Art of Thriving A PhotoVoice project 2025

Photographer: Ezra Santana
Untitled

Where do I begin to describe the experience of stepping into a church service for the first time in so long? So many memories, so many feelings, so many thoughts...

Although tears did not fall from my eyes, they did fall from the eyes of the young child living in my soul. A child who dedicated so many years of her life to her faith and her community, whose entire world was built on a foundation of beliefs and teachings we- me and her-now suffer the results of.

You must do this, they said. You must be like this, they said. You must not do this, they said. You must not be like this, they said.

Healing from experiences I didn't even know were forms of gender- based violence with deep roots in the religious environment I grew up in has taken many forms over the years.

Now, that healing takes the form of stepping into a church service surrounded by my community of Queer friends and family to sing.

Sing about how much of a sinner I am or how much I need salvation? No.

We sing about love and community. We sing about liberation and joy. We sing about freedom for all.

Photographer: Kelly Robinson
Sunset Fern

When you can
when you feel safe enough

emerge
unfurl in the sun.

You will glow.

Photographer: Kelly Robinson
Dawn at Greenwich Beach, PE

Healing is such a mystery to me -
A word
that feels like pressure or
an admonishment
to get it together, to get there already

but I am not there.

In times when night resists dawn
it's worth remembering

the phoenix
falling into ash
and her long smoking pause
reknitting embers from soot.

There is magic in the transition
from the weight of all that came before
and glimpses of the day(s) to come

beauty in liminality, power in becoming.

Photographer: Lucky Fusca
Conflict Resolution

A Blue Jay and a Grackle had at it one morning. As if I hadn't just filled the d*mn feeder...two of them flapping about, knocked the cheap thing off, snapped a branch on the way down, my Mary. You wouldn't believe not 15 minutes later, it's like the phones are listening to us, an article pops up! Says somethin' like: Are Bird Feeders Bad for Birds and I think well why do I even try? Of course, I

just bought into the capitalist pretty picture of what a yard ought to be, no? Maybe it should just rot in the dirt. Maybe I'll place a lost bobber near by, like garden

misfits. Maybe two things that don't belong, that despite their best intentions aren't doing what they're "supposed to", can be kinda beautiful anyway? Maybe it's not so binary, maybe when I mess up, I'm not, like, ALL bad, right?

[we will self blame, catastrophize, want to give up, need potentially life-long validation, and in the aftermath of tragedy, we are the ones who find the magic, and when we get the help we deserve, we are the roadmap between surviving and thriving.]

Photographer: Prantor
Reflections of Stillness - A Dialogue Between Nature, Research, and Self

This image captures a serene lakeside view, where trees and houses stand in quiet harmony, mirrored perfectly in the still

At first glance, it is a beautiful moment suspended in time. Yet beneath the surface lies a deeper resonance one that mirrors my academic and personal journey.

As a PhD researcher in environmental science, I study the intricate balance of ecosystems, sedimentation, and aquatic environments.

This image reflects not only ecological stillness but also the profound dialogue between land and water, between data and meaning. Just as the reflection in the lake is shaped by clarity and calm, the quality of our understanding is shaped by the stillness we bring into our observations.

My work with coastal habitats, eelgrass beds, and sediment processes finds a poetic echo in this natural symmetry. It reminds me that the environments I study are not just systems, they are living reflections of interaction, resilience,and change.

On a personal level, the duality of the image, the visible and its mirrored self, speaks to the inner journey of balance between action and reflection. The calm water surface is not always present in life or research, but when it is, it reveals truths often overlooked in turbulent times.

As an international student navigating scientific, cultural, and personal landscapes, I often find myself pausing like this image to reflect, recalibrate, and reconnect with purpose.

In this quiet moment captured by the lens, I see a metaphor for my path: the importance of grounding, the beauty of balance, and the invisible forces light, time, and intention that shape how we perceive both nature and ourselves.

Photographer: Maria Gomez
Every step leads the way

Healing doesn't always feel like peace...

sometimes it's a climb, steep and uncertain,

over uneven ground and under heavy clouds.

But every now and then, you look up and the light breaks through.

At points, even the rocks beneath your feet were part of the beauty you were walking toward.

Photographer: Bushra Bashir
Defiant & Different

In the midst of a vibrant field of tulips, a single dandelion stands tall, uninvited, unexpected, but undeniably present.

It might not be what the world traditionally calls beautiful, but it dares to bloom anyway.

This image is a reminder that true beauty lies in difference. Like the dandelion, some of us grow in places we weren't meant to thrive, but we do. We may not always fit the mold, but we are no less radiant.

In a world that often imposes narrow standards of beauty, this dandelion reminds us that standing out is its own kind of strength.

It speaks to all of us who have ever felt out of place, your presence matters, your story is powerful, and your beauty isn't less because it looks different.

It's more because it's yours.

Photographer: Vanessa Wachuku
Beacon of Hope

As you wade through the storms of life that pull you into despair, latching on like strong tentacles, seek solace in knowing that you are not alone as you swim against the torrid currents of trauma.

Focus on the beacon of hope that pierces through the fogs of despair, illuminating a pathway to healing. There is a community standing firm, like the Covehead Harbour Lighthouse unbent against years of hurricanes, waiting on the shorelines for you.

There is Help. There is Hope. There is Healing.

Photographer: Candice Perry
Untitled

I love the beauty of nature and how everything cycles though phases of growth and rest to regenerate with the seasons.

I have not always been a highly successful gardener, but bulbs have always been reliable for me. I plant these in the Fall with hopes of what they will be come Spring, and they always surprise me after resting through a long, grey Winter.

It reminds me to have hope during times that seem dark and dreary, and that renewal comes out of a season of rest.

Remembering the cyclical nature of the seasons of my life reminds me that vibrancy, joy, beauty, and growth are always a possibility.

Photographer: Vanessa Wachuku
Steps Of Healing

The imagery of these steps leading upwards symbolizes healing as healing is not about erasing the past but about finding, discovering and unearthing a new way forward.

I liken the steps to a strong, safe and steady pathway from trauma to healing.

Trauma often feels like an impassable gap, an abyss that divides and separates the past and the future.

The steps represent connection, movement, and the possibility of stepping into something new.

A new upward step, filled with progress, resilience, hope and new possibilities.....

stepping into Healing!

Photographer: Jasonique Moss
Transcending Seasons

For many seasons of my life,

I have been drawn back to this special spot where its enduring beauty surpasses time.

Each visit invites a period of reflection,

and in every season,

I depart

with a renewed determination to foster a serene inner strength that embraces continual introspection, quiet confidence, and unwavering perseverance as I venture forward on my path.

Photographer: Lucky Fusca
Even Monsters Have Mothers

Forget-Me-Not plucked just above a collection of conglomerated stardust.

[today's only task: dive into distraction, try not wonder. try not to judge her. try to keep your molars dull and stitches clean, please try to wince less at the sight of your own smile, you aren't part good / part grief, not some monstrous conglomerate, he never was a part of me, good grief!-

-of course I mean that literally.]

and a bobber my dog thought was a ball.

[fitting how the ones we love so often unknowingly, and at times, even delightfully, bring us buoyancy.]

Photographer: Pam Atkinson
When We Take Back The Night

When you've experienced sexual violence it can be extremely isolating. The shame quiets you and backs you into a corner. You've done nothing wrong but somehow the blame and the shame and the embarrassment are all on you...

And for a time you believe it. For a time, you accept it. For a time, you hide it... and it might be a long, long time.

And then one day - or one night, as it seems - you find yourself in the middle of a crowd of people - just like you... angry like you... sad like you... hurt like you, but unlike you, they are not shamed into hiding. Instead, they are empowered, they are loud, and unlike you, they know your worth whether they know you or not.

As the voices are lifted into the night sky, they seem to take with them the feelings that have hung around your shoulders for a decade or more.

Your voice is no longer quiet because, it is joined, and amplified, by the voice of so many others who stand with you, who hold you up, who fight for you and who are ...you.

The biggest, strongest, loudest, most powerful version of you.

Photographer: Pam Atkinson
Hope Grows In The Strangest Places

Hope grows in places where it doesn't feel like it should. These little plants have sprung up in the cracks of a walkway... Amidst the harsh texture, the unforgiving hardness, the jagged edges and cold surfaces of the stones but they found what they needed to thrive.

In my work and in my personal relationships, I care about so many people that face hardship, trauma, systemic oppression, racism, abuse, loss, addiction, hate, disability, financial instability, homelessness and sometimes all at the same time... Many people think the work I do/have done in supporting those that have been victimized in so many ways is heavy, sad, frustrating and infuriating, and it can be - but it’s also where I find hope.

When you invite survivors into a space where they can be their authentic selves, they gradually build trust and carefully spread their roots; they laugh with the same people they cry with; they encourage their peers to let the light in and find encouragement to do the same and that is exquisitely beautiful.

Seeing smiles traded, hugs offered, connections made, care given, difficult conversations navigated and acceptance shared has given me so much hope in a world that is all too often, known to be too harsh to survive in.

Photographer: A.S. Alexandra
I release

I release the pain caused by those who should have loved me but couldn't
Who greeted me with bullet wounds instead of bandages.
I release this with love

I release the pain I caused myself by
abandoning myself before you ever could
I heard a man behind a pulpit call me an
abomination and I believed him.

I release this with love
I release the world that tells me
I am pretty enough to love in the dark but
not the light
The one you embrace but must erase.
I release this with love