Residential School
by Doug Matthews
Title
Residential School
Artist
Doug Matthews
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
The remains of one of the residential schools in Alert Bay on Cormorant Island, just off the northern end of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. An excellent museum, the U'mista Cultural Centre, is nearby and explains what happened during the period the schools were operating.
As of 2015, this building no longer exists so this is a true reminder of the history of the area and of the residential school system.
These two images depict my interpretation of what it must have been like for the children in the schools. First, they were removed from their parents and culture and perhaps their only ray of hope was looking out the windows at the scenes of natural beauty that reminded them of home. Perhaps they also thought of escape and how they might achieve that, maybe even in a traditional dugout canoe...
Uploaded
October 25th, 2014
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Comments (13)
Murray Rudd
Congratulations on being featured in the FAA Group 'Promote Your Work Here and Get Noticed.' To ensure your feature remains available over time, post your featured image(s) in the Group's featured image archive (l/f and pinned, www.pinterest.ca/tendrelimages/00-promote-your-work-here-get-noticed/)
Doug Matthews
Thank you everyone for your comments. I did not know when I took the images that the building would soon thereafter be demolished. As it turns out, I'm really glad I took this series.
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