This exhibition in Quebec brings together for the first time the work of every member of the Collectif Boréal, founded in 2010. Ten photographers, ten excerpts of their individual projects, one goal: to shed light on social injustices and raise awareness about inequality.
Based in Toronto, and with members in several countries, the collective worked with Clare Vander Meersch, photo editor of the magazine Report on Business, for the exhibition Tension, which reflects Boréal’s commitment to the oppressed peoples of North and South America, especially the indigenous communities of Canada, victims of mining companies and industrial expansion.
Laurence Butet-Roch, an independent photo editor and an active member of the collective, oversaw the exhibition design in order to remain faithful to an earlier, print edition featuring the same works, commissioned by Vander Meersch. Butet-Roch is exhibiting an outline of her project, Our Grandfathers Were Chiefs, about the problems faced by the younger generation of an Aboriginal community in Ontario.
Two of the collective’s founders were on hand for the event: Aaron Vincent Elkaim with his series, Sleeping with the Devil, about the threat of predatory multinationals to Fort McKay, and Ian Willms, whose photographs invite us across the Canadian-American border aboard a Greyhound bus. The journey is both sweet and disturbing, telling the story of a changing society.
FESTIVAL
ZOOM PHOTO FESTIVAL SAGUENAY
TENSION – COLLECTIF BORÉAL
Espace Atrium
150, rue Racine Est
Chicoutimi
Thursday and Friday – 12:00-6pm – Saturday and Sunday 10am – 4pm
www.borealcollective.com
