PrimeTime Magazine PrimeTime Summer 2018 | Page 11

were life-changing. He rented a
truck to see more of the continent,
instead he saw people. “I’m a
portrait photographer,” he says,
“and I wanted to go into villages
and document people and I saw
people struggling and starving
and that spoke to me.”
He recalls an 87-year old woman
who was raising 18 orphans and
one little girl, Sandoui, who at age
eight “told me if she could have a
school she could learn to read and
write and when she was an adult
she could take care of her people.
I fell in love with these people. I
didn’t go there with the intention
of building schools or starting
Cameras for Healing, but that’s
what happened.”
He’s since returned 28 times,
built schools, including one in
the village where Sandoui’s now
a teacher and initiated Cameras
for Healing in other areas to help
former child soldiers and AIDS
orphans. Participants receive
new cameras, are taught how
to use them and are encouraged
to talk about their emotions
when sharing photographs and
through the process develop
confidence and self-esteem. It’s
an approach Henri has used since
in earthquake-ravaged Haiti and at
the Moncton Boys & Girls Club in
the My Story project.
“Now we’re taking it to another
level with Images of Dignity,” he
says. “Through the YWCA we’ll
pair young women in their 20’s
going through difficult situations,
who’ve been mistreated and
struggling, with retired seniors,
people who’ve dedicated their
lives to helping others through
their work and are asking
‘Now what?’”
“Everyone will have the same
camera, so they’re
on an equal field and
they’ll get assignments
and talk about their
photographs. Why did
you photograph yellow?
There’s a reason. Why
did you get interested
in photographing a boat
but then photographed
the reflection? It’s
to get people to talk
about their feelings
and emotions and
talk to each other
‘Little Student’, in one of the schools
about themselves and
Cameras for Healing has built. Port-Salut,
then after they get to
Haiti, 2013. CREDIT: MAURICE HENRI
know each other we’ll
graduate to some
studio portrait work
that will take Images
of Dignity to another
level. And we’ll add
kids from the My
Story project, so we’ll
have young teens,
women in their 20’s
and seniors coming
together, talking about
emotions and the
camera will be
their voice.”
Meanwhile he’s
stretching his artistic
No. 2 from Vanishing Souls series. “My work is
practice to its limits, about time and time is undoubtedly about onward
pushing the
movement.” (Note: PrimeTime is honoured to be
boundaries to
the first to show work from this series which has
explore esoteric
not yet been exhibited.)
concepts surrounding
CREDIT: MAURICE HENRI © 2018
the nature of time
and reality and the
and different lighting, but
notion of oneness. “I’m calling it
everything is blending within
Vanishing Souls and it is way out
in left field,” he admits. “I’m going each other and disappearing
deep into my roots with technology and emerging as one. You can
recognize things in it, yet it’s
and understanding the camera and
abstract and it’s taking me to a
doing multiple exposures on one
frame. I include a form or shape of whole other place as I continue
a figure and something from nature to work it out.”
SUMMER/ÉTÉ 2018 PrimeTime
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