I think of this portrait as a visual representation of inter-being with the commons of the land.
The image was made in a part of Canada that has been subject to all kinds of trauma, which has largely been created by extractive practices of fishing, logging, manufacturing, etc. These systems break the land and the individuals who reside there. The traumas are passed on generationally amongst the people and on the land and all of the many beings who dwell there.
These communities, when functionally properly, flow in perfect reciprocity, exist in balance, thriving and surviving far into the future, into the 7th generation. When we are out of balance, taking more than is needed, with action based on greed and harmful privatization, this is how we arrive at our current moment.
This photo is an invitation using the visual metaphor, seeing the water, air, trees, and humans as entwined. I hope a dream we can still realize.
PART IV: BUILDING COMMUNITY RESILIENCE Community Resilience and Social Justice / Equity / Ownership
"Meanwhile, there are specific, immediately accessible ways to build equity in our communities through common ownership. One way is through the promotion of cooperative enterprises. The original purpose of corporations was to pool capital to achieve socially useful but risky purposes, like building a bridge or roadway. Cooperatives—or co-ops—pool capital as well, but they are owned by their workers and/or customers, thereby granting ownership to the very people most involved and interested in the enterprise. And cooperatives have a long history of success. Credit unions are cooperative banks; some utility companies operate as cooperatives, and there are also housing, manufacturing, and agricultural cooperatives. The thousands of cooperatives across America deliberately foster voluntary and open membership, democratic member control, member economic participation, cooperation among cooperatives, and concern for the community."
–Richard Heinberg, Community Resilience and Social Justice / Equity / Ownership.