Shelby Lisk Photography

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Shelby Lisk Photography Creative photography, video and writing produced by an Indigenous artist based in Ontario. Environme Hi! I'd love to sit down and talk to you over a cup of tea!

my name is Shelby and I'm a creative photographer based in Ottawa, Ontario. I love what I do and dedicate my life to the pursuit of creating meaningful imagery and documenting life. If you're interested in chatting about photography send me an email, message, or give me a call. follow me on instagram
www.shelbyliskphoto.com

After working as a Parks Canada warden for 14 years, Jeff Beaver returned to his community of Alderville First Nation in...
10/18/2026

After working as a Parks Canada warden for 14 years, Jeff Beaver returned to his community of Alderville First Nation in 1988 and became involved in Manoomin research before moving into full-time monitoring and management of the rice beds in 2008. He maps, restores beds in the surrounding lakes, works to educate and offer hands-on experiences with Manoomin. 

“Jeff Beaver is, for the Mississaugas of Rice Lake, the closest person we have to a ricing chief,” says Caleb Musgrave. “When it comes down to Manoomin in this territory, I defer to Jeff for everything.”

Before the Manoomin was decimated by the Trent-Severn lock system, people would travel by canoe from all over to gather in Rice Lake. Jeff hopes to restore the rice beds to a state where that will be possible again. 

The effects of his work might not be seen right away, but it’s a labour of love and care for the future generations in his community. “Not every seed comes up right away. Even if you don’t see any rice this year, you’ll know it’s all down there. Just wait for the right conditions to come along, and it’ll come back.”
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Spending the last three years learning from Jeff Beaver has been a formative and beautiful journey. Witnessing his care, knowledge, relationships, understandings of the land and water and his passion for Manoomin has made me a better journalist, community member and human being.

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to work alongside community members like Jeff Beaver, Caleb Musgrave and Ryerson Whetung and the curatorial team to develop an exhibition sharing knowledge about Manoomin at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum. The exhibition uses my 2025 Canadian Geographic article as the basis of writing, research and imagery. With the addition of a 6-minute film sharing community harvest, reseeding, and processing of Manoomin. Please take a moment to stop in the next time you’re in Ottawa or take some time to learn about this incredible plant and food source by reading the article or talking to local communities.

Nyá:wen to Biinaagami, Canadian Geographic, and Canada Agriculture and Food Museum for their support of this work.

Learn more about the exhibition at the link in my bio.

I had a great time visiting with artists and art lovers while photographing the Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour for Art Gall...
10/04/2026

I had a great time visiting with artists and art lovers while photographing the Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour for Art Gallery of Peterborough last weekend. I feel most in my element in artist’s studios, chatting about what inspires them and seeing how they surround themselves while creating

Gin, window light, my living room. My sweet friend gin has written her second novel! Gin is one of the most inspirationa...
09/06/2026

Gin, window light, my living room.

My sweet friend gin has written her second novel! Gin is one of the most inspirational creatives and women in my life right now. Whether she’s writing, singing, mothering stray cats, or dreaming up her next creative pursuit, to know her is to love her. And she’s damn talented. Fun, beautiful, and effortlessly coool, she brings light to serious and important issues in her writing, while keeping an admirable sense of hope about her. Do yourself a favour and check out her books, her upcoming music, and all the amazing things coming for this one, including a little somethin’ fun we’re working on together that we’ll announce soon!

Her first novel, In the hands of men, is available in print and audiobook (narrated by Devery Jacobs!!!! Devery Jacobs) and her second book, Medicine for Strength, comes out Sept 22 and is available for pre-order on Audible. Konnorónhkwa onkyátshi! Konra’sé:se

The Tyendinaga powwow weekend is here! I’m sharing the third dancer I photographed for Watershed Magazine. Reegan Starr ...
08/09/2026

The Tyendinaga powwow weekend is here! I’m sharing the third dancer I photographed for Watershed Magazine.

Reegan Starr Maracle Reegan Starr Maracle is a Kanyen’kehá:ka fancy shawl dancer.

After spending years on the road, she felt called to find her place at home again, in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. She has returned to the community, studying language and culture, working with youth, and stepping into the role of youth lead dancer. “I’m working on grounding myself. I want to plant my feet where they are,” she says.

Despite her desire to learn, it is not always easy to find dancers to teach you, so younger generations are sharing and connecting online to learn from one another. She practises by watching reels of different steps on TikTok and YouTube and then replicating those moves in practice sessions at the local gym until they become her own.

She embodies the bright and expressive spirit of fancy shawl dancing. For her, dance represents joy, freedom, and connection to community. “When I’m dancing, whether it’s at the longhouse or at the powwow, I look up to remember I’m doing this for myself and creation. This is reclaiming space.”

Read the full article at the link in my bio or find a copy of Watershed Magazine Watershed Magazine around town if you’re local.

The 39th Annual Tyendinaga Traditional Powwow is taking place this weekend at Tsi Tkerhitó:ton Park and continues tomorrow. Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte

Read the full article at the link in the bio or find a copy of Watershed Magazine around town if you’re local.

With only two days until the Tyendinaga powwow I’m sharing the second dancer I photographed for Watershed Magazine. Kend...
08/06/2026

With only two days until the Tyendinaga powwow I’m sharing the second dancer I photographed for Watershed Magazine.

Kendall Tabobandung kenny tabobandung is a smoke dancer from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory and Wasauksing First Nation. For her, dancing has always been about connecting with family — especially with her father, Victor. As a young girl, she started dancing the fancy shawl, and her dad would help her practise in the weeks leading up to the powwow. “What I liked the most was that my whole family would be down,” she says. “Everybody would come and watch us dance.”

Her body stays upright and controlled, shoulders steady, hands moving in time with the beat. As she spins past, details of the bear paw motif, marking her clan, come into view on her dress. Intricately beaded white flowers adorn her wrist cuffs in the signature raised beadwork of Haudenosaunee regalia, and her long hair is tied back with a floral scarf flowing behind her. “My dad made almost the whole [outfit]. He made my skirt and my leggings, and my sister made my cuffs,” she says. “I don’t like everything matching. I like it when there’s a lot of colour,” she says.

Read the full article at the link in my bio or find a copy of Watershed Magazine around town if you’re local. The 39th Annual Tyendinaga Traditional Powwow will take place this year at Tsi Tkerhitó:ton Park on August 8 and 9. Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte Watershed Magazine

With only a few days until the Tyendinaga powwow, I want to share some images from an article I wrote and photographed f...
08/04/2026

With only a few days until the Tyendinaga powwow, I want to share some images from an article I wrote and photographed for Watershed Magazine’s 100th issue about three Kanyen’kehá:ka women who dance at our powwow. The first dancer is Chelsea Neepin Chelsea Neepin from Fox Lake Cree Nation and Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. Chelsea has been dancing since she was 4 years old and started a powwow dance club at UBC, where she studies.

Every part of her regalia is intentionally chosen. Some pieces are gifted and many are made by family and community members. Her red dress was made by her nohoom in remembrance of her auntie, Joanne Neepin, who passed away when Chelsea was just 11. Her aunt is one of her biggest role models for powwow dancing. One of her earliest memories was dancing at the Toronto powwow with her: “I was right behind her, and I felt so little and like such a baby, but I remember always wanting to aspire to be able to do that. My auntie looked so awesome and powerful and strong in her regalia. That’s what I remember. I would follow her, seeing what kind of person I wanted to become.” Now, when she dances, she puts her thoughts toward Joanne’s memory. “I always think of her when I dance and honour her. That red dress…my nohoom made it for her and for missing and murdered Indigenous women awareness,” she says.

Read the full article at the link in the bio or find a copy of Watershed Magazine around town if you’re local (Congrats to Watershed Magazine on 25 years!!). The 39th Annual Tyendinaga Traditional Powwow will take place this year at Tsi Tkerhitó:ton Park on August 8 and 9. Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte

I am late on sharing this because we are in the midst of a full on pre/teen kiddo summer break over here (!!!), but I’m ...
07/13/2026

I am late on sharing this because we are in the midst of a full on pre/teen kiddo summer break over here (!!!), but I’m still riding high on waking up on my birthday weekend to the news of my photo on the cover of the Saturday Globe and Mail! I never imagined my first A1 would be a giant lion head - but here’s to many more surprises in the coming years in this wacky and wonderful career.

But in all seriousness, I was honoured to bring visuals to this important story by Jenn Thornhill Verma and very grateful to have collaborated on this with two very talented and generous women Jenn Thornhill Verma and Clare Vander Meersch.

“Behind a series of locked doors in a secret location near Canada’s capital is one of its most unusual inventories,” writes Thornhill Verma.



“Some items arrived from abroad: rhino horns, carved elephant ivory, shark fins, corals and tropical hardwoods. Others originated in Canada: a partially taxidermied polar bear pelt, narwhal tusks, black bear gallbladders and wild ginseng roots.



Together, they are the standouts among thousands of seized wildlife parts – the physical ledger of a global black market in wild animals and plants that most Canadians don’t know reaches their doorstep.”

Surfaced: Tracking Arctic Wildlife from Legal Harvest to Illegal Markets.



Canada has long cast itself as a bystander to illegal wildlife trade. The Globe and Mail’s investigation found the opposite: the country is both a source and a destination, propped up by vast wilderness, patrol blind spots, and penalties so weak that for some traffickers, breaking the law is cheaper than compliance.

The longer arc of this series follows how legally harvested Arctic wildlife — species like polar bear and narwhal that Indigenous communities have the right to hunt and trade — enters illegal markets, raising questions about traceability, treaty rights, subsistence, and who bears the burden when the system fails.

Keep your eye out for more from Jenn in this series.

Link to this story in my bio.

Very excited and honoured to share that our film, Nivingajuliat, has been selected to play at imagineNATIVE film festiva...
05/25/2026

Very excited and honoured to share that our film, Nivingajuliat, has been selected to play at imagineNATIVE film festival as a part of the shorts program “Revitalized Legends”, on June 4 and will also be available through their online programming on June 8. 

Nivingajuliat (meaning wall hanging in Inuktitut) follows my talented friend  making one of her latest wall hangings sharing the story of the sea goddess, Sedna, but updated through her own lens making the heroines in her artwork self-sufficient, empowered women, free from violence. Coming from a legacy of renowned artists, she reflects on continuing and updating traditions passed down in her great grandmother (Jessie Oonark) and grandmother’s (Victoria Mamnguqsualuk) artwork. Nyá:wen to  for their support in the creation of this film for their ongoing series “Artists at Agnes” and  for her beautiful cinematography and mentorship 💖

Link in my bio for screening details.

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Unceded Algonquin Territory
Ottawa, ON

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Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
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