A City’s Stories Through Contrast and Light
Winnipeg in Black and White is more than a photo essay—it’s a quiet act of reclamation through attention, patience, and trust. Working with Tony Eetak over the fall and winter months, we set out not to chase spectacle, but to look more closely at what often goes unseen: the soft transitions, the stillness between movements, the grounded power of everyday spaces.
Tony’s work reflects a perspective shaped both by distance and closeness. As someone whose roots stretch far beyond Winnipeg’s core, his camera approaches the city with a kind of clarity many of us lose with over-familiarity. He captures not just places, but textures of time—fog lifting off the river, carvings in glass vaults, steam rising in old diners, shadows moving across gallery walls. Each photo invites us to see Winnipeg not as a backdrop, but as a living archive.
Throughout this project, Tony brought an openness to both learning and leading. He explored not just how to frame a shot, but how to write about it, how to feel his way through abstraction, and how to trust that small details matter. The black-and-white palette strips things down, but what remains is intimate and essential.
This short online exhibition is a collaboration in the truest sense—of generations, geographies, and ways of seeing. It is rooted in mentorship, but also in shared discovery. I’m grateful to have walked part of this path with Tony, and even more grateful that his work now stands on its own, ready to be seen.
This project was made possible with generous support from the Manitoba Arts Council Indigenous 360 Program, whose investment in emerging Indigenous artists and storytellers continues to create space for truth, creativity, and cultural connection across our communities.
