News
Steve Malloy -- Times & Transcript
‘Nothing interesting ever happens in Moncton,’ I’ve heard people say, but you’d be shocked at what you might find if you do a little digging.
A couple of months ago I took my kids to the Moncton Library. As is standard fare for my two adventurers, we have to walk around as much of the Blue Cross building as humanly possible before we finally make it to the boys actually going to the library to choose some books. Near a bank of elevators there were some stunning portrait photos that stopped me dead in my tracks.
Having purchased a DSLR camera in the last year, I have been trying to learn as much as I can about the art of photography and I find myself looking at many photos now with a more clinical eye; really figuring out the technical side of how the photos were taken. These ones were different, though, and hit me on a very emotional level because every photograph seemed to speak to me and tell a story about the individual that the image had captured.
The photographer was credited as Maurice Henri, a Moncton native, and I jotted the name down to look up on the Internet when I got home. I found Mr. Henri’s website and browsed his galleries.
Like many other talented photographers in the Moncton area, Mr. Henri had some amazing shots in his portfolio and it was through my efforts to find more that I really discovered where Mr. Henri’s true talent lies.
Mr. Henri is the founder of a group called Cameras for Healing; a not-for-profit, volunteer based organization that was founded in 2002. In its infancy, Cameras for Healing was an art workshop designed to help cancer patients and survivors deal with the weight of their illness. Over the last 13 years, through the support of the program’s volunteers, various businesses and local community leaders, Cameras for Healing has provided cameras and technical assistance to many varied segments of the population and has accomplished some amazing things.
The goal of the Cameras for Healing program is to provide different groups of people, who may not normally have the opportunity, with the ability to express themselves through the art of photography. The program has seen participants here at home and in developing countries abroad taking part in large scale projects that enable them to see their world in new and creative ways. What interested me most, though, is the work the program has done with local at-risk youth and how it has given many the tools to see their surroundings more positively while connecting with new role models as they progress on their artistic journey.
The program’s upcoming endeavour
– The My Story Project – nearly blew me right out of my chair.
A local group from Cameras for Healing will be pairing up with another group that Mr. Henri is affiliated with in Haiti; one that consists of youth who lost limbs in the devastating earthquake of 2010. The local kids, who are often underprivileged and who battle a myriad of issues including poverty, bullying and unstable home environments, will be given cameras in an effort to build self-esteem and confidence through art while their Haitian counterparts will be going through the very same exercise.
Starting in January, the two groups will begin communicating over Skype
– and that’s where the real magic begins to happen. Another local group called Sistema NB – that teaches kids music and runs an after-school orchestra program – has been brought into the project, and the almost 100 youth orchestra members will learn parts of a Beethoven Symphony.
The Cameras for Healing groups will also study the piece of music and use it to inspire their photographic journey. The ultimate goal is a public concert in June of 2016 where the group photographs will be unveiled while the Sistema orchestra plays the Symphony as a backdrop.
What’s even better is that this will be a free event.
I, admittedly, don’t get out to as many cultural events in this city as I would like – but this is something I wouldn’t miss for the world.
It sometimes seems our nature is to criticize everything we disagree with; in doing so we sometimes miss out on the stunning things that are happening right under our noses. This project that Mr. Henri has spearheaded would capture attention in some of the world’s biggest cities and it’s happening right here in Metro.
Please visit Mr. Henri’s website at www.camerasforhealing.com or visit the Cameras for Healing Facebook group and learn about the great work being accomplished with some of our area’s most vulnerable youth. Please do everything you can to let news of this project spread because this is a perfect example of someone doing great things with the people who matter most in our community; our kids.
I look forward to following this endeavour and I wish Mr. Henri and his team of volunteers the best of luck. You folks are doing this city proud and showing a new generation that there is true beauty in art.
If there’s anything we need, it’s more beauty.
STEVE MALLOY steve.malloy@gmail.com Steve Malloy is a retail manager and freelance writer who lives in Moncton. Sorting It Out appears every Monday.
