At McMichael’s Gallery

 

Opening Saturday, May 11

People of the Watershed: Photographs by John Macfie May 11 to November 17, 2024 People of the Watershed: Photographs by John Macfie gathers more than 100 photographs taken by John Macfie (1925–2018), a settler trapline manager who worked in Northern Ontario in the 1950s and 1960s. Macfie photographed life in Anishinaabe, Cree, and Anisininew communities during a period of intense and rapid change. The people and places of Attawapiskat, Sandy Lake, Mattagami, and other communities across the Hudson’s Bay watershed are revealed through his lens in ways that emphasize the warmth and continuity of community life. Curated by nîpisîhkopâwiyiniw (Willow Cree) curator, writer, journalist, cultural advocate, and commentator Paul Seesequasis, the exhibition centers the lives and resiliency of the Indigenous people represented, many of whom have been identified by Macfie and Seesequasis. People of the Watershed: Photographs by John Macfie is presented by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in partnership with CONTACT Photography Festival.

"Here, Seesequasis tells us the stories behind some of the exhibit’s most revelatory images. 'Macfie’s photos are special because he went on week-long trips into bush country as part of his job,” he says. 'He was out there living on the land with locals, not a photographer just flying in and out.'" Danielle Paradis, "A Voyage to the North", Maclean's

Curatorial Talk | People of the Watershed: Photographs by John Macfie Saturday, May 11, 2024 | 2 PM