Billy’s Camp

8″ × 20″, oil on linen (2012) Near Qikiqtarjuaq, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada

From the INTO THE ARCTIC Project

Rising early one morning, I slipped my canoe into the ocean near Baffin Island to test the waters. I was camping with Inuit guide Billy Arnaquq from Qikiqtarjuaq, a small Arctic community of about 500 residents. While paddling, I came across this view of Billy’s old freighter canoe and his handmade tent, as comfortable in the landscape as the rocks themselves. Moved by the harmony with the land this scene embodied, I set up my easel as I floated to try and convey it on canvas.