Project: Who We Are

Who - Canadian Indigenous People & Communities

What - Portraits (Individual & Group)

Where - Cities Across Canada

When - June through September

Why - Community, Healing, Education, Awareness

How - Private Fundraising (aka You!) & (hopefully) Government Grants

 

Problem - Indigenous Visibility in Media

Solution - This Project - "Who We Are"

Ask - Donations & Social Media Support

Reason - Generate Project Funding & Awareness

Giveback - Creating Memories for Communities & Families
Links - Where to Follow the Project

Budget Breakdown - Travel, Food, Studio Costs, Equipment Upgrades

Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/sierralefave/
Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/sierralefavephotography/
TikTok → https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMN1H1g5w/
 
Please find the link to the article written about the project by The Hoser:
https://www.thehoser.ca/posts/q-a-with-anishinaabe-photographer-sierra-lefave

The Backstory:
It all began with a post from one of my favourite Instagram accounts, @decolonizemyself (who had reshared from @herbraid). The post is an image of 6 x 6 cups of coffee ranging from white to black, with the original meme asking how black do you like your coffee? Over each cup, they had written the word “Indigenous”. This post hit me hard. I sat on the couch that day in February feeling seen. While I knew a handful of passing folks I didn’t know that many and I had definitely not seen it being discussed as a community. The comments of the post brought to light just how many other folks felt like they were outsiders to their heritage, people from the inner-city but also from First Nations. That changed me to know that we have truly ALL been stripped of what makes us unique. Ultimately I believe we have to come together in our communities to overcome adversity.

 

At the end of 2021, I set out to take 36 images of Indigenous people from Toronto. This would be my clear way to show that we do not look the same even when from the same city. However, I realized that was a steep ask when I know only a handful of Indigenous folks in total who might be willing to participate and they were definitely not all in Toronto. I had recently connected with several Indigenous women from an art group on Facebook and figured I would reach out to one whose posts I had been finding very inspiring. I knew she lived out of town but was visiting family so I asked if she would be willing to help me start my project (while apologizing repeatedly for not having anything to show her). Tasha [pictured above] graciously came to my office during her vacation and let me take her photograph.

 

After I had taken her photograph I felt unsure of how to proceed and I consulted my elders, as well as a few trusted friends. After much convincing from my friends I decided I should make a post asking for more people who might be interested. So at the beginning of 2022 in the same group that I had met Tasha in, I made a post about my project and explained that it was my goal to explore identity and build community. From there it completely exploded! I got more than 300 comments in the first couple of days, people all over wanting to participate or offering feelings of solidarity with me.

 

This project started because of my personal identity crisis. I want to show that Indigenous is not any of the narrow stereotypes that have been associated with it. There are so many different nations within “Canada” and we do not truly celebrate that as we should. A massive failure of our society is that we have chosen to alienate Indigenous people and communities instead of learning from their wisdom. This is what I want to share with society. Just how absolutely incredible and inspiring it is to be a part of this community. With the funds from GoFundMe I hope to be able to travel to as many cities as possible to capture these communities.

 

Since this project is heavily dependent on the individual circumstances like travel and the availability of my hosts and subjects in each city, while I do hope to make it to each province I am still limited by my available funds. I will do the areas where I had the largest amount of interest first and if it is possible I will cover the remainder. Below you will find the project’s projected finances, as I want people to know what will happen with their money and how it is helping me achieve this project. While most of the large costs have been accounted for here (travel, food, studio costs, equipment) there will be a lot of other miscellaneous expenses that I will be covering out of pocket like accommodations, covid testing, business costs, etc. In the event that I raise more than my goal, I will be donating the rest to charities that focus on support for Indigenous folks and education for future generations. None of the subjects participating in the project will be charged for their participation or the finished portraits.

To keep up with the project please follow me on social media.
Liking, commenting and sharing on your feed helps a lot!
 
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/sierralefave/
Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/sierralefavephotography/
TikTok → https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMN1H1g5w/

 

Funding:

$2000 Studio Time for Toronto (36 images x 2 days)

$1800 British Colombia

$1600 Alberta

$1500 Saskatchewan

$1500 Manitoba

$1600 Southern Ontario

$600 Quebec

$800 New Brunswick

$800 Newfoundland

$800 Nova Scotia/PEI

$4100 Canon EOS R5 (less $2100 from sale of gear)

$4000 Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM

$3400 Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM

$600 Stands & Tripods

 

 

Video Transcript Below:

Hi everyone! My name is Sierra Lefave.

I’m an artist and commercial photographer from Toronto, Ontario.

My father is Anishinaabe (Métis), and my mother is half South African and half-Dutch.

My family on both sides has suffered from multi-generational colonization and its long-lasting impacts. Like so many other families that have been displaced and removed from their heritage.

This unique background has left me asking a lifetime of questions on a journey to find my identity- who am I? And even more complicated- where do I belong?

Along my journey I have met so many other beautiful, talented and unique individuals but only through my own network and community have I been blessed with this experience. A gift I want to pass on to our world, both indigenous and not.

The world needs to see the beauty of being us, they need to experience the magic of our community. Maybe they will never truly appreciate it but they can’t even try if we don’t show them what they have never had the chance to see.

This project is about step one, finding my own beauty and place in our community, and step two, helping people to reconnect to the community and helping people to share the beauty of Who We Are. As a whole, I feel that we are underrepresented.

I hope through the project to raise awareness about Indigenous issues, share the beauty of the community, give a unique inside perspective, educate on the ways of traditional life, and create visibility and understanding.

I am asking those who can help me achieve the needed funds for my travel, accommodations and some new equipment to donate to my GoFundMe for the project. If you are not able to donate monetarily I ask that you please share on social media regularly as the project needs exposure to be successful too.

The GoFundMe includes more information about why I am doing this project, links to all my social media platforms and a breakdown of how I plan to use the funds.

Thank you all so much for your encouragement and support for this project, it is only thanks to the guidance of so many community members, peer and my family that this has been able to come together. I appreciate all of you so much.