Catching life at the crossroads

An indigenous Aymara woman counts votes in the 2008 recall referendum in Bolivia, won by President Evo Morales.

Michel Huneault finds photography a perfect fit with his work in development and peace-building. During the past 10 years, the former Rotary Peace Fellow (UC Berkeley 2002-04) has served with the Canadian International Development Agency in Afghanistan and as an independent observer on electoral monitoring missions in Bangladesh, Bolivia, Haiti, Ukraine, and the West Bank.

Huneault has worked as a photographer on behalf of magazines, development organizations, and art institutions and received several photography awards in Canada, France, and Germany. In 2010, he became an artist in residence at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre in Wales, with the support of a Quebec Arts Council grant, to produce his first solo exhibition, due to open in March.

Huneault donated three of his works for a silent auction at the RIBI (Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland) Conference in April as part of a fundraiser to permanently endow a Rotary Peace Fellowship in the name of Past RI President Bill Huntley.

The peace fellowships have created “a very strong and ever fresh community of peacemakers,” Huneault says. “This network has allowed me to have a greater impact and achieve more professionally. It has contributed as well to my emotional stamina in what can be a very tough career psychologically. I have a network of colleagues that share the burden and can understand personal sacrifices it requires.”

Written for Reconnections