Photo exhibit shows Earth through astronaut’s eyes
By Chelsea Emode
The Canadian Museum of Nature is kicking off a year of spotlighting women in science in 2018 with an exhibit that features the photography of Canada’s first female astronaut, Dr. Roberta Bondar.
The exhibit highlights photos by Bondar — who is an astronaut, author, photographer, physician, scientist, speaker and more — and her changed outlook on Earth since the Shuttle Transport System 042 space mission in 1992 that solidified her place in Canada’s history.
The travelling photography exhibit, Light in the Land, started last year in celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday and the 25th anniversary of Bondar’s ascension into space. It touched down at the Canadian Museum of Nature on Jan. 13 and will be featured in the McLeod Street natural history centre’s Rotunda Room until March 31.
The museum describes Light in the Land, organized by the Roberta Bondar Foundation, as Earth through the astronaut’s eyes. It is a nod towards the foundation’s purpose and what Bondar has done since the space mission; teaching people to better appreciate earth and all that inhabit it.
The photos displayed are categorized by four plaques titled; calm, strength, mystery and future. One picture hanging in the mystery section of the exhibit, called Hoodoo Gorge, is a picture of Dinosaur Provincial Park and is described as having motion suspended in time implying its undiscovered qualities.
“There are secrets hidden in the lands and seas of Canada,” reads a plaque beside a photo of an ice field. “In time, light will reveal the history of a world that existed before human beings.”
According to Stacy Wakeford, the museum’s director of content, 2018 will be a year of spotlighting women in the natural sciences for the museum. She said the museum is looking for opportunities to bring women in science to the foreground, and Bondar’s exhibition was a great start.
“I think it’s a way for us to reintroduce a role model figure to young people and especially young girls,” she said.
Museum spokesman Dan Smythe said the museum has a long list of plans to showcase women’s achievements throughout the year. Among the highlights will be Bondar speaking and guiding a viewing of her exhibit on International Women’s Day.
The museum will open an interactive exhibition on July 28 featuring Canadian trailblazers in natural science disciplines, a timeline from the 1600s to now, and information on careers in science, technology, engineering and math, said Smythe.
On May 24, the nature museum will house a “special event” with the Famous Five Foundation to mark a 100th anniversary milestone for women’s right to vote.
“The legislation was passed in 1918 within the walls of the museum’s historic Victoria Memorial Museum building, because parliament was sitting there due to the great fire that destroyed the Centre Block of Parliament in February 1916,” said Smythe.
Bondar’s is a mission that does not exclude any age and which Wakeford said highlights not only the beauty of Earth but of Canada.
“This is an absolutely gorgeous installation, her photographs are beautiful,” Wakeford said. “You can step in the room and take in at a glance all of the different landscapes of our country.”
Bondar defies labels because she is a scientist and an artist, Wakeford said. As a photographer, Bondar proves that people can have various talents and skills and use them in many ways, she said.
“Usually people think you have to be one or the other,” she said. Bondar shows us “we don’t have to be defined by a specific label and that almost everyone can be a little bit scientist and a little bit artist and those can live in harmony.”