Flathead RAVE show comes to Kimberley gallery in March

A grizzly who took his own picture by walking through a laser line on a mountaintop. A meadow of bear grass in bloom. An aerial view of an Elk Valley coal mine that makes huge trucks look tiny. These are some of the images that will show in the Centre 64 upper gallery space starting March 2, 2010.

“This show is stunning,” said Robyn Duncan, Wildsight’s Southern Rockies program coordinator. “It’s a ‘best-of-the-best’—the best images by the best conservation photographers of one of the best places on earth: B.C.’s Flathead River Valley and its adjacent areas.”

The images were captured during a 10-day period last July, when a dozen ‘fellows’ of the International League of Conservation Photographers convened in B.C.’s Flathead Valley for a Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition (RAVE). They documented the area so groups like Wildsight could use the images in their public awareness campaigns. Of the thousands of images taken, 14 were chosen for the exhibition that started in Washington, D.C. and will end in Victoria.

“Aside from seeing stunning images, this is a great way for people connect with the Flathead Valley,” Duncan said. “It’s been in the news a lot lately—two weeks ago the Province announced a mining ban in the Flathead and last week B.C. signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Montana extending the moratorium to the American Flathead. If people want to know what all the fuss is about, these images will give them some indication.”

After the Kimberley exhibit ends on March 16 the photographs will move to Victoria.

“Don’t miss this show,” Duncan said. “It’s a way to get up-close-and-personal with the Flathead—without leaving town! And it shows how lucky we are to live near the Flathead and why it’s so important to protect it permanently.”

March 2 to March 16, 2010

Centre 64 Gallery hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 1 to 5 pm and during events

Robyn Duncan, Southern Rockies program coordinator, 250.432.5422 • robyn@wildsight.ca