Martha

A birthday, a new grandson, watching a vet perform a necropsy, some street photography during a trip to the city and spending time with the one I love the most- not a typical week in my life, but this is how it unfolded; events that were seemingly made for this brief. My art is literal- I photograph life in a fairly documentary way. I want to bring the viewer into my reality and share life as I experience it. Participating in TSR has opened my eyes to so much more, though. I now see so much more story to the images I want to make and share and to add creative layers and dimension. I want to make sure I am in photos. I want to share what rural life and this community has to offer. I want to challenge old ways of thinking and be part of change. I want to step out of my introverted box and talk to more strangers and ask them about their lives and share all of this with people who care.

The growth I have experienced as an artist throughout this challenge is immeasurable. To learn from some of the very best artists this country has to offer, making new friends who I hope will feel free to crash here while they tour the East Coast, deepening my post production skills, putting away some fears I had, pushing the limits of my creativity (and then some!).

Being given five words to develop a story around is not an easy task while maintaining an over arching theme. My theme is me! All of my images have a central tie and that is I experienced all of these ‘verbs’ this week:

~I am provoked there are not more photos of me

~How can you look at a newborn baby and not be amazed

~Some professionals are so willing to offer education if you just ask

~TSR inspired me to step out of my comfort zone and try street photography

~Maintaining connection to the one I love the most is everything

Teyah Maloney lives minutes away from the site of the residential school her great-grandmother was forced to attend as a child at age four until her sixteenth year when she ‘aged out’ of the system. Miraculously, her great-grandmother retained her language and spoke fluent Mi’kmaq her whole life.The Shubenacadie Residential School as it was called sat imposingly on a hill overlooking the river in Sipekni’katik, Mi’kma’ki; a hellish home to First Nations children from Atlantic Canada. Run by the Archdiocese of Halifax, it was typical of the other residential schools across Canada, inflicting lifelong multigenerational trauma on young souls who attended in the name of assimilation and ‘taking the Indian out of the child’.

Teyah was asked how she felt about the history of the residential schools “They were horrible and they tortured the Mi’kmaq people. Many lost their language, their culture, their long hair. They lost everything.” Miraculously, her great-grandmother retained her language and spoke fluent Mi’kmaq her whole life. Teyah wishes she had learned to speak Mi’kmaq- no doubt she will.

Teyah and her brother, Tate, are grounded in the traditions of their ancestors through the activism of her father, Brandon, and support of their mother, Nikki. Brandon is the grandson of Chief Reg Maloney and is currently a councillor at Sipekne’katik First Nation. He has been instrumental in the reclamation of a moderate living fishery for the Mi’kmaq people as guaranteed in the Treaty of 1752. Ever aware of the past, Brandon and his family flourish in spite of the atrocities inflicted on their ancestors by settlers. “We are very aware of ‘the ripple effect. Overcoming the effects of the residential school is what formed us into the huge rights activists and resilient warriors we are.”

Wela’lin, Teyah, for sitting for this portrait.

SOURCES:

https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/culture/clmhc-hsmbc/res/information-backgrounder/pensionnat-shubenacadie-residential-school

https://indigenous-law-association-at-mcgill.com/reflections-on-land-back/

http://www.danielnpaul.com/BritishMi%27kmaqTreatyOf1752.html

https://sipeknekatik.ca/moderate-living-fishery-fleet/

<Fibre ’N Fert Journal>

PRESS RELEASE

Your Name: Martha Brown

Contact Info: Sam Haley, Fert n’ Fibre Farm (sam@mapleriverfarm.ca), 902-957-0534

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 13, 2022

THE RENAISSANCE OF FIBRE

Sam Haley fluffs floof for your slow fashion fibre. On her small farm in Central Nova Scotia, Sam raises and cares for her herd of seven Suri llamas, who produce 7000 grams of high quality fibre each year. In addition to the hundreds hours spent attending to every need of her herd, the labour intensive aspect of turning raw fibre into an artisan ready product is meditative, says Sam. “This is very much a passion project - it was never supposed to be about fibre”. The production of llama fibre is secondary to the fertilizer these llamas produce. Sam, who holds a degree in animal science from Dalhousie University Agricultural Campus, collects llama ‘beans’ and turns them into a highly desirable fertilizer for gardens of all scales and spends weekends at farmer’s markets throughout the province selling the product.

Sam has the largest herd of Suri llamas in eastern Canada and this self taught spinner is keeping important traditions alive and embracing the resurgence of interest in the fibre arts.

#ENDS

Word Count = <150>

ABOUT <Maple River Farm>

Sam Haley

Phone: 902-957-0534

PHOTOS ATTACHED

‘When are you having kids?’

‘Are you planning to start a family soon?’

These are the inevitable judgemental questions that young, professional, childfree couples are regularly asked. It’s a very personal decision to have children, and one that is taken less lightly than in the past. Society hasn’t shed its inability to separate motherhood from being a woman, or male masculinity separated from procreation and legacy. Because the definition of the nuclear family still blankets much of our culture, couples who are undecided or fully decided to be childfree are met with confusion or pity.

Identity, achievements and joy should never be tied to another person; certainly not a child who had no say in their being. Couples should be able to just be couples and compliment their relationship in ways that joyfully fills their souls.

Zero Budget: The subjects are my daughter and son-in-law, they provided their own wardrobe and was shot in their home. It did cost me hugs and Himmy cuddles.

The world is so very noisy now, even in places where we hope to find silence. We are bombarded with constant aural, visual, spiritual, ethical, and moral ‘noise’. I set out to make an image that was quiet, to reflect what many people living in this modern world yearn for - a hushed place where we came from. Approaching minimalism through art is challenging for me as it collides with a lifetime of auditory and visual interference.

Jamais vu is described as a feeling what you are seeing is unique and strange while knowing you have experienced it before. Water provides this jamais vu experience for me - immersion in movement and calming sound. Minimalist photography provides immersion in a single subject and cloaks the senses at the simplest level; a unique image, yet a familiarity of seeing the individual elements combined into a new form.

"High Note"

My spectrum colour is yellow; a colour that generally represents happiness, confidence, energy and creativity. I wanted to convey a story in this image of a little guitar pedal who finally summoned the courage to get up on stage and play her heart out at the local variety concert in her town. She worked really hard to learn the skills and trust the process to get to this point, it is inspiring her to keep creating, working and performing.