Thank you to the generous donors whose contributions and belief in my work enabled me to have this extraordinary experience.

Thank you to the Captain, crew, and residents of The Arctic Circle Residency. I continue to be blown away by your artistry, your dedication, your sense of place, and your hearts.

Thank you to my family whose love and support have nurtured me into the person I am today. I can’t imagine life with y’all.

Thank you to Paul for being my companion, my partner, my compass.

Thank you to my mother for instilling in her children the value of curiosity and for loving us fiercely even beyond the grave. I carry you with me always.

Thank you to the Sami people who have been stewarding and caring for the Land in Northern Norway for centuries.

And finally, thank you to the Land, the Sea, the Wildlife, the Air of the High Arctic. You broke my heart wide open.

Fragments from the Arctic explores themes of grief, loss, and healing with the planet. As studies continue to show the alarming rate at which the Arctic is melting, it can be hard to not feel overwhelmed or hopeless.

By connecting with others and sharing our feelings of grief and anxiety, we can begin to process the hard feelings and create communities of resilience.

The organizations below are doing incredible work to help build and support compassionate, resilient communities, grounded in love for our planet.

Good Grief Network

“Good Grief Network is a nonprofit organization that brings people together to metabolize collective grief, eco-distress, and other heavy emotions that arise in response to daunting planetary crises.

Using a 10-Step approach inspired by the Adult Children of Alcoholics model, we run peer-to-peer support groups that help folks recognize, feel, and process their heavy emotions, so that these feelings may be transformed into meaningful action.”

Anyone is welcome to sign up for a GGN 10-Step Program held virtually or in person. Information on how to host a GGN 10-Step Program in your own community is also found on their website.

Join or learn more about GGN:
https://www.goodgriefnetwork.org/

Eco-Anxious Stories

“We work with individuals, groups, and institutions to bring forward tools, conversations, and stories about mental health and climate change. Our lens on these topics emphasizes collective action and social justice. Work with us as a storyteller, or collaborate with our creative team for a workshop or partner project. In addition to coaching people through their stories, we provide a wide range of communications, strategy, and content development services.”

Using the power of storytelling, Eco-Anxious Stories is a welcoming community there to help others feel not so alone in our worries and fears about the Climate Crisis.

Learn more and get involved with Eco-Anxious Stories:
https://ecoanxious.ca/

Utilize this library of meditation videos from the Norwegian Arctic to be in presence and breath with the Land.

Listen to this library of all audio used throughout the journal, including a full-length version.

Lisa Kitchens is a multidisciplinary artist, nature-based educator, and student of Nature. She originally hails from Georgia (the traditional, unceded land of the Muscogee Nation), where she grew up in small towns across the state. Her work explores the intersection of the arts and Nature, and she takes particular interest in the connection we have to the other-than-human world as well as the interconnectedness of communities around the world. Lisa is the founder of Earth Stories Initiative, an initiative that uses storytelling and art to connect young children living in cities to the natural world. She was a 2018 recipient of the Voices of the Wilderness Artist Residency through the USDA Forest Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service on Togiak National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Her original play, The Edge of the Earth, was created and developed from her time spent in Alaska and was performed at the Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art and Storytelling in 2019. She has facilitated numerous workshops with children from around the country exploring relationships with and responsibility to Place. Lisa holds an MFA from the American Conservatory Theater and a BFA from The University of Evansville. www.lisakitchens.com

The Arctic Circle Residency is an international residency program that brings artists, scientists, and educators together to collectively explore the high-Arctic Svalbard Archipelago and the Arctic Ocean aboard a specially outfitted Barquentine sailing vessel. Lisa attended the residency in April of 2022 with 25 other artists and scientists from around the world.

More information on future publications by Lisa coming soon.

Visit Lisa’s Medium page for more writings.

All words, images, and videos are by Lisa Kitchens and protected under copyright. © Fragments from the Arctic by Lisa Kitchens

Fragments from the Arctic is a deeply personal journey through grief. If you would like to reach out and share your own story of grief or simply connect, please email Lisa at fragmentsfromthearctic@gmail.com