Image Credit: Amber Bracken / New York Times

By James Peters

Residential Schools

‘Haunting, arresting and symbolic’: Image of Kamloops Residential School memorial named World Press Photo of the Year

Apr 7, 2022 | 10:29 AM

KAMLOOPS — A striking photograph of a Kamloops Residential School memorial has been named World Press Photo of the Year.

The photo, taken by Amber Bracken, shows a line of eerily-lit crosses lining Highway 5, each adorned with an orange dress to memorialize the children whose graves have been located near the former residential school grounds. A rainbow bisects the dark clouds in the background sky.

Bracken is a freelance photographer based in Edmonton. The photo was taken for the New York Times.

“The photographer has an ongoing personal work that looks at how intergenerational trauma from Residential Schools continues to impact young people who have never had to attend, and also how intergenerational healing is passed between generations,” notes the description.

Image Credit: Amber Bracken / New York Times

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The winning image, titled Kamloops Residential School, was chosen from more than 64,000 entries.

“This winner represents the awakening of a shameful history that is finally being addressed in Canada,” said the jury. “It is a perfect image which captures a rare light, and is at once haunting, arresting and symbolic. The sensory image offers a quiet moment of reckoning with the global legacy of colonization and exploitation, while amplifying the voices of First Nations communities who are demanding justice. The single image requires an active eye, and encourages us to hold governments, social institutions, and ourselves accountable.”

“The jury awarded this image the World Press Photo of the Year because it summarizes a global history of colonial oppression that must be addressed in order to tackle the challenges of the future.”

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For more information:

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

Support Resources:

• KUU-US Crisis Line: 1-800-588-8717
• Tsow-Tun-Le Lum: 1-866-403-3123
• Indian Residential School Survivors Society Toll-Free Line: 1-800-721-0066
• 24hr National Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419