Living with Land Mines exhibit tours Concordia

For Concordia students the danger of accidentally coming across a land mine on your way to class is non-existent.
For people living in conflict zones or transition areas, it not only represents a daily threat, but a deadly reality.
From Oct. 23 to Nov. 2 the exhibition “Living With Land Mines”, by Canadian born photographer V. Tony Hauser, is on display in the atrium of the J.W. McConnell Building (1400 de Maisonneuve West). The exhibition combines 16 life-size portraits of Cambodian children and teenagers who have suffered the horrific effects of land mines. All photographed subjects are residents of the Aki Ra Land Mine Museum. While providing shelter and schooling to land mine victims, the museum also acts as an education centre for visitors.
Produced in Collaboration with the University of Winnipeg, the exhibition will be touring around 15 Canadian universities throughout the fall and commemorates the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Mine Ban Treaty, also know as the Ottawa Treaty.
Land mines have been used in many conflicts around the world throughout the 20th century. Originally built to maim rather than to kill, land mines were used to terrorize civilians, deny access to land, and restrict population movement.
Deployed on wide scales and often utilized in internal conflicts, their control, marking, and mapping became nearly impossible. As a result, millions of mines lay untouched in random locations throughout various regions of the world, jeopardizing the lives of millions of innocents inhabiting at-risk areas.
In Cambodia, at peace for eight years now, an average of three people are either injured or killed everyday due to land mines.
In December 1998, 133 countries addressed this alarming issue and signed the “Convention on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, and transfer of Anti personnel mines and on their destruction”, known as the Mine Ban treaty.
Since then, over 38 nations have stopped their production and global trade. Unfortunately a few countries, including the United States, still produce, export, and use anti-personnel weapons and refuse to join the global effort to eradicate land mines.
The show, which aims to confront viewers with the long-term devastating consequences of land mines worldwide, conveys the hidden beauty of human struggle. Avoiding the dangerous path of voyeurism, the photographs translate the dignity of the young victims. Each photograph includes a short biography of its subject, inviting the audience to develop a more personal relationship with them.
“Living With Land Mines” is free of charge. So if you have to go to the library, take five minutes of your time to look and maybe learn. The detour is worth it.