Hoping to “inspire people with the beauty of native culture,” renowned photographer Danny Beaton recently donated a captivating series of pictures to be displayed in an Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) classroom.
The local artist and native activist wants the photographs to inspire people to defend the earth, humanity and spirituality, and hopes his donation will also tell students that “the old elders are still here if people need help or guidance into solving problems that this generation is facing.”
Student Eileen Antone is impressed.
“The photographs show a real connection to the aboriginal people and to the earth.”
On display in the Indigenous Education Network, housed in the Department of Adult Education, the works depict traditional native peoples from places including Labrador, Montana and New York.
Beaton was born in Ottawa in 1954 to Lois Clause, who had been in the Mohawk Institute, a residential school. He struggled with substance abuse from a very young age. When he was able to break free of his addiction at age 33, he began to look into his native culture.
“A lot of native people get addicted, a lot of native people suffer—probably because of culture shock. They’ve been affected by colonization and colonization has caused culture shock,” he reflected.
After being distressed with the way native people and the earth were being treated, he began to write letters in defence. “The more I talked about it and wrote about it, the more I got into the culture, the more I got into the problems,” Beaton said.
Beaton started to attend traditional councils and sacred circles. He was brought in by Chief Oren Lyons, an Onondaga traditional chief from the Iroquois and a strong spokesperson for the earth and human rights. “I met with all the spiritual leaders of North America,” Beaton remembered. This will be his twelfth year with them.
Beaton has since been filming native elders, as well as photographing them. Four of his films have been nationally broadcast. He explains that he’s “trying to inspire people to support traditional natives in supporting the earth and bring back people to a spiritual place.”
“A lot of people in the photos have gone now into the spirit world. I hope with photos and films that I can inspire people to speak out for the protection of earth and the need for society to return to spiritual values,” he said.
