Capturing heart of Turtle Island
Photographer Mark Zelinski to hold Toronto launch of latest photo project
After five years of work, photographer Mark Zelinski will be in Toronto this week to launch Heart of Turtle Island a book of photos and stories from a landscape that features in some of his earliest memories — the Niagara Escarpment.
“I’m still very much attached to these lands,” said Zelinski, who grew up in Oakville and now lives in the escarpment.
When he first conceived of the project, Zelinski imagined a book that focused on the geology of the escarpment, which stretches for 725 kilo- metres, as well as the plants and animals of the region.
“It is about all those things,” he said, but it’s also about people. “Something that became apparent to me as I was creating this book is that the newest chapter in the history of the escarpment is the story of how people have populated these lands.”
The result is a collection of photos depicting the natural beauty of the UNESCO biosphere reserve and the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities that live within it.
Alongside some 400 images, Zelinski brought together a series of voices from across the escarpment whose writings offer a brief insight into the region’s geology, biodiversity, and the Indigenous cultures of the Haudenosaunee, Anishnaabek and the Mississaugas of the New Credit.
“The Niagara Escarpment is the ‘Heart of Turtle Island’ for good reason,” writes Assembly of First Nations Ontario Region Chief Isadore Day in the foreword to the book. “Our Peoples have lived and thrived on these lands and waters for thousands of years.”
“In this new era of Reconciliation, the images and stories from Heart of Turtle Island: The Niagara Escarpment will become another important document to remind Ontarians, and all Canadians, that the origins of this country began right here when, for a short time in our shared histories, we were all considered equals,” Day said.
“The challenge we face now is not only to repair that relationship, but also to protect and preserve these beautiful and bountiful lands and water for future generations.”