Human rights through photographer's lens the focus of new CMHR photo exhibit
CBC News | Posted: May 3, 2017 9:13 PM | Last Updated: May 3, 2017
Points of View display to mark Canada 150 this summer at Canadian Museum for Human Rights
How can you capture human rights through the lens of a camera?
That's the question Points of View, a new exhibit of photography from across Canada at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, asks.
After reviewing 984 submissions, the Winnipeg museum is featuring the 70 photographs, including 12 by Manitoba photographers, chosen by a jury.
Madelaine Toupin, 17, is one of the Manitoban photographers whose work was selected for the show.
She was at a loss for words when she found out her work was going to be featured in the show.
"I read the email and I didn't even believe it. I read it, like, four times," she said.
Her photo is a picture of a dilapidated house in Newfoundland and Labrador's Torngat Mountains National Park.
It's one of the last remaining homes of a former Inuit community that was forced to relocate by the provincial government in the 1950s.
"It's definitely a powerful picture," Toupin said. "It had just been abandoned."
Many of the descendants of those who were forced to relocate still have trouble talking about it. The government has since apologized.
"It was a very difficult experience being there because it was so sad," she said.
Points of View is in honour of Canada 150 and opens on June 23 and runs until Feb. 4, 2018.