“There are things you hear a lot about, but you don’t see,” he says as he looks at the portraits of a family household of domestic violence. He hopes the images will get people thinking, discussing and ultimately helping.

But the mood of the exhibition isn’t all gloomy. Some images show the inside of a house in Gaza, West Bank, where a group of girls try on dresses for a school dance. Bruinvels says sometimes photographs can bring you somewhere you’ve never seen and contradict what you hear in the news.

The collection of photos has been chosen from this year’s World Press Photo competition. There were almost 6,000 entries from 132 different countries. A jury awarded prizes in nine categories, including general news, daily life, nature and sport.

The exhibition runs at the Canadian War Museum until Aug. 21. It will be at four other Canadian venues on an international tour.

Although Canada is the first of 45 countries to host the exhibition, it’s the first time since 2006 that a Canadian photographer did not win in any of the categories.