This exhibition marks the 40th anniversary of the Nansen Medal, awarded to the Canadian people in 1986 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in recognition of Canada’s welcome to refugees from Southeast Asia.
The first part of the exhibition highlights the pioneering work of Claire Beaugrand-Champagne and Paule Beaugrand-Champagne. Claire’s photographs taken in refugee camps, and Paule’s articles published in the daily newspaper La Presse, helped awaken awareness in Quebec of the plight of Southeast Asian refugees, commonly known as the Boat People. At a time when few women occupied such prominent positions in the media, their work was particularly groundbreaking. Claire Beaugrand-Champagne is also regarded as Quebec’s first female press photographer.
The second part of the exhibition presents a new photographic project by Martin Chamberland, a photographer with La Presse, focusing on the gradual and profound rebuilding of these communities in Montreal. Through the stories of four families shaped by exile, the series explores transmission, rootedness, and the rebuilding of lives across generations.
Claire Beaugrand-Champagne
Born in Quebec in 1948, Claire Beaugrand-Champagne has been interested in documentary photography for more than forty years. A socially engaged artist and photographer, her assignments have taken her to all corners of the world. Her work is held in major collections, including those of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Public Archives of Canada, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, and the McCord Museum. She has also worked for various organizations, magazines, and newspapers, and has participated in numerous artistic events.
Quebec’s first female press photographer, Claire Beaugrand-Champagne is part of a generation of photographers who, in the 1970s, made it their mission to explore Quebec’s social landscape. Often working in small groups within designated territories and using a documentary approach, they left their mark on an important period in the history of photography in Quebec.
Since her earliest projects, Claire Beaugrand-Champagne has remained committed to social issues, focusing on the people in her community and ultimately making them the central subject of her photographic work. For her, photographing is an act of discovery—an encounter with another person that often marks the beginning of a lasting relationship. From these authentic and intimate moments emerges a deeper understanding of everyday life, revealing what connects and moves us.
Martin Chamberland
Martin Chamberland began his career as a freelance photographer for the newspaper La Presse in April 1997. Following a photography internship at La Presse in June 1997, he worked as a freelance photographer for the newspaper Le Devoir and Canadian Press from 1998 to 2000. He joined La Presse as a full-time staff photographer in 2000.
He has produced numerous photographic assignments in Montreal, throughout Quebec, and in some twenty countries, covering virtually every area found in a newspaper: arts and entertainment, sports, politics, portraits, demonstrations, natural disasters, and more. His international assignments have taken him to Haiti, India, Guatemala, Italy, Bulgaria, Spain, Venezuela, Korea, and other countries.
He has also covered the Beijing Winter Olympics, the 2004 World Cycling Championships in Ontario, and numerous other world championships in a variety of sports, including FINA competitions, figure skating, and short-track speed skating.
He has received several awards and nominations at the Antoine-Désilets competition organized by the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec. He has also lectured at numerous photography clubs and schools across the province. His work has been published in books and magazines around the world.
