Beginning November 14th, the photo exhibition “Canadian-Estonians – in light and shadow” about Estonians living abroad in Toronto, is open to visitors in the Tartu train station waiting area. The exhibition author is Kerly Ilves, who met with these Canadian Estonians abroad in 2012 conducting interviews and photographing their portraits.
The exhibition consists of 13 highquality black and white photographs of Estonians abroad. The time to release these photographs and interviews captured 5 years ago is now, as Europe is dealing with the refugee crisis and the necessary financial support for the exhibition has arrived from the Museum of Estonians Abroad (VEMU) in Toronto. Thanks to this institution, this descriptive exhibition about the lives of Estonians living abroad as immigrants has made it to the other side of the world for the residents of Tartu to view.
The first place the exhibition will be displayed is the Tartu train station, which has its own symbolic importance. Namely, this is the place where many people begin their journeys to new places or the place where long and difficult adventures come to an end. In addition, the train station makes it possible for the exhibition to resonate with a large number of visitors. In addition to Tartu, the plan is to present this exhibition in Tallinn and Toronto as well, at the Museum of Estonians Abroad located at Tartu College.
This exhibition was made possible thanks to the help of Helle-Mari Märtson, Arp Karm, and the support of the Estonian Studies Centre in Toronto. The exhibition will remain on display until January 8, 2017.
Kerly Ilves is a well-experienced freelance photographer, whose main creative research topics are preserving what can be lost, capturing changes that have occurred as a result of long-term processes, and conducting photographic experiments using different techniques and cameras.