how to use Imread function?

Hello, I am trying to implement a filter to process an image in vivado hls and someone advised me to use the imread function but when I do use it in my c++ code in vivado hls it seems to be not recognized. Is it possible even to use it? Is there a specific library I might have not included or perhaps a way to use it? I would appreciate any help for this minor problem I am stuck at.

[Karan Gill]

I did find documentation on calling MATLAB functions from C programs. http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_external/calling-matlab-software-from-a-c-application.html