HOPE Portraits
A series of triptychs by the Lyceum students, under the mentorship of the West End Phoenix.
Each of the four students selected a community leader in whom they found inspiration: a person whose vision translates into agency for positive change. They were assigned a formal portrait, an environmental portrait, and a detail study of a "tool of their trade".
Pia Bouman, Founder and Artistic Director at Pia Bouman School for Ballet, filmed February 7th in her studio. Her shoes tell the story of her ability to lift herself and others to their potential through dance.
Anita Bright, Midwife at Midwife Alliance, filmed in her clinic room on February 14th. Her hands have supported and intuited the care of many women and have literally caught over 500 new lives.
Andrew McMartin, Founder and Director of The Pine Project, filmed February 21st in Etienne Brule Park. The fire is both practical and symbollic of his practice of teaching children how to appreciate and respect nature.
Tanya Golden, Founder of the Island Art School, filmed September 5th in and around her home studio on Toronto Island. Children have sat around and left their mark on her art table for 24 years.
These portraits have waited through lockdown for their moment. Both the images and the words of the subjects cast a hopeful glance toward the future, with dedication, sensitivity and inspiration for good leadership.
Thank you to Jalani Morgan for sharing your expertise with us, to Dave Bidini for providing ongoing support and opportunities in print, and to Marina Dempster for being our in-house actualizer. We are fortunate (and grateful) to work with these incredible mentors.
- Mia, Julian, Violet, and Paloma, with Holly Venable
Pia Bouman
by Mia Risojevic
This triptych features Pia Bouman. Pia Bouman has been inspiring her community and mentoring dance students for over forty years. The H.O.P.E. Portraits explore her role in the neighbourhood as a business owner, dancer and mentor. Her shoes symbolize the connection she forges with her students as they find themselves through movement. Mia has studied with her since she was two years old.
How do you think dance transforms peoples lives and how did it transform yours?
We have a body, a mind and a soul. It is important to me that we maintain a balance between the three. Dance allows us to use all three. The body can become our tool. The mind can help us understand and then play with the laws of physics and we learn to speak a universal language. The soul will create that most unique connection between the metaphor and the reality, the vision and the passion, the urge to speak, and reach out from the reality to the unknown and thus touch a sliver of the universe.
by Mia Risojevic
by Mia Risojevic
As you have said before music serves as inspiration to you, is there a piece of music that is currently on your mind?
Keith Jarret, Koln concert the opening piece: an incredibly beautiful improvisation that speaks of all this and more
Music speaks to me, it gives me an understanding and translates the here and now from yesterday into the here and now of tomorrow. There are composers from the past who will always have that magic connection, and composers of today who have the ability to speak to the now and the future.
They have the ability to reach with compassion beyond the time.
What is your earliest memory of enjoying movement?
When I was very little there was no music. It was the end of the WWII. Music first came into my life when we were able to play records on my father's gramophone. I was probably 6 or 7. The first album was the Mozart Symphony #39. I choreographed a piece for my sister on the minuet section and we danced it together. I felt the passion when I was 12 when it was my turn to do an improvisation for the class. My teacher called me afterwards and said "you truly love to dance, don't you?"
by Mia Risojevic
Behind the scenes with Pia Bouman
Photos by Marina Dempster
Anita Bright
by Violet Long
This series of photographs are of Anita Bright. They each show a different aspect of her experience as a midwife. The artist hopes to shed some light on the theory that midwives are mystical or dangerous. In reality they work long hours and irregular shifts to help women bring new life into this world. Anita was photographed by young aspiring artist Violet Long.
What was the weirdest day you ever had a work?
One of the best things about midwifery is that every day is different, and you never know what joys, challenges, and strange coincidences will pop up. I have so many stories I could tell you about the weird and wonderful process of growing humans, birthing babies, and learning how to parent in the first few weeks after birth. Here are a couple of examples of unusual days, even by the standards of a midwife.
I was a young twenty-something midwife attending a home water birth. As the birth progressed, the woman's partner asked if he could get into the tub with her. This is not an unusual request, and so of course I said "go ahead!" He proceeded to strip completely naked and hop into the water. I was mortified! After that experience I learned to stipulate that partners should remain at least partially clothed at all times.
Once, many years ago, a pregnant teenager came into the office without an appointment looking for her midwife, who wasn't in that day. The receptionist asked her what her concern was (severe constipation) and put the young woman in a clinic room to be seen by the next available midwife. I was with another client in the room next door, taking a blood pressure, when I heard the very distinct sound of someone giving birth. If you don't know the sound, it's kind of like a primal "aaaaaaahh" followed by the sound of involuntary pushing; "uuuuhhh." Another midwife and I both collided racing to see what was happening, one of us throwing our car keys to the receptionist so she could run and grab our home birth equipment. By the time we got our equipment, the baby had been born. He was a hale and healthy little boy, and we were able to complete the postpartum recovery right in the clinic room, tuck the young woman into the clinic bed with some juice and a snack, and call her mom to come and pick up her daughter and new grandson!
by Violet Long
by Violet Long
How do you see your role as a midwife within the context of feminism?
This is a huge question, and I'm not sure I can answer it fully and completely in a few paragraphs! Midwifery was legislated in Canada in 1994 thanks to the tireless efforts of a group of consumers (women, mothers) and midwives who were fed up with the medicalization of birth and the marginalization of women's experience in the birth journey. I recognize that not all birth-giving people identify as women, and the modern evolution of midwifery embraces all people who give birth. That said, the core values of midwifery apply to all of us. Midwifery in Ontario embraces three main tenets; informed choice, continuity of care, and choice of birthplace. These values arose out of a fierce feminist belief that women/birthing people can make our own decisions, that we want evidence-based care, that we want to have met before the person who will help bring our most precious beings into the world, and that we want to give birth in the location we choose, attended by competent, qualified care providers. How I adhere to this in my day-to-day midwifery is by trying to always place clients at the centre of their care. I tell my pregnant clients that I can't promise them a "perfect" birth, if such a thing exists, but I promise that, to the best of my ability, they will always know what is going on. I try to honour my clients' choices, even when they are not the choices I would make for myself. Sometimes my job as a midwife and a feminist is to recognize when women are not safe and help them access resources to move into a place of relative safety. Sometimes my job is to hold space for trauma and emotional pain that can come to the surface during birth. In these times I remind myself that "midwife" means "with woman," and women in pain need the literal presence of a supportive other.
Sometimes feminism means recognizing that not all pregnancies are wanted, and not all women want to be mothers. I have cared for women who cried every single visit and swore they could not love a baby. I have cared for many clients who have terminated pregnancies, and women who have lost wanted pregnancies. Some grieve and some do not.
My role as a feminist within midwifery is to trust women, to trust birth, to support clients to follow their own paths and make their own decisions. My role is to be aware of the latest research, to maintain my competencies, to look after myself as a woman and midwife so that I can be present for clients in a meaningful way.
One of my best experiences at a birth highlights what I want for all clients. I had a client who had a long labour with her first baby, and she pushed for three hours. It was at the point where we really needed to make a decision to get more help, but the mother wanted to keep trying and the baby's heart rate was great, so we tried longer than "average." The client was on a birth stool because we wanted gravity to help her. When she finally, red-faced and covered in sweat, pushed out her enormous baby girl, I passed the baby up into her arms, she grabbed the baby, flopped back onto her bed with a huge grin on her face, and proclaimed, "I rock!"
What more could any midwife want? I wish all clients could feel that powerful.
by Violet Long
If you were leaving home tomorrow and had five minutes to pack a suitcase…what would you take?
It depends on who I'm with am I leaving on my own, or are my pets and kids coming? If I have the dependants my whole suitcase will contain their stuff. If it's just me? Identification, bank/credit cards, underwear, jeans, shirts, pyjamas, bathing suit, toiletries, flip flops and my kobo. I'd wear my most comfortable shoes. It's surprising how much we can do without.
Behind the scenes with Anita Bright
Photos by Marina Dempster
Andrew McMartin
by Julian Moncarz
Julian Moncarz has known Andrew since the age of four. Andrew is the founder of the Pine Project, a naturalist program dedicated to reconnecting people with the land through the ideals of stewardship and communal growth. This triptych captures that essence of warmth and community that both Pine and Andrew radiate.
Each photograph explores the softness of snow juxtaposed on the hard lines of trees. The final shot in the series shows a tinder bundle catching fire, lit by the breath of all the people standing in a circle, blowing life into the flame.
by Julian Moncarz
People used to gather around fires, but now we live in cities with fire in glass balls and furnaces. What do you think still draws people to PINE's fire?
I think there's a lot of answers to this question. For each person it's probably a little different, but I would guess much of it comes down to a need or desire for connection in one way or another. As your question states, we used to gather around fires. Now, those "fires" are not as apparent. What's often lost in the transition from living simply to living a modern lifestyle is the connections. When people lived by fire, they had a more developed relationship with the skills and knowledge required to do so: A relationship with the plants, the trees, and the ability to harvest sustainably. With a furnace, we don't need to know anything other than a phone number to call the repair person.
This example is indicative of nearly all other aspects of our lives. We do very little for ourselves today. Where does our water come from? How about our food? What materials make up our homes and what impact do our furnaces have on the world?
These are not questions that have obvious answers, and so it's easy to not consider them. When the direct relationships that are created by meeting our own needs are abandoned, there comes a loss of relationship to our food, water, shelter, and other basic requirements. We've designed a society that disconnects us from all of our basic needs and consider it modern and advanced for some reason.
Whether someone is drawn to Pine's literal fires to re-connect with friends and get some fresh air away from screens and a busy schedule, or to pine's metaphorical "fire" to re-connect with the knowledge, ideas, and perspectives that encourage them to be more. I think it all comes down to a need for (re)connection to other living things and a desire to understand more about who we are and the world we live in.
by Julian Moncarz
I carved my first stick when I was four, since then, my PINE mentors have shaped who I am. Do you have a person who mentored you?
One of the first people I met that really inspired me was a man by the name of Hendri Coetzee. He was a South African guy, and I met him in Uganda working with a rafting company on the White Nile. He was such an amazing person, who lived life to the fullest every day. I really looked up to him and learned a ton from how he lived his life and his values.
The person that introduced me to wilderness skills and naturalist studies is a fellow by the name of Sean Day. We led a canoe trip together right after I graduated from University, and he hooked me on friction fire, edible plants, and some of the ideas that were found in books by Tom Brown Jr.
After I met Sean, I went the following year to take classes at the Tracker School with Tom. He inspired me in ways I'd never experienced, opening my mind to very different perspectives on the world.
More recently, I have met a handful of people that I would call mentors, and also friends. My friends Judy, Dan, and Mark are all people who I have grown close friendships with, but also are older and more experienced that I am in many areas. They've helped me grow personally and as a leader. I have really appreciated their wisdom and the lessons I've learned from them, as well as just spending time with them as friends and peers.
by Julian Moncarz
Can you tell me the story of the most terrifying natural calamity you have ever survived?
I'm not sure it's a calamity, but when I was in my mid 20's I guided remote wilderness canoe trips with teens. It was epic. On one trip, I was lucky enough to spend a month in Northern Manitoba, on the Seal River. It's a magical place. We spent plenty of time hiking and exploring, learning the plants and tracks that we found, and even had some pretty incredible interactions with wildlife (I had a seal rest it's chin on my hand!). The end of the river flows through the tundra and into Hudson Bay, and also happens to have a good-sized population of Polar Bears. On our last night, I was on bear watch with one of my co-guides, and it was just starting to get dark, at about 11pm or just after. We were playing cards and heard a bird alarming from the river's edge. We'd been hearing this bird the entire way down the river, every time a boat came near to shore, as that's where they nest. Within a minute, our suspicions were confirmed when we heard what sounded like one of our canoes being thrown across the row of overturned boats. We rushed to get the other guide (who had the most experience with the shotgun we were carrying for just such an occasion), and as I handed it to him, a medium sized polar bear walked out of the trees lining the river and into the tundra where our tents were.
The three of us yelled and hollered and tried to make ourselves look as big and threatening as we could, as our teen participants fought for any inch of window screen space in their tents to see what was going on. One warning shot was fired into the air, and the bear took two bounds backwards, turned and looked at us for a while, and then began circling down wind of us into the tundra. It paced back and forth slowly into the growing darkness. We built our fire up as high as we could and sat staring into the darkness for the rest of the night. Luckily, the nights are short up there, and we were gone as soon as the light allowed us to get back onto the river. We arrived at the mouth of the river by mid day, and waited for our pickup by water taxi. Needless to say, the fear that we had experienced coming face to face with a Polar Bear, and then waiting out the rest of the night by our fire was pretty intense. It was not reduced much when we found the cabin provided to wait for our pickup was surrounded by massive polar bear tracks, and had the door ripped off its hinges.
Behind the scenes with Andrew McMartin
Photos by Marina Dempster
Tanya Golden
by Paloma Wilkinson-Latham
Paloma Wilkinson-Latham is a young artist and collaborator of The H.O.P.E Portraits show. Her tryptic showcases her mentor Tanya Golden. Tanya Golden is an artist and gardener, located on Wards Island in Toronto. Using her artistic skills, she runs a camp in her home, teaching city kids and fellow islanders. Paloma has been attending Tanya's in-home camp for the past six years and has now chosen Tanya to be her subject in her tryptic because of Tanya's love and passion for growth.
by Paloma Wilkinson-Latham
If you were to imagine being forced off your island to another, what three things would you bring with you and why?
If I had to leave this Island, I would take my dog, my cat and a good book to read. The reasons for choosing my pets is because I am responsible for their lives and I love them too much to leave behind. I would also choose a book because a good story is like a friend that you can always have nearby.
by Paloma Wilkinson-Latham
What is your favourite flower or plant? What do you think it would be like to be that flower/plant?
My favourite plant (this is difficult because I love many plants!) would have to be a good old-fashioned wild daisy. I imagine it would be lovely to be a daisy, as they are sweet, beautiful, little flowers that make many children happy picking them, making daisy chains and crowns out of them, bringing a small but joyful pleasure to their lives.
Like the gardens you tend to on Ward's Island, what does it feel like to watch the children and community that you have mentored grow over time?
Well this is easy, watching the children I have taught art to grow up around me is just like watching a beautiful garden grow year after year, each flower as different and unique as every child that I have taught. Some are wildflowers and some are more cultivated flowers but all of them are beautiful in their own way.
by Paloma Wilkinson-Latham
Dream
You dance in my dreams
Through city streets at night
Lights of green and red
Bleed down the road
As the rain washes away
The day's dirt
And I watch you
As you wander away
Through the canyons of commerce
Never looking back
Poem by Tanya Golden, from Island Voices.
Behind the scenes with Tanya Golden
Photos by Marina Dempster
HOPE Opening
HOPE Portraits
A series of triptychs by the Lyceum students, under the mentorship of the West End Phoenix.
Each of the four students selected a community leader in whom they found inspiration: a person whose vision translates into agency for positive change. They were assigned a formal portrait, an environmental portrait, and a detail study of a "tool of their trade".
Pia Bouman, Founder and Artistic Director at Pia Bouman School for Ballet, filmed February 7th in her studio. Her shoes tell the story of her ability to lift herself and others to their potential through dance.
Anita Bright, Midwife at Midwife Alliance, filmed in her clinic room on February 14th. Her hands have supported and intuited the care of many women and have literally caught over 500 new lives.
Andrew McMartin, Founder and Director of The Pine Project, filmed February 21st in Etienne Brule Park. The fire is both practical and symbollic of his practice of teaching children how to appreciate and respect nature.
Tanya Golden, Founder of the Island Art School, filmed September 5th in and around her home studio on Toronto Island. Children have sat around and left their mark on her art table for 24 years.
These portraits have waited through lockdown for their moment. Both the images and the words of the subjects cast a hopeful glance toward the future, with dedication, sensitivity and inspiration for good leadership.
Thank you to Jalani Morgan for sharing your expertise with us, to Dave Bidini for providing ongoing support and opportunities in print, and to Marina Dempster for being our in-house actualizer. We are fortunate (and grateful) to work with these incredible mentors.
- Mia, Julian, Violet, and Paloma, with Holly Venable
Pia Bouman
by Mia Risojevic
This triptych features Pia Bouman. Pia Bouman has been inspiring her community and mentoring dance students for over forty years. The H.O.P.E. Portraits explore her role in the neighbourhood as a business owner, dancer and mentor. Her shoes symbolize the connection she forges with her students as they find themselves through movement. Mia has studied with her since she was two years old.
To read the full interview, please view this page on a laptop or desktop computer.
by Mia Risojevic
by Mia Risojevic
by Mia Risojevic
Behind the scenes with Pia Bouman
Photos by Marina Dempster
Anita Bright
by Violet Long
This series of photographs are of Anita Bright. They each show a different aspect of her experience as a midwife. The artist hopes to shed some light on the theory that midwives are mystical or dangerous. In reality they work long hours and irregular shifts to help women bring new life into this world. Anita was photographed by young aspiring artist Violet Long.
To read the full interview, please view this page on a laptop or desktop computer.
by Violet Long
by Violet Long
by Violet Long
Behind the scenes with Anita Bright
Photos by Marina Dempster
Andrew McMartin
by Julian Moncarz
Julian Moncarz has known Andrew since the age of four. Andrew is the founder of the Pine Project, a naturalist program dedicated to reconnecting people with the land through the ideals of stewardship and communal growth. This triptych captures that essence of warmth and community that both Pine and Andrew radiate.
Each photograph explores the softness of snow juxtaposed on the hard lines of trees. The final shot in the series shows a tinder bundle catching fire, lit by the breath of all the people standing in a circle, blowing life into the flame.
To read the full interview, please view this page on a laptop or desktop computer.
by Julian Moncarz
by Julian Moncarz
by Julian Moncarz
Behind the scenes with Andrew McMartin
Photos by Marina Dempster
Tanya Golden
by Paloma Wilkinson-Latham
Paloma Wilkinson-Latham is a young artist and collaborator of The HOPE Portraits show. Her tryptic showcases her mentor Tanya Golden. Tanya Golden is an artist and gardener, located on Wards Island in Toronto. Using her artistic skills, she runs a camp in her home, teaching city kids and fellow islanders. Paloma has been attending Tanya's in-home camp for the past six years and has now chosen Tanya to be her subject in her tryptic because of Tanya's love and passion for growth.
To read the full interview, please view this page on a laptop or desktop computer.
by Paloma Wilkinson-Latham
by Paloma Wilkinson-Latham
by Paloma Wilkinson-Latham
Dream
You dance in my dreams
Through city streets at night
Lights of green and red
Bleed down the road
As the rain washes away
The day's dirt
And I watch you
As you wander away
Through the canyons of commerce
Never looking back
Poem by Tanya Golden, from Island Voices.
Behind the scenes with Tanya Golden
Photos by Marina Dempster
HOPE Opening
Please be sure to check out (and subscribe!) to our favourite local paper westendphoenix.com