Skip to main content
NewslettersWatchlist
Photos for peace
PHOTOGRAPHY

Peace march against the Vietnam War, Washington DC, USA, 1967.

Presenting the work of over 100 photographers and artists, Making Peace pays tribute to people all over the planet, who devote their time, energy, and resources to the cause of peace.

Special to Globe and Mail Update

This article was published more than 6 years ago. Some information may no longer be current.

The photography exhibition, which has been shown in eleven countries and now on display in Toronto, essentially explains what key elements are necessary to create a 'Sustainable Peace', while paying tribute to the people who' all over the planet' devote their time, energy and resources to the cause of peace and how these persons and organizations have shaped and influenced the course of the 20th century.

Curated by Ashley Woods (formerly with Magnum Photos) to commemorate the Nobel centennial commemoration of the International Peace Bureau (IPB), awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910, this Canada 150th edition pays special tribute to Chief Robert Joseph, Ambassador for Reconciliation Canada and Lester B. Pearson, Canada's 14th Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Laureate (1957).

Just married, 23 years old Abed (Muslim groom) and 19 years old Arige (Christian bride) walk through the bombed ruins of Beirut, Lebanon, 1983.

Japanese children look up at the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Japan, August 5, 2000, on the eve of the 55th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombing. More than 140,000 people were killed and many more injured after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Three days later a second atom bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

Protestor against small arms during a peace demonstration in the Colombian city of Medellin, Antioquia, 2002. The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), a global movement against gun violence estimate that 300,000 to half a million people around the world are killed by small arms each year.

A Mines Advisory Group (MAG) technician carefully pins a bounding fragmentation mine in Zaren village. Kurdistan/Iraq, 2003. Every year, landmines kill 15,000 to 20,000 people — most of them children, women and the elderly — and severely maim countless more. The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, referred to as the “Ottawa Convention” or “Mine Ban Treaty,” seeks to end the use of anti-personnel landmines (APLs) worldwide. 161 states are party to the treaty with 36 non-signatories, including the United States, Russia, and China.

Children in school uniform pose in front of a poster promoting peace and disarmament. Sierra Leone, 1999.

If there was one photograph that captured the horrific nature of the Vietnam war, it was the picture taken in 1972 of nine year old girl Kim Phuc, running naked down a road, screaming in agony after her village in the Central Highlands of Vietnam was sprayed with the chemical weapon napalm. Although the photographer Nick Ut helped save Kim Phuc’s life by taking her to hospital, it would take many years and several operations before she would be able to get on with life. “It seemed that picture didn’t want to let me go. At first, I was very upset. And then a wonderful thing happened. I thought, ‘If I can’t escape that picture, I can work with it for peace.’ I accepted it as a powerful gift for me.” Kim Phuc

Kim Phuc is today married with two children and lives with her husband Ron in Toronto. Having become a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador she encourages youth worldwide to get involved in peace making activities.

Richard S. Fuld Jr., Chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers investment bank testifies before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Capitol Hill, as protesters from “Code Pink” wave signs reading “Shame”. Code Pink is a women- initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement. Washington DC, USA, 2008. Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 15 September, 2008. The filing remains the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history, with Lehman holding over $600 billion in assets.

Gandhi acknowledges the cheers of young women workers outside Greenfield Mill in Darwen, Lancashire as part of his study of labour conditions in the English cotton industry. UK, 1931.

Nelson Mandela (1918 — 2013) Anti-apartheid activist who became President of South Africa between 1994 - 1999, the first to be elected in a fully democratic process. Mandela served 27 years in prison. Following his release in 1990, Mandela supported reconciliation and negotiation, and led the transition towards multi-racial democracy in South Africa. One of Mandela’s primary commitments in later years was the fight against AIDS. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (1945 — ) Opposition politician and General Secretary of the National League for Democracy. After years living and studying abroad Suu Kyi returned to Burma (Myanmar) only to find widespread slaughter of protesters rallying against the brutal rule of dictator U Ne Win. She spoke out against him and initiated a nonviolent movement toward achieving democracy and human rights. Despite winning a general election in 1990, Suu Kyi spent 15 of the next 21 years in custody. In 1991, her ongoing efforts won her the Nobel Prize for Peace, and she was finally released from house arrest in November 2010.

An indigenous woman and child together with 200 other members of the Landless Movement are expelled from privately-owned land. Manaus, Brazilian Amazon. 2008. Although recognized in 1996 by the Brazilian government as official Indigenous territory much of Western Brazil continues to be destroyed for use by private farmers and cattle breeders.

An engineer attends to a wind turbine blade at the Angermuende Wind Farm in Germany. 2006. Germany’s renewable energy sector is among the most innovative and successful worldwide. By 2050 the country aims to power itself almost entirely on renewable sources including solar, wind and biomass energy.

Pakistani school student and blogger Malala Yousafzai campaigned for women’s right to education before being brutally shot in the head by a Taliban gunman while returning home from school on 9 October 2012. Remarkably she survived the ordeal and on 12 July 2013, Yousafzai’s 16th birthday, she spoke at the United Nations (UN) to call for worldwide access to education. The UN dubbed the event “Malala Day”. It was her first public speech since the attack, leading the first ever Youth Takeover of the UN, with an audience of over 500 young education advocates from around the world. In 2014 Malala was co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize along with Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi.

Making Peace is on display until September 24 on Front Street East in Toronto's Canary District/Corktown, between Cooperage Street and Corktown Common.