Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw Nation Big House Community Portraits.

These are community portraits made at the Gwa'sala-'Nakwaxda'xw Nation big house in Port Hardy, BC. Over a single day, families from the Nations came to sit for the camera inside their new gukwdzi, and every image now belongs to the people in it and to the community that gathered there.

It was an honour to spend a day making portraits with the people of the Gwa'sala-'Nakwaxda'xw Nation big house in Port Hardy, where families came out to sit for the camera in their new gukwdzi. Days like this are why I do this work, the chance to stand in a room that means something to a community, and to make images that will outlast all of us.

A Community Portrait Day in Port Hardy

The idea was simple and generous: open the doors and invite folks from the Nations to come and be photographed. Some arrived in regalia, some in everyday clothes, some with children on their hips and grandparents at their side. There was no rush to it. People waited, visited, laughed, and stepped in front of the lens when they were ready. I brought the patience of a photography studio to a place that already carried its own deep sense of time, and the two settled together easily. You can see more of how I approach this kind of unhurried portrait work across the wider body of the images I help create.

What Is a Gukwdzi (Big House)?

The gukwdzi (big house) is the heart of this gathering. For the Gwa'sala-'Nakwaxda'xw Nations, a big house is far more than a building. It is where ceremony, song, dance, and community life are held, and the completion of a new one is a milestone generations in the making. You can read more about the Nations and their work on the Gwa'sala-'Nakwaxda'xw Nations website. To be invited to photograph people inside that space, on ground that holds so much meaning, was not something I took lightly.

A big house is not a backdrop. It is a gathering space for a whole people, and to be asked in with a camera is a quiet kind of trust.

What stays with me from the day is the range of it, elders whose faces carry the weather of the coast, young people finding their footing, families pressed close together for a single frame. The light in the big house is its own thing, soft and honest, and it asked for nothing more than an even hand. I worked slowly, the way I always do, letting each person settle before the shutter clicked.

With Thanks to Walter George

None of this happens on its own. My deep thanks go to Walter George, who organised the community portrait event and made sure the day ran with warmth and care. He gathered people, held the details, and gave me the space to simply make the pictures. That kind of quiet organising is the reason a day like this feels effortless from the outside.

Every portrait from that day now belongs to the families in them, and to the Nations. My part was small, to show up, to pay attention, and to make honest images with the tools. My gratitude to everyone at the Gwa'sala-'Nakwaxda'xw Nations who welcomed me into their new big house. If you would like to see more of this kind of work, there is a companion day at the Namgis First Nation big house, and the full range of portrait sessions lives across the journal.

Images Made to Be Kept