Let the Sky Shake

Lisa Boivin is a member of the Denin K’ue First Nation in the Northwest Territories. She paints image-based stories that explore the gap between medical and land-based, Dene ethics. She is a bioethics specialist and holds a Masters in Medical Studies and Doctorate in Philosophy. She is currently completing a Post-Doctorate Research Fellowship in Rehabilitation Sciences.

“Academics often want you to give an absolute, sweeping bioethical answer that fits into all circumstances, but there are certain land-based ethics that can’t be held in academic language,” she says. “So I translate them through painting. I situate my Dene experience and perspective in the paintings, and then I extract the story.”