They are portraits of beautiful images frozen in time.
Manitoban photographer and pencil artist Gerald Kuehl spent a lot of time in Baker Lake at the turn of the century meeting Elders for the purpose of interviewing them and creating their portraits.
Kuehl said while in Baker Lake, the Elders would come in off the land with amazing faces and incredible stories.
He said thanks in part to Calm Air sponsoring him and being able to return a number of times to the community, he has 39 portraits hanging in Baker's community hall.
“Unfortunately, Baker Lake is so commercialized now,” said Kuehl, “with the mining and everything else going on up there. It's not at all like it was when I showed up in 2002.
“It was still very isolated and it was really cool. Now it's hustle and bustle, with more money, more domestic abuse, drinking and stuff, which means your RCMP detachment is a lot bigger now too.
“That being said, I have quite fond memories of Baker.”
Kuehl said when he first went to Baker Lake, he found the community isolated and extremely welcoming.
He said he made inroads, started looking at the faces and realized there was less intermarriage over the years with whalers and whatnot and, historically speaking, in his opinion, the locals looked very Inuit with Asian-like features.
“I was enthralled by that, so I started photographing and interviewing and I drew, drew, drew. For about a 13-year or 15-year stretch, I went back to Baker Lake every year, and sometimes twice a year, because there was so much to do.
“The Elders received me very well, but, of course, none of them spoke English, so when you go to interview them you need interpreters, which, when I really think of it, was only a problem from time to time.
“Sometimes, I would return with a portrait and the Elder had passed away or was out on the land. That was often an issue. It happened a lot because I was going in the summertime and, when it's nice, they're out on the land.
“One of the books I have out is named Portraits of the Far North and I have so much pride and satisfaction in it because I know how hard I worked to produce it.”
Kuehl, who was last in Baker Lake in 2019 for the release of his book, said many people don't realize that it truly is Canadian history and culture in the book of a time that will never return; when the Elders came in off of the land in the 1940s and 1950s.
He said now everybody grows up and lives in the community and that just isn't the same.
“People in those days lived on the land 24/7, 365 days a year. You'll never see that again. So I have a lot of tremendous satisfaction in that book.
“Once I came back to Baker and the entire Akilak family of four or five children came over to the house to see me. They'd lost their mom and dad in two weeks. They were such a unified, wonderful family and they told me about their mom and dad.
“I'd only drawn the mom. The dad passed away just two weeks after the mom. It was really sad and yet they were so positive. It was an incredible experience in that regard.
“It was just so tragic, yet I got to hear all these beautiful stories about their mom and dad. That was the spirit of the community in those days... so positive. It was just wonderful and I was honoured to be a part of that. It was a fantastic 15-year period of my life.”
