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In January 2019, a dear friend took his life. I spent the subsequent months dredging through the unique complex feelings of grief that occur when you lose someone through suicide. With a relationship that was complicated by addiction issues, I hadn’t spoken to him in a few months before he passed and found out when I landed back in Canada after a vacation abroad for a month. I began exploring ways to grieve. For someone who doesn’t follow a religion or have a personal set of rituals for death, I started creating my own. I spoke with my moms friend, a medium and a neighbour, three times to try to make sense of this loss. One of these conversations was recorded for this video. Months after his passing, I got a tattoo to remember him by. A shell, an affectionate nickname he had for me. I made this video. These are the ways I grieve, try to make sense, find meaning, let go and remember
 
4-years-old Ivy McCoy was diagnosed with down syndrome at two months old. At 2-years-old Ivy was then diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukaemia (ALL), an illness that affects children in the down syndrome population at higher rates than other children. Ivy spent most of the first year in the hospital, followed by doing maintenance chemotherapy at home. After two years, Ivy has officially finished her cancer treatments. On June 26, 2018, she had her last treatment at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and on August 25th, 2018 she received her last at home dose of oral chemotherapy that her parents give her with her breakfast. An article by the Dana-Farber Cancer institute states that, “people with down syndrome have an increased risk for a variety of health problems, including heart defects, respiratory and hearing difficulties, and thyroid conditions. Their risk for childhood ALL is 20 times that of the general population.” Her treatment set her back from the progress she was making to develop her speech, eating and physical mobility. While she was making great steps before her cancer diagnosis, she was often too weak to move during treatment, spending long weeks and months in the hospital. She was fed from a tube and she was too tired to work on her cognitive and speech development. After learning to walk again when she got out of the hospital, her family and physiotherapist are now working on climbing stairs and hope to get her used to the motion of peddling a bike. Melissa, her mother, feels that people often assume that everything is wonderful now that treatment is done but her family continues to work through the reverberations felt after two years of cancer treatment. Her family will always have a worry in the back of their minds, as Ivy will be an oncology patient for life with a risk of developing other types of cancer later on. Now that Ivy is done her treatments; her family is able to focus on the challenges that down syndrome brings to her life and strive to bring her back to age appropriate development. They are most excited for her to be starting school this year (September 2018) as a kindergarten student and to be able to bring some normalcy back into her life. Ivy attends school every other day to give her a chance to get used to the new environment but also a chance to rest and spend time at home if she is feeling tired or overwhelmed. The chemotherapy medications will still be in her system for a while and her family doesn’t want to push her too hard until she was feeling better physically. So far she is loving school and her classmates have been very friendly. She is curious, loves exploring the school and new environment. She also gets to go to the same school as her older brother, Finnigan. To see more photos from the story, visit my website below: https://www.shelbylisk.com/ivy
 
Dustin Brant is an Indigenous outreach officer at Loyalist College and one half of a duo that is bringing Mohawk language and teachings to the College’s 91X radio station through their Mohawk Minute show. The other half of the duo, Nikki Auten, joined Loyalist in the fall as an Indigenous studies professor. Her general education courses cover topics such as Indigenous agricultural practices and storytelling. The show focuses on sharing Haudenosaunee traditions, teachings, songs and language lessons. Auten explains that they try to keep a balance between English and Kanyen'kéha, Mohawk, so that those that don’t speak the language won’t get overwhelmed, but those who want to hear more of the dialogue can tune in for that as well. The First People’s calendar can be heard on 91.3 FM on Mondays at 10 a.m. The Mohawk Minute airs on Tuesdays at 7:40 a.m. and Thursdays and Saturdays at 3:40 p.m. You can also follow along on their Facebook page at “First People’s Radio – Loyalist College”. https://www.facebook.com/FirstPeoplesRadio/ They will be adding audio clips, videos and continuing to share knowledge of the language and culture on there as well. Video by Shelby Lisk www.shelbylisk.com

Qattuu

Throat singer Qattuu shares an important song with her daughter for Mother's Day and speaks about her struggle to learn the tradition of throat singing.

Watch on Vimeo here.

Directed, shot, and edited by Shelby Lisk
Produced by Ash Abraham
For CBC Ottawa

 

Manasie Akpaliapik

Renowned Inuk artist, Manasie Akpaliapik, comes from a family of carvers in Arctic Bay, Nunavut. When he was 9-years-old, he sold his first carving to the Hudson’s Bay Company for a box of carnation milk and a toy gun. Manasie’s artwork now lives in collections like the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Ontario Art Gallery and National Art Gallery. This short film explores how Manasie shares his culture and relationship to land through his carvings.

Watch on Vimeo here

Directed, shot, and edited by Shelby Lisk
Additional cinematography by Matthew Hayes

 

Rematriate: Passing the Seeds

This short film follows the creation of the "Passing the Seeds" wampum belt. The Passing the Seeds wampum belt is a record of the agreement, relationship, and story of the rematriation of a collection of heirloom seeds from the Sisters of Providence in Kingston to Ratinenhayén:thos, a group of seed savers and knowledge holders, from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.

Directed, shot, and edited by Shelby Lisk
Produced with the support of the DOC Institute
Additional cinematography by Matthew Hayes

Watch on Vimeo here

 

Indigenous Arts Collective of Canada - Artist series

One video in a series of commercials created for the Indigenous Arts Collective of Canada. Mother-daughter artists Kelly and Claire both create jewelry in their own styles, pulling from traditional and contemporary inspirations.

Watch on Vimeo here

Directed, shot, and edited by Shelby Lisk
Produced by Dawn Setford
With music by Theresa Bear Fox
Additional cinematography by Matthew Hayes

 

Indigenous Arts Collective of Canada - Artist series

One video in a series of commercials created for the Indigenous Arts Collective of Canada. Multi-talented Frankie can sew just about anything - here she is making traditional ribbon skirts.

Watch on Vimeo here

Directed, shot, and edited by Shelby Lisk
Produced by Dawn Setford
With music by Theresa Bear Fox
Additional cinematography by Matthew Hayes

 

Indigenous Arts Collective of Canada - Artist series

One video in a series of commercials created for the Indigenous Arts Collective of Canada. Marlene Murphy of Millside Ceramics.

Watch on Vimeo here

Directed, shot, and edited by Shelby Lisk
Produced by Dawn Setford
With music by Theresa Bear Fox
Additional cinematography by Matthew Hayes

 

A way to grieve

In January 2019, a dear friend took his life. I spent the subsequent months dredging through the unique complex feelings of grief that occur when you lose someone through suicide.

These are the ways I grieve, try to make sense, find meaning, let go and remember

 

A simple life

4-years-old Ivy McCoy was diagnosed with down syndrome at two months old. At 2-years-old Ivy was then diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukaemia (ALL), an illness that affects children in the down syndrome population at higher rates than other children. Ivy spent most of the first year in the hospital, followed by doing maintenance chemotherapy at home. On June 26, 2018, she had her last treatment at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.

Melissa, her mother, feels that people often assume that everything is wonderful now that treatment is done but her family continues to work through the reverberations felt after two years of cancer treatment.

This video was created as a student project while completing my photojournalism diploma at Loyalist College, in 2019.

 

Mohawk Radio

Dustin Brant is an Indigenous outreach officer at Loyalist College and one half of a duo that is bringing Mohawk language and teachings to the College’s 91X radio station through their Mohawk Minute show. The other half of the duo, Nikki Auten, joined Loyalist in the fall as an Indigenous studies professor.

The show focuses on sharing Haudenosaunee traditions, teachings, songs, and language lessons.

This video was created as a student project while completing my photojournalism diploma at Loyalist College, in 2019.