Portraits of Quebec City mosque shooting survivors featured at World Press Photo Exhibition
Montreal-based photographer Alexandre Champagne took pictures of the survivors to 'help them have a voice'
When Montreal-based photographer Alexandre Champagne heard about the 2017 Quebec City Mosque shooting, he felt like he had to do something to help.
He started a Go Fund Me campaign to help those affected by the shooting. His goal was to raise $5,000, but after two weeks, Champagne collected $42,000 for the survivors and the victims' families.
That's when he decided he wanted to do a series of portraits of some of the survivors of the tragedy.
"I want to help people have a voice when they can't have one.…I'm just taking my talent and the visibility I have to give it to other people who need it more than me."
Champagne's photographs are now on display at the World Press Photo 2018 Exhibition until Sept. 30 at Marché Bonsecours.
Champagne, who is this year's spokesperson for the exhibition, has taken part in the event since it was first in Montreal in 2006.
This is a big event… What speaks to you about it?
What speaks to me is that I feel connected with the world when I go there. I feel that we're not alone. Some people go through big crises and they're resilient and tough.
I call it the annual privilege check as well because you become the witness of why you are lucky to be here in safety, and being able to eat everyday and being able to go see an exhibition where they show you how the world is wrong and going mad.
The pictures are so beautiful in some cases, you almost wonder whether they're real or not.
All of them are taken live, none of them are staged except for some portraits where the photographer asked the subject to be there.
There's a series about girls kidnapped by Boko Haram to be suicide bombers. They are beautiful pictures but, at the same time, they reveal something very terrible: young girls from the age of 15 to 20 years old are being kidnapped and they transform them into suicide bombers. Those girls in particular were able to escape and get help and so they survived.
That's what's beautiful. They have these girls in their veils, and with super beautiful cozy backgrounds and beautiful lights and it's just amazing how you can have a contrast in those photos.
There's a photograph of a man who's almost completely on fire.
This is the photo of the year. It was taken in Venezuela, in the crisis. He just received a Molotov cocktail and the photographer just turned around and this guy was running. He was on fire. He survived but he had third-degree burns on 70 per cent of his body.The picture is amazing and tragic and terrible at the same time.
At this year's Photos, you have a contribution from your own work.
On Jan. 29, 2017, some guy enters a mosque in Quebec and shoots people there and kills six fathers.…I was very shocked at the time. My daughter was 1 year old and I felt for those people losing their dads.
What spoke to the photographer inside you?
In the actual political climate, these people are getting bashed over and over because of their religion. Religious freedom is part of the Constitution, and I would like to see people come at ease with the fact that they're from a different country…just that they understand those people, where they come from, why they're here and why their religion isn't dangerous to our culture here in Quebec.
What was it like photographing them?
It was very tough… I was very emotionally engaged in that story because they were fathers. I had just had a baby when that happened. I was thinking about me and I would imagine my daughter without her father because of an act like this, and it made me very, very, very sad.
Which photo are you most proud of?
The one of Aymen Derbali, the one who threw himself in front of his friends.… The fact that I was lower than eyesight makes him look like a monument, which he is. When you talk about Aymen in the community, everyone looks to the sky and prays every time you say his name. He's a hero now for the community but he was also very engaged in the community before, so this event hasn't changed him.
The World Press Photo 2018 Exhibition runs until Sept. 30 at Marché Bonsecours. The hours are:
- Sunday to Wednesday: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Thursday to Saturday: 10 a.m. to midnight