Amber Bracken, a Canadian photographer, won the prestigious World Press Photo award on Thursday for her striking image of red clothes hanging on crosses on a road, with a rainbow in the background.
This photo was published by New York Times and describes tributes to children who died at the Kamloops, BC residential school.
World Jury President Rena Effendi said the photo is one that imprints on memory and inspires a kind of sensory response. In his view, the photo of Ms. Bracken is the history of colonization, not just in Canada, but around the world.
In 2017, Amber Bracken won first prize in the category contemporary issues of the contest for photos of demonstrators against the Dakota Access Pipeline, in the state of North Dakota.
The World Press Photo award came to him less than a week after Pope Francis apologized to Indigenous Peoples, Métis and Inuit for the abuses suffered at Catholic residential schools in Canada, and apologized to them.
Last May, Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Nation announced the discovery of 215 graves near Kamloops, British Columbia. Other similar sites have been discovered elsewhere in Canada.
The winning World Press Photo photos were selected from 64,823 photos from 130 countries.
Source: Radio-Canada