Visually impaired artist sees world with camera
Syrian refugee’s work featured in film celebrating Canada’s 150th
With a 360-degree camera filming the Riddell Centre lounge around him, Hany al Moulia shares his story.
Come spring, the rest of Canada will be able to see it.
This is one of five virtual-reality videos being produced as part of Canada’s 150th anniversary (a.k.a. sesquicentennial) next year.
“We thought it would be a good way to work with Hany to tell the story of some of places in Regina that … have significance for him,” said Joel McConvey, director of digital for SESQUI.
The Toronto-based organization is sharing the stories of creative people in Canada. Al Moulia is one of them. The 22-year-old Syrian refugee came to Regina last June with his family. Although he is legally blind, al Moulia began photographing his three-year experience in a Lebanese refugee camp.
His photographs have gained attention across Canada.
Because he can see at a close range, al Moulia relies on the zoom of his camera’s preview screen.
“Photography, it’s not about seeing as an art,” said al Moulia. “It’s a machine at the end.”
After 14 months in Canada, al Moulia is settling into his new life in Regina. He is studying English as a second language at the University of Regina, and helping his family learn English.
He is “discover(ing) about the people here, new cultures, First Nation cultures, and also myself as a photographer, discovering new places to shoot as well.”
SESQUI’s video will show some of that — including Wascana Park, fields, and Wascana Trails.
Al Moulia enjoys the province’s “very quiet, unlimited” natural environment: “You see just a horizon without any end and that’s really one of the best features for Saskatchewan, the land of the living sky. And for me, I need that escape from the city, the noise and the hustle and bustle.”
McConvey said SESQUI’s videos represent Canada’s “diversity of perspectives” and “ability to adapt.”
As a Syrian refugee, al Moulia’s story illustrates “Canada as a place that is welcoming … and that is home in many different ways,” said McConvey.
“It’s amazing to me that people like Hany come here and instantly start making this a richer and more valuable place with their presence and their work and their commitment to their passion,” he added.
As a newcomer to Canada, al Moulia feels a responsibility to contribute to his new community.
He wants to help “make this place a better place to live in, whatever your background is … to live all together and support each other to make it, to really have good place to live in where everything is available for you as a human.”
The video will be online in spring 2017 at sesqui.ca.