A New Denver photographer is among 51 photographers across the country to be selected for a Canada 150 exhibition titled Points of View, hosted by the Canadian Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg, Man.
The exhibit tells stories of passion, protest, friendship, family, struggle, suffering, hope, hunger, and more.
Three of Carla Nemiroff’s photos will be among 70 on display in the Museum’s Level 1 Gallery starting June 3.
Nemiroff heard through social media that the museum was looking for photos for the exhibit, and felt her work could add to it.
“I have quite a body of work of human rights related images, so I felt I could contribute to this sort of exhibition, so I just sort of jumped at it,” she said. “You don’t often get calls for submissions for human rights.”
Nemiroff submitted 18 photos, and three were selected.
The first is Kanien’kehá:ka Elders, 1991. In the photo Kanien’kehá:ka Elders Walter David Senior and Bob Skidders march through Oka, Que. a year after the Oka Crisis. The crisis started on July 11, 1990 and ended Sept. 26 that same year. It sparked a decade of Indigenous resistance to the exploitation of unceded territories across Canada. The two elders carry the flag of the Iroquois Six Nations Confederacy.
“I heard a comment from another Mohawk leader from that community who mentioned that when she went to the museum, she was disappointed that she did not see any reference in that museum to Oka, because this was a very important event in Canadian history,” said Nemiroff. “I felt that by entering this photo, I was kind of vindicating that, and there’s a record of that event in the museum, and I thought it was an important thing to do to honour Walter David Sr. and Bob Skidders.”
Her second photo is titled Demanding Affordable Housing and dates back to 1986 in Montreal.
The photo features residents of Montreal demonstrating in front on City Hall, demanding affordable housing. In the mid-1980s rental housing for lower income Montrealers was becoming unaffordable for many because of the rise in gentrification and condominium development.
The final photo is Marching for Food Safety and dates to 1999.
Many protested in Seattle, Wash. over the use of Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) in American cattle. About 60,000 people marched through the streets to protest its use and the actions of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO penalizes countries who ban the importation of meat that has BGH through heavy fines.
“That’s the kind of photography I like to do, that’s my style,” she said. “I like to tell stories with the pictures. In terms of documenting political events that become historic I like to provide a photo and I like to provide a text which puts it into context.”
Nemiroff is very excited to be a part of the exhibition, and said she feels honoured and very flattered, and is very happy to be able to contribute her images.
“As time goes by, I realized I’ve lived through events and whole movements, and activism, and issues that were prominent at one time, and it’s good to bring that back and say ‘Remember this?’ and there’s a continuity of a movement that started way back when and is continuing today,” she concluded. “To provide these images helps with that continuity.”
Photos in the exhibit can also be voted on. The photographer who receives the most votes will win a cash prize of $2,000. All a person has to do is click on the heart on the top, left-hand side of the photo.
The photos can be found at: https://photo.humanrights.ca/photocontest/latest/
