20
THE INTERLAKE SPECTATOR Friday, July 30, 2010
Montreal photographer capturing Gimli for documentary for documentary
"The still image often
By Jim Mosher GIMLI - Intense, articulate, passionate. Nicolas Gouin is all of that. Th e 22-year-old University of Concordia student is, as one might expect, looking for that same undercurrent of intensity in others. It's not surprising, for instance, that the Montreal native is cobbling together a photographic and celluloid record of the people that give this region, centred on Gimli, much of its history. What began in the late- 1800s as a self-governing region called New Iceland has flourished as a cultural mecca for the people of Iceland, that tiny island in the North Atlantic from which the thousands of Icelandic immigrants emerged in Canada and the United States during a great wave of leave-taking. "I want to meet people, hear them in their own space," Gouin said during an interview in Gimli Wednesday afternoon. "I'm trying to get photographs that bring out their individuality." Gouin has a good Gimli guide in Robert Arnason, a former president of the Icelandic estival of Manitoba and a retired Gimli High chool principal. "His family has a strong ackground here in Gimli with the Icelandic eritage side of things," said Gouin. "I'd like to meet as many people with that celandic heritage as possible during my visit. I want to know how they feel about Iceand, their relationship to it. I want to get into heir intimacies about that heritage - and ee what it is like for them. I imagine there's a ot of heart-felt emotions in all of that." Gouin spent two weeks in Iceland last year. e plans, now, to spend 10 days here in Gimli a place that bills itself as the Home of the ods. It is home to fi ercely proud Canadians f Icelandic descent. Th e Montreal photog- Friday, August 13th, 2010 Jim Mosher Gouin at the iconic Viking statue. In the background are youngsters from Icelandic Camp. rapher wants to capture the essence of that colourful, if frequently enigmatic, character - that stuff that makes a Canadian of Icelandic descent subtly diff erent from her genetic siblings on that distant island of rock, geysirs and volcanoes. Gouin says his interest in Iceland was piqued when he worked as a stills photographer for a company fi lming in Iceland. He had a lot of free time on that job. He often ventured out; a musician himself, he took in the highly musical night life in Reykjavik, Ice-
Eirik Bardal
General Manager land's capital city. He decided he needed to know more about the people. He travelled; photographed wherever he went. Now he's mounted a display of his photographs which will be on-site for viewing at the New Horizon's 55-Plus Activity Centre this Sunday and Monday. Up until that showing and after, Gouin hopes to meet as many people of Icelandic descent as he can. He wants to hear their stories - and photograph them and fi lm them In the Bardal Family Tradition... Offering uniquely personal choices to honour a life lived; Traditional Funerals Cremation and Memorial Services A wide variety of Pre-Planning options to ease the burden. Serving the Interlake Since 1904. Come and see us at our new location
82 - 5th Avenue, Gimli For inquiries and appointments call 642-7124
Available 24 Hours
evokes so much of that moment."
- Nicolas Gouin for both a pictorial and fi lm documentary. Gouin is studying fi ne arts at Concordia. A photograph can bring out the essence of its subject(s), he believes. "With people, you can shoot one moment - a make it a moment," he said. "It's a very strong power that I have with the camera. You are, in ways, freezing time. Th e still image often evokes so much of that moment. Th at moment is what I'm interested in. It brings out people's personalities, their inner essence." "With photography, I try to play with the stare, the glance: people's looks." He says he takes two very different approaches, depending on his subject. "Sometimes it's a bit of a snapshot approach , snapping a shot without them knowing it," Gouin explained. "Then sometimes, after talking with them, I try to bring out their story - evoking that story in a single image." Gouin hopes people will contact him, if they have a story of their relationship to Iceland or Gimli as an Icelandic heartland to tell. He can be reached via e-mail <falseillusionphoto@live.ca> and by phone at 514- 519-8212. He also has a web site on which he's posted his work in Iceland. It's <nicolasgouin.com>.
Texas Hold 'Em Poker Icelandic Freeze Out
Saturday, July 31, 2010
2:00 pm
Gimli Legion #182 $120
00
Buy-In
Max 120
Players $30.00 Consolation Tables
Registration (day of play) and Pre-Registration at Gimli Legion 642-8824 for info. MGCC #287TH
It pays to advertise.
Reach our readers.