Reality of the North

During my thirty years traveling the wilderness around Wabush and the numerous lakes as far as a person desired to venture. I have happened upon some very unusual items of interest. Everything from Inuksuit to graves of travelers who did not survive the conditions of the north.

I came upon one such location during a fishing and exploring trip I completed during the summer of 1992. At first it was disturbing to come across this little grave at such a remote location in the wilderness.

“Reality of the North” is a portrait of the final resting place of a little two year old Innu girl who was laid to rest in 1978. I came across this site while climbing a hill to view the surrounding countryside. It seemed so surreal all alone in the deep wilderness, high on a hill 70 km’s northwest of Wabush, in Labrador. This is just another memory of my time in the north, it is however, a sad one.

I set about cleaning up the site and repairing the fencing. Then before leaving I made a promise that I would immortalize the site in a portrait as soon as I could.

This is the portrait of that site, I call the portrait “Reality of the North”. Take a moment and share a thought of this little two year old girl resting high on this hill