt. She is currently teaching part time at Kennesaw State University.
