Portraits of the North

Book excerpt: The Manuela Dias book design and Illustration Awards - General illustrations category Alexander Kennedy Ishister Award for Non-Fiction Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award This is a truly unique book. It offers an incomparable glimpse into the experiences and history of more than one hundred First Nations and Métis elders from Canada's North —“the last generation born on the land.” These stunning graphite pencil portraits are rendered with love, respect, and painstaking detail, along with gripping intimate profiles assembled from oral accounts and anecdotes. Their poignant facial features, lines, and creases, weathered by the harsh outdoors and a lifetime of challenges, are like badges of their remarkable achievements, sustained resolve, inspired patience, and deep-set defiance to the hardships their people have endured for generations. The masterful realism of Kuehl’s work helps uncover the tales of these seasoned individuals—their many triumphs and trials—revealing in turn a greater portrait of life in the communities of Northern Canada, a compelling homage, and an enduring historical legacy.