In the age of COVID-19 so much work can—and should—be done remotely, but whenever possible I try to get out in the community and document important moments with my camera. Visual storytelling holds a unique power and I’m going to use it to convey the lived experiences of people impacted by colonialism, climate change, and environmental racism.
Images from Ottawa’s first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Sept. 30, 2021 Read the full story here
On Sept. 30, more than 1,000 people congregated on Parliament Hill for Orange Shirt Day and the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
A survivor watches the opening ceremonies through the media fray, clutching their eagle feather and orange lilies which were given to all survivors at Parliament Hill on Sept. 30. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
Sit Alone Bear (James Eagle) and Cecilia, his wife of 66 years, lead the Spirit Walk to Confederation Park from Parliament Hill. Survivors and their children walk at the front of the procession. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
Born in 1934 in Tootinaowaziibeeng First Nation, Sit Alone Bear (James Eagle) is a survivor of the Pine Creek Indian Residential School and a Korean War veteran. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
A child adds their handprint to an interactive art installation at Confederation Park on the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The red handprints represent missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and the orange represent victims of residential schools. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
Jonel Beauvais, a Wolf Clan woman from Akwesasne, addresses a sea of orange at Parliament Hill during the opening ceremonies for the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. “We just want the truth to be told, because we all know that things that happen in the dark all come to light," she tells the crowd. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
A survivor has a quiet moment, sitting on the stage at Parliament Hill on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
An person holds up a red shirt and an eagle feather amongst the crowd during the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Ceremonies at Parliament Hill, symbolizing all the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
A survivor holding orange lilies walks arm-in-arm away from Parliament Hill towards Confederation Park. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
Reconnection and resistance, one moose hide at a time
Nov. 27, 2021 Read the full story here
At 10am on Nov. 27, people slowly arrive and take shelter from the freezing temperatures in a teepee at Mādahòkì Farm in Ottawa, ON, to take part in the second day of a three day hide workshop. The event was organized by the Assembly of Seven Generations, a non-profit, grassroots Indigenous youth group, and an organization called Aunties on the Road which offers reproductive services to Indigenous youth in Eastern Ontario’s Champlain region. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
A deer hide sits on the elevated end of a log after soaking overnight to loosen the hair. The day before, participants scraped the fleshy side clean. Fleshing and scraping is hard work but with plenty of fresh arms, folks are eager to get started. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
Waba Mako Ikwe (Shannon Chief) moves the deer hide to make room for the much larger, heavier moose hide. She is leading today’s workshop and has a lifetime of experience working with hides. “For babies that were teething, they're given a piece of hide and we'd chew on it ... that's the first introduction we had,” she says, adding that many Indigenous people are not so lucky to grow up and learn their culture from their community as a child. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
The moose hide is removed from the Rubbermaid where it was soaking and draped across the log. It is far larger than the deer hide and removing the outer layer of fur is very hard because they are such strong animals, says Waba Mako Ikwe. Participants don black garbage bags to keep the scent of the moose hide and fur from seeping into their clothes. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
55-year-old Lili Miller uses a bone tool to separate flesh and membrane from the moose hide. Miller is from Neqotkuk (Tobique) First Nation and says this is the first time she’s participated in this important cultural practice Indigenous people have been doing since time immemorial. “A lot of people, like me, are disconnected from those teachings … Workshops like this help people like me, to reconnect and reclaim what was, to be honest, stolen.” Photo by Natasha Bulowski
Gabrielle Fayant, co-founder of the Assembly of Seven Generations, is from the Fishing Lake Métis Settlement in Alberta and says working with hides makes her feel like a kid again. “It's almost like blood memory, when you start working on them again, even though you weren't taught it directly from your aunties or your uncles … it's almost like the muscles that you'd be using for those things have always been there,” she says. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
With each person to take a seat and work on the deer hide more and more hair falls to the floor and careful strokes deftly remove the thin membrane that lies underneath the layer of hair. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
Chanelle Barnaby holds the deer hide taut while her husband Aronhientha Benedict scrapes away. Working with hides is a collaborative job that requires many hands; folks are constantly helping each other adjust the position of the hides and switching out when arms inevitably become tired. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
Josh Lewis lets out a laugh as he works on fleshing the moose hide. Scraping the flesh off the hide is gruelling and people rotate roles to give each other a break. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
Waba Mako Ikwe (Shannon Chief) of the Algonquin Nation leads the workshop leads the day’s activities and guides participants on how to scrape and flesh the moose and deer hide. She is also an organizer of Anishnabe Odinewin Camps, land-based language and culture camps for Anishnabe people to come together and restore the Anishnabe language, culture, teachings and ceremony. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
29-year-old Meagan Anishinabie continues scraping the nearly clean deer hide while other participants head outside for a lunch of chili and fry bread. Anishinabie is Oji-Cree from the Sandy Lake First Nation and recently moved back from Saskatchewan where she attended several different hide camps. Photo by Natasha Bulowski
At the end of the day the deer hide is fully scraped and is ready to be soaked again; the moose hide has been fleshed but will need to soak overnight so the hair can be removed on the third and final day of the workshop. Photo by Natasha Bulowski