Nuit Blanche exhibit captures spirit of northern Ontario First Nations

Up North7:45Red Cross photos of James Bay communities in Nuit Blanche

At Nuit Blanche this year, visitors will be able to see first hand what life looks like on the James Bay Coast.

A Scottish-born photographer who spent several days taking pictures on the James Bay coast in 2011 will have his work featured at a Toronto art show, Nuit Blanche, this weekend.

Johan Hallberg-Campbell, who has lived in Canada since 2007, became involved as a volunteer with the Red Cross when he worked in Toronto. He said the Red Cross approached him about going to Attawapiskat to document the housing crisis. He agreed, and bunked in with a supply plane to make the trip.

“I was there up in Timmins when they were preparing the planes with cargo and supplies to go to Attawapiskat and eventually, when there was room, I got on one of those planes."

It was a little bit of a shock for me ... to see the shortage of housing- Johan Hallberg Campbell, photographer

Hallberg-Campbell said that trip was the first time he had ever visited a First Nations community. He stayed in Attawapiskat for about six days.

“Being from Scotland [and] living in a big city like Toronto, it was probably the most remote place I’ve ever been,” he said. “I didn’t know what to expect.”

The situation in the community was quite dire when he arrived.

“It was a little bit of a shock for me … as a foreigner coming in and to see the shortage of housing, and that some people were having to sleep in make-shift tarp tents,” he said. “It was sad to see that.”

Despite the housing crisis, Hallberg-Campbell said Attawapiskat is a beautiful place.

“It really affected me as an artist and as a person and photographer,” he said. “I got to know quite a few people there.”

He said it was a unique opportunity to learn about First Nation culture and said the community’s connection to the land and nature really resonated with him.

Hallberg-Campbell says his exhibit at Nuit Blance captures the strength and spirit of Northern Ontario First Nations, including Attawapiskat and Moose Cree.

According to Hallberg Campbell's website bio, his work explores what it means to belong to a community and have traditions rooted in heritage, and alternatively what happens when one's "place" is altered, removed, distorted and shifted.

Hallberg-Campbell is also a member of The Boreal Collective, a group of photojournalists dedicated to the documentation of injustice and inequities that exist environmentally, socially, culturally and politically in Canada and abroad.

His exhibition in Toronto will be shown as an outdoor billboard installation at King and John Streets.