THUNDER BAY -- Autumn Longpeter-Esquega lost her father to suicide when she was just six years old and there isn’t a day she doesn’t think about him.
“He is my remedy and he keeps me going every day,” she said.
The 16-year-old Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute student was a participant in the PhotoVoice portion of Nishnawbe Aski Nation’s Life Promotion Strategy and had a photo on display at the Ahnisnabae Art Gallery Wednesday.
The goal of the photography project was to give First Nation youth a new venue to tell their stories and express themselves.
Longpeter-Esquega found the subject of her photo – a scenic nature shot atop a rocky cliff with the letters RIP spray-painted on it – in Sudbury.
“There was a long staircase that went up above the streets and it meant going away from all the noise and reaching the nature and it just made me think of my dad. Then I looked over and saw that RIP,” she said, adding she’s always been interested in photography and finds it a great way to express her feelings.
“It’s way better than talking,” said Longpeter-Esquega.
“It was very inspiring to do better things in life. It brought lots of weight off my shoulders.”
The artwork of 24 youth participants was on display at the Life Promotion Youth Showcase and lead facilitator for the PhotoVoice project Scott Chisholm said watching the youth open up and become vulnerable throughout the duration of the project was a powerful process.
“Each one of the images and stories is overwhelming,” he said, adding the project was about giving the youth a voice.
“I am completely overwhelmed by what they did with their photography. I’m blown away at how powerful it is and how diverse it is and what they were able to do with it,” said Chisholm.
