The Edge of Two Worlds
Photographed between 2000-2004 'The Edge of Two Worlds' documents life in an Innu community in northern Labrador, Canada. The Innu are one of Canada’s indigenous peoples, whose traditional lands cover what is now known as Labrador and parts of Quebec. The community faced great changes during these four years as they relocated from a shanty town called Davis Inlet, which had been the backdrop to their increased social dysfunction and descent into substance abuse, to a brand new town called Natuashish, built by the Canadian government.
Like many indigenous peoples the Innu face complex challenges, and while the improved living conditions of the new town were welcome, Natuashish has not yet become a place of healing and in many ways has only emphasized the community’s dislocation from their traditional way of life.
Caribou antlers hang in a disused radio antenna at an outpost in the Barren lands of Labrador. Innu hunters always leave the caribou’s antlers behind, usually hung in trees, as a mark of respect to the animal.
Elizabeth Napeo rests on the sofa while her great-nephew Kirby watches a space shuttle launch on TV. When Elizabeth was Kirby’s age she and her family were still nomadic hunter-gatherers, following the caribou migration.
Children in a house in Davis Inlet. In households where the adults drink older siblings often taken on childcare.
A caribou carcass thaws on the floor of a house in Davis Inlet while the returning hunters drink tea.
Early evening in Davis Inlet.
Spruce trees viewed through the window of an unfinished house in Natuashish.
Elders Agath Piwas and Charlotte Gregoire and their dog arrive for the first time at Natuashish after a short journey from Davis Inlet.
An Innu family arrive for the first time at their brand-new home in the town of Natuashish.
Innu children begin to unpack their belongings in their new house in Natuashish.
Innu women investigate the kitchen of their new house in Natuashish while a christmas turkey defrosts in the sink.
Dusk settles on the new town of Natuashish.
Footprints mark the snow, blown into an empty house in Davis Inlet. One year after the Innu community moved to Natuashish, Davis Inlet has become a ghost town.
A young Innu child suckles on a soda bottle while his parents watch TV in their house in Natuashish. Poor diet is contributing to the health problems of the Innu who suffer very high rates of obesity and diabetes.
Clarence Nui watches his two daughters and his nephew play on their gameboys. Some of the young generation of Innu feel more at home with computers and cartoons than in the country.
A traditional snowshoe and a satellite dish hang on the side of a house in Natuashish.
A young child peeps out of the window of her parents' house in Natuashish.
Spruce trees and snowfall, illuminated by a streetlight in Natuashish.
Brian Rich pours himself a cup of whiskey. The community is officially “dry” but alcohol is brought in by bootleggers who sell it at a vast profit.
Stephanie Rich sitting on her doorstep in Natuashish.
Two sisters fight over cigarettes during a drinking session that stretches into days. Between them the women have four children, three of whom have committed suicide.
Steve Mistenapeo and his girlfriend Mary Rich share a drunken embrace with their daughter who lives with her aunt after being taken into care by the social services.
Young Innu boys jump an improvised ramp on their bikes while two older boys sniff petrol from plastic bags on the street in Natuashish.
Innu boys sniffing petrol on the street in Natuashish. Recent studies have suggested a link between substance abuse in children and Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, which affects many Innu children.
A sniffer wanders the streets of Natuashish in the early hours of the morning. Inhaling petrol fumes stops you feeling the bitter cold allowing the sniffers to stay out on the street all night, safe from the drinking and violence at home.
Innu hunters travel into the “barren lands” of Labrador in search of the migrating caribou herds that have sustained them and their ancestors for thousands of years. The annual approach of the caribou raises many of the Innu from their alcohol induced stupor and returns them, all to briefly, to their hunting roots.
A young Innu hunter chases a porcupine on a frozen lake.
Innu hunters inside a tent plan the next days route to intercept the migrating caribou herds.
Sebastian Piwas takes a break from the heavy work of dressing (gutting) a freshly killed caribou. The caribou is to the Innu what the Buffalo was to the plains indians of the american west.
Elder Mary Jane Nui, know by her Innu name Manishai, trims branches from a spruce tree to clear an old hunting trail from Natuashish to the interior. The elders who have not become casualties of alcoholism are some of the most active members of the community.
The full moon shines through a sliver of cloud above a frozen lake in Labrador.