Art Gallery

Tête-à-la-Baleine

February 9 to April 27, 2025

About the Exhibit:

Uplands invites you to discover “Tête-à-la-Baleine” in our art Gallery. This exhibit features a series of photographs of this Lower North Shore village by artist Jean-Luc Wolff.

Artist Statement:

Jean-Luc Wolff, Photographer

Tête-à-la-Baleine. A Subpolar Climate. Isolation. What do people do here?

What kind of environment do they live in? There are no roads. A boat arrives once a week during the summer. Services are scarce: a small bank, a grocery store restocked by plane once a week, weather permitting, a post office counter served by air, a rudimentary clinic, and a school teetering on the brink of closure. That is all. The village has only 100 residents and is slowly dying. There is a church, but no priest, and a dangerously tilting cross atop its steeple, a striking symbol. Connections with neighbors are made by helicopter, snowmobile in winter, or occasionally by boat in summer.

By photographing the villagers, I tried to capture their spirit within the context of their surroundings, translating it into something poetic and heartfelt. Making contact was easy but not immediate. Once welcomed, I had only a few moments to connect with each person, understand their personality, glimpse what matters most in their lives, and choose a fitting backdrop for the photograph. The context of each portrait holds meaning; the surroundings tell a story. Outside, the cold is a constant presence.

The looming memory of Aylmer Sound haunts them all. Just a short distance away, its residents were forced to demolish their homes and erase their past. This is why the series begins with a picture representing Aylmer Sound. In storerooms and attics, traces of their histories and beliefs remain. Objects that might seem trivial are often the last witnesses of a vanished way of life. These photographs stir the imagination and invite us to dream.