Fotoeins Fotografie

Fotoeins Friday: “Salish Girl,” by Susan Point

By fotoeins on 30 Jul 2021

On the Point Grey campus of the University of British Columbia stands the Reconciliation Pole, carved by Haida hereditary chief and master carver 7idansuu (Edenshaw), known also by James Hart. The pole was raised on 1 April 2017 in a grand ceremony.

Above the “residential school” are several standing figures holding each other’s hands; a young girl with a bright red tunic was carved by Susan Point. Their feet aren’t shown, representing the lack of grounding and abundance of abuse. A blight on the nation’s history, the Canadian government stole an estimated 150-thousand indigenous children from their families, forcing them into residential schools across the country. Countless people, family generations, and once intact regional cultures were systematically destroyed, amounting to a state-sanctioned program of cultural genocide.

The Reconciliation People is a small step in not only an admission of guilt, but a part of the forward-moving process of remembrance by Canadians and reconciliation between First Nations and the national government.

I made the photo above on 22 Aug 2019 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens 18.5/28 prime with settings 1/280-sec, f/16, and ISO1000. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-kBS.