a collective blog by indigenous women photographers
To this day, I feel like I can express myself better through visual language rather than spoken word. And I want to show everyone what I experience when I am with Indigenous folks; pride, strength, belly laughter, cleverness, beauty, irreverent humour, resiliency, creativity, just to name a few. There is so much to offer.
I’ll keep puttering along though, learning bit by bit. Becoming more and more of myself as I continue to regain what is rightfully mine, the language of my ancestors, the language of love pumping through my veins. One day, maybe I'll be fluent like they were.
It was a month of beautiful femme moments, moments that made me thankful for the women in my life.
In decolonizing the family, I understand now that there is no shame in raising my children together with the larger community.
I need to have the space in my talk to reflect upon problems I see in our cultures and how we can approach them, and I think that non-Indigenous people need to see us critically reflect and progressively move forward with our traditions, cultural practices, languages and kinships.
Each morning, my daughter wakes up… she doesn’t cry, she just lays there and I can feel her. I feel her breathing change. I feel as she starts to reach around for me in the dark and silence.
I want people to know that East Coast Indigenous artists are waking up – our visual and cultural identities are becoming stronger than ever.
I asked our artists to send their fave photos and to reflect upon personal growth and art in their lives, and as always, they shared truth and wisdom and goals.
We prayed, sang, drummed and rattled. We feasted, laughed, shared stories, and sat with Mother Earth. We leaned on each other’s shoulders to find comfort from any stress or sorrows we carried. We gathered with love and compassion.
The story of Sedna for me is a woven reminder of compassion and resilience towards ourselves and others, especially after a series of traumatic events. When we feel as if we are being cut off from our roots, our family, our sense of community, its important to acknowledge our power within.
