The Haweaters - Book Preview Display

Giovanni Capriotti

June 3 - 18, 2022

Gallery Hours: Wed - Sat from 1 - 6 pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 4 from 3-5 pm.

When Father Joseph Poncet and his fellow Jesuits reached Lake Huron’s northern shore in 1648, they stumbled upon Manitoulin - the largest freshwater island in the world. Weakened by the journey and exposed to adverse elements, oral traditions recount that the settlers embraced Indigenous wisdom, which advised them to consume ‘hawberries,’ an insular low bush fruit, to prevent scurvy. Ever since, non-Indigenous islanders have carried the ‘haweater’ moniker.

The Haweaters is a poetic love letter to Manitoulin Island, and a metaphorical representation of the mundane psyche of trauma and neoliberal neglect of a community, still struggling for identity nearly four centuries after the first encounter with Europeans, and 155 years since the birth of the Canadian Confederation – a cautionary tale of a common plight across numerous countries built upon the methodic transmogrification of their colonial legacies.

Inspired by Michel Foucault’s notion of historical genealogy, the book blends photographs, and collages as a key strategy to allegorize the deep relationship between Manitoulin’s unspoken past, traumatized present, and the questionable origin of Canada. In a recollection of multiple layers of silent assimilation, the final goal becomes to piece together the scarcely acknowledged multiplicity of history, while trialing its official accounts – too often selectively picked to celebrate the pioneering epic of “settle and prosper.” A paradigm frequently whitewashed by modern history and enforced through the systematic annihilation of Indigenous culture, while fostering a poly-ethnic haven based upon immigrational laborism.

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Giovanni Capriotti specializes in long-form in-depth documentary explorations that examine how time and inevitability of compromise shape individuals, communities, history, culture, and human condition. Through the integration of photography, moving images, audio, experiential prose, and personal testimonials, he strives to deepen his understanding of worldly affairs and the role of contemporary documentary practice. Giovanni is currently pursuing an MFA in Documentary Media at Toronto Metropolitan University and continues to accept assignments and commissions. He is on the Advisory Board of the Loyalist College Photojournalism Program, plus runs photography workshops, lectures, and talks and teaches photojournalism at University of Guelph-Humber. Giovanni's work has been recognized by the World Press Photo Foundation, Pictures of the Year International, Dorothea Lange and Paul Taylor Prize, Lucie Foundation, Paris Photo Prize, News Photographers Association of Canada, Ontario Premier's Awards - and supported through grants from Italian institutions such as ISMEO and MIUR. His projects have been shown in exhibitions and installations at venues around the world, including the World Press Photo Foundation, Contact Photography Festival Toronto, Capture Photo Festival Vancouver, Italian Cultural Institute Montreal, DDProject Trieste, Tokyo International Foto Awards, IGR Bingham Cup Amsterdam, Paris Photo Prize, ESOF Trieste, TACT Festival Trieste, Bronx Documentary Center NY.

More of Giovanni's work can be seen on https://www.giovannicapriotti.com/