Rena Effendi

Photographer

refendi.com

Spirit Lake

Location: Istanbul, Turkey

Nationality: Azerbaijan

Biography: Rena Effendiâ€™s early work focused on oil industryâ€™s effects on peopleâ€™s lives. As a result, she followed a 1,700 km oil pipeline through Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, collecting stories along the way. This work was published in 2009... MORE

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Young boy playing in the dried up bushes along the shore of Spirit Lake. Located in an isolated and economically languishing area of North Dakota, Spirit Lake is a Sioux Indian reservation home to some 2,500 inhabitants. The community members are struggling with poverty, high unemployment rate, staggering at 50%, endemic alcoholism and meth epidemic. Inordinate alcohol consumption, soaring meth addiction rates, depression and neglect lead to abuse, death from overdose or accidents, and finally suicide with rates among the highest in America. August 2014

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Children playing in a truck in Fort Totten, Spirit Lake. North Dakota. August 2014

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Kara Shaw, 19 years old, posing for her prom picture with her daughter Lillian Shaw, 4 years old, at the prom night in Four Winds high school. Teen pregancies are common on Spirit Lake. Fort Totten, Spirit Lake Reservation, North Dakota, USA. April, 2013

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Myrna and her boyfriend Richard at their friend's home. Myrna lost her own home 10 years ago to a fire accident and has been homeless ever since, staying at friends and family homes on the reservation. St. Michaels, Spirit Lake, North Dakota. April, 2013

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Myrna and Richard in St. Michaels. Richard is currently serving a prison term for driving under the influence of alcohol and running over a toddler in a car accident, which resulted in the child's death. Spirit Lake. North Dakota. August 2014

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Dominique Brien and her sister Tia are practicing for the POW WOW dance in Grand Forks, North Dakota. April 2013

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Shawncina in a corn field. Both of Shawncina's parents have passed away due to alcohol related illnesses. Crow HIll, Spirit Lake. North Dakota. August, 2014

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Swamps around the Spirit Lake reservation. North Dakota. August 2014

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Felicia Owlboy, age 19, at her aunt Jada's home in St. Michaels. The tattoo on her arm is dedicated to her father who hung himself when Felicia was 15 years old. She found her father in the basement and cut the ropes. In 2020 Felicia passed away after struggling with depression and substance abuse for years. Spirit Lake, North Dakota. April, 2013

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Dasan Cavanaugh, age 10, has not cut his hair since he was born. St. Michaels, Spirit Lake, North Dakota. April, 2013

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Broken discarded car near a home in St. Michaels, Spirit Lake Reservation. North Dakota, April 2013

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Children playground in Fort Totten ghetto. Spirit Lake, North Dakota. April, 2013

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Shauncina Lovejoy, age 12 hugging her aunt Jada Longie 39 y.o. near the Crow Hill Sun Dance grounds. "I can take you in, my girl..." Jada says to Shauncina. Spirit Lake, North Dakota. April, 2013

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Anna's deer heads. Crow Hill, Spirit Lake Reservation, North Dakota. April, 2013

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Jada burning sweet grass to ‘sage’ the kids and cast away evil spirits. In shortage of support services for victimes of abuse, local community members use traditional spiritual practicies to overcome trauma. St. Michaels, Spirit Lake. North Dakota. August 2014

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Jada's friend and flat mate Sacheene Thompson, a mother of three. Raped by a family member at age 11, she was told not to report it. The perpetrator was never arrested and the incident was "hushed". At some point Sacheene even had to face her offender everyday at work. "We would have meetings where the employees had to sit together. Instead of sitting on this side, he would sit right across from me and stare at me. And that would just make me want to puke. Like all the therapy that i went through as a teenager into adulthood it was all thrown out the window in five minutes". St. Michaels, Spirit Lake. North Dakota. August 2014

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Sacheen with her three daughters. St. Michaels, Spirit Lake. North Dakota. August 2014

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Sacheen and her boyfriend Rob outside their home in St. Michaels, Spirit Lake. They live on what the community members call the "Meth Lane" due to widespread methamphetamine use on their street in St. Michaels, as well as other towns in Spirit Lake. August 2018

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Broken TV set thrown out to the front yard of a home in Fort Totten "Ghetto". Fort Totten, Spirit Lake, North Dakota. April 2013

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Taylor Anderson, age 8, watching TV with her mother Casey Lovejoy, 33, at her aunt's home in St. Michaels. Spirit Lake, North Dakota. April, 2013

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Devil's Lake surrounding the Spirit Lake Reservation, frozen six month out of the year. Spirit Lake. North Dakota. April 2013

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Jordyn braids her mother Jayda's hair in the morning at grandpa Frank's home in St. Michaels. Spirit Lake. August 2018

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Kiera 12 y.o. daughter of Sacheen Thompson. St. Michaels, Spirit Lake. August 2018

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Many homes in Spirit Lake are subject for demolition due to disrepair and people unable to keep up with the maintenance costs while in 2017 alone there were 167 registered homeless families in a community of little over 2000 residents. Spirit Lake ND. August 2018

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Sun Dance dress. St. Michaels. Spirit Lake. ND. August 2018

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Boy dressed in his eagle wings Pow Wow dancer outfit. St. Michaels. Spirit Lake. ND. August 2018

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Brennan at home in his room surrounded by the posters of his favorite movies and videogames. "It feels sometimes enclosed. Especially with tradition or race, people seem to have a negative outlook of native americans. The ugliest word is "savage", but because of our history and struggle for survival, people made bad choices in life and it makes the best of us look bad, it generalizes us. Tradition holds us back sometimes. Our culture is beautiful, but it sometimes keeps us from evolving. Sometimes we have to do things in the 'old ways' and stick around family, but family can hold you back too. Some people feel like they can't do much around here. You never see much about native americans in the media, unless it's controversial. Because we don't see our people repesented like everyone else, it makes us feel that we can't be great too. In this age its all about the internet and social media, you want to be 'that' person. But we don't see 'us' there. People lump us into cultural stereotypes but there are different people, different languages, we don't all just run around with bow and arrow and sit around in tippees. We need to stop holding ourselves back and go beyond of where we are. We were open to them, but they gave us diseases, we were forced to learn their tongues, we were forced to get our haircuts and forced to leave our beliefs and culture behind and then left to rot on reservations. All that bitterness got passed on to the next generations. Before we were peaceful and honorable, we still have our honor, but we are very bitter. I want people to see us as very much part of the society. We just want to be just like everybody else." St. Michaels, Spirit Lake. August 2018

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Felicia shows her tatoos, one is dedicated to her girlfriend C who died in a car crash. She had meth in her car and was running from police when the accident took place. The tatoo on Felicia's right shoulder is dedicated to her father who committed suicide by hanging, which she had witnessed at age 14. St. Michaels. In 2020 Felicia passed away after struggling with depression and substance abuse for years. Spirit Lake ND. August 2018

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St. Michaels. Spirit Lake. August 2018

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Darian Charboneau 22 y.o. and her fiancee in the fields in front of their home. Darian works as a Youth Suicide Prevention Coordinator at the Tribal Council in Spirit Lake. North Dakota state has the highest suicide rate in America and Native American suicide rates are 1.5 higher than the national average. Darian's mother Robin Poor Bear, who struggled with depression passed away in 2015. Spirit Lake, ND. August 2018

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Jason waking up in his room at Jayda's home. Spirit Lake. August 2018

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Harley and Hayden attend their brother Hunter Lovejoy's grave. Hunter passed away by hanging himself when he was thirteen years old. The brothers visit his grave frequently, the cross is adorned with his baseball cap and the name of his favorite basketball team. Spirit Lake. August 2018

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Harley Lovejoy, age 15 is in Jayda's custody since his brother Hunter's suicide. Harley has been frequently found sniffing gasoline in the woods of St. Michaels. Spirit Lake. ND.

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St. Michaels "meth lane" a street nicknamed for its reputation for the widespread use of meth. Spirit Lake ND. August 2018

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Harley Lovejoy, age 15 is in Jayda's custody since his brother Hunter's suicide. Harley has been frequently found sniffing gasoline in the woods of St. Michaels. Spirit Lake. ND.

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Private Story

Spirit Lake

Updated Jan 2021

Topics Abuse, Children, Community, Crime, Discrimination, Documentary, Domestic Violence, Drug Abuse, Editorial, Family, Gender, Hope, Human Rights, Isolation, Love, Media, Mental Illness, Minority, Motherhood, Oppression, Photography, Photojournalism, Portraiture, Poverty, Rape, Relationships, Spirituality, Youth

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