Forebears Found in Museums

Unitin g families with their ancestors lost in the archives

N othing under the sun is new, but oftentimes what is known becomes lost and must be relearned. Such is the case with many of the paintings at the BC Archives that we are now able to share more complete histories of, thanks to a few recent visitors. Over the last year, three families have come to visit artworks depicting their ancestors, which are housed in the archives’ paintings, drawings and prints collection. Each family came with questions and information that helped us learn more about the artworks in our care.

First, Lynn Ross reached out just as the archives was reopening to the public after its COVID-19 closure. She wondered whether she, her sister Beth and their mother Rhoda could come to see Grafton Tyler Brown’s Giant’s Castle Mountain. Rhoda had been reviewing her family archive and connected some family letters to the painting and wished, for her 90th birthday, to see it in person.

The archives acquired the painting in 2018, shortly after it was exhibited at the Legacy Art Gallery in Victoria, BC, by Dr. John Lutz, a history professor at the University of Victoria. Thanks to Lutz’s research, writing and exhibition, we knew the painting depicted the farmstead of overlander Alex L. Fortune. The overlanders were a group of English-speaking immigrants who travelled across Canada by land to settle BC’s interior in 1862. The farmstead, which became known as Fortune’s Landing, was a rest point for others travelling west to the Okanagan, and it’s thought that Brown first sketched it while he worked on the BC geological survey. From the Ross family we were able to read first-hand accounts from Bathia Ross (née Fortune) about her commissioning the painting from Brown. She paid $100— around $3,000 today—and, because she purchased it with some of her inheritance, considered it “the last present my very dear and affectionate father has left me.”

The second quest into the archives began when the Honourable Ted Menzies, a former member of parliament, asked if his family might see two miniatures of Archibald and Janet Menzies on a visit to the island. The historian of the family, Graeme Menzies, had recently written a biography on Archibald and alerted Ted to the presence of the paintings here. He was also instrumental in helping us identify the artist and estimate the date the miniatures were created. At the time that Graeme and Ted reached out to the archives, we only knew the subjects of the portraits and little else.

Archibald Menzies was a Scottish botanist and naturalist who sailed with the Vancouver Expedition in 1791. He married his wife, Janet, just before his voyage in 1789. Given the youth of the couple in the portraits, Graeme and I surmised they were likely painted to commemorate the wedding or as mementos to carry while Archibald travelled. We then reached out to a specialist in British miniatures, Emma Rutherford, who was able to identify the artist as Thomas Richmond. Ted, who is the Canadian board

WHO GETS TO SEE ORIGINAL EMILY CARR WORK JUST A FEW ROWS DOWN FROM A PAINTING OF YOUR GREAT-GRANDFATHER?

member of the Menzies Clan Society, was able to bring this history back to their family at a recent clan gathering.

Most recently, Nicola Baker was visiting her greatgrandmother’s grave at Ross Bay cemetery with her mother Susan and some family. They realized the cemetery also probably held the grave of her greatgreat-grandfather, Dr. Henry Esson Young. When Nicola attempted to Google the grave’s location, she came across a new article about a painting at the museum. We had just acquired a life-size canvas of the Honourable Dr. Young, and Nicola asked if her family could come see it.

Our storage is a challenging space to see large paintings; nevertheless, Nicola, Susan and I, along with four other family members, squeezed in, tilted our heads sideways, and gazed at the former Minister of Education and Minister of Health. While the Young family didn’t bring new knowledge, I, myself an unrelated Young, had just conducted new research on the recently acquired painting. I noted the similarities between Dr. Henry Young and our current provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, two public health figures keenly interested in vaccination. As a testament to what a small town Victoria can be, the Young family left their viewing and went to Government House where they had a serendipitous encounter with Dr. Henry, who even happened to know of the painting.

In a recent email exchange about this article, Nicola observed, “Who gets to see original Emily Carr work just a few rows down from a painting of your great-grandfather?” Apparently, more people than one might think.

The BC Archives holds hundreds of historical portraits representing generations of people who have called British Columbia home. If you have an ancestor who may be depicted here, come for a visit and meet them for yourself.

This is a perfect example of how animals can adapt to any situation or setting, if we do not interfere with them. Or is it a warning of how things are to be in the future—where wildlife is seen more in urban landscapes, while their own homes are dwindling?

The messages behind the pictures of Wildlife Photographer of the Year

1. Try to eat fish and seafood that has been sustainably caught. Pole and line fishing catches fish one at a time, preventing overfishing and reducing the risk of bycatch (accidently catching other species).

2. Try incorporating different types of fish into your diet. Eating a diverse range of foods is important for your health, as well as the health of the oceans.

3. Reduce your food waste at home by storing your food properly and planning your meals ahead of time.

What does it take to capture the perfect picture? Is it hours of patient focus backed by decades of experience? Is it the right equipment? Maybe it all comes down to luck and timing, or maybe it’s something else entirely.

Whatever it is, the photographers selected year after year to display their work in the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition have figured out the secret. And beyond being simply a collection of beautiful and at times heart-wrenching photos, these images carry important messages of conservation, protection and action. A fan favourite of Royal BC Museum visitors for the past decade, Wildlife Photographer of the Year has been celebrating the best of the best that wildlife photographers have to offer for nearly 60 years. From macro shots of the tiniest insects to sweeping Arctic panoramas featuring some of the largest mammals on

Earth, there are seemingly no limits to what the world’s most talented photographers are able to capture.

This year, 99 captivating images are touring the world, and after opening to rave reviews at the Royal BC Museum in December 2022, it’s no wonder the photography exhibition continues to draw crowds.

What began as a magazine competition in 1965 has become one of the world’s most renowned photography awards. Upwards of 45,000 entries vie annually for the coveted top spots—a process that has become significantly simplified over the years since the advent of the digital camera. But more than just an accolade for photographers, the Natural History Museum says the competition’s aim from the outset has been to “enhance the prestige of wildlife photography in the hopes that ultimately the awards will benefit the animals themselves by creating greater public interest in them and in that all-important topic: conservation.”

That desire to spark public interest and action is never more clearly exemplified than through Canada’s own Jo-Anne McArthur, who has been photographing wildlife around the world for the past 25 years. No subject has driven her work forward more than documenting and raising global awareness around systemic animal abuse. Featured in books like HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene, Captive, and We Animals, McArthur has made a career of documenting exploited and abused animals and advocating for animal rights.

This year, McArthur’s photo Life and death in fur farming shows the heartbreaking reality of the mink farming industry. Taken in Lindåsen, Sweden, the picture captures the cramped, inhospitable conditions where these reclusive animals are bred for their fur.

The story accompanying McArthur’s image in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year gallery acknowledges recent changes in legislation that have seen improvements made to living conditions at factory farms, but as McArthur notes, “Injuries do still occur and the standard of life remains poor. Mink farming is an industry where, traditionally, the welfare of these semiaquatic, naturally solitary mammals has not been a priority unless it affects the fur.”

McArthur also highlights the devastating impact COVID-19 had on the mink industry after it was discovered the small mammals could carry and spread the deadly virus to humans. As a result, some 17 million minks were euthanized in Denmark alone.

The competition has a longstanding history of photographers using their art and platform to raise awareness about pressing global concerns, like unsustainable fishing practices, the impact of urbanization on wildlife, and the ongoing battle between humans and nature. Others use the opportunity to highlight work already being done to preserve vulnerable species, like Australia’s Goongerah Wombat Orphanage which raised orphaned baby wombats before releasing them back into the wild, or one Polish community’s dedicated winter feedings to help its mute swan population survive the area’s harsh winters.

Celebrate 58 years of art with a cause by visiting the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Royal BC Museum through April 16.

What really makes this image work is the element of surprise. On first glance, the right-hand side of the image looks like a grassy field. But when you realize that it’s water, you immediately understand that something is sorely wrong with this picture—it’s a damaged ecosystem, and something must be done to fix it.”

—Jen Guyton, photojournalist and judge

Wildlife

Not your average art hang

Steve Lewis exhibitions production manager

Long before the lights go on and crowds are welcomed in to what has become our longest-running return exhibition, the Royal BC Museum’s exhibition team has work to do to bring Wildlife Photographer of the Year to life. Setting up an almost entirely photograph-based exhibition is more complex than what meets the eye when you walk into the gallery. This deceptively simplelooking exhibition takes a lot of behind-the-scenes work from the exhibitions team to make the show a reality.

The installation starts months before the show, opens to the public. The museum’s exhibition designer first develops the layout of the show as no two years are ever the same. Not only do they have to arrange the order of how the 100+ photographs and videos are displayed, they also have to plot out the position of temporary walls, factor in emergency exit routes, pick new wall paint colours, design a statement making entrance to the gallery, and lay out a seemingly endless number of additional graphic panels for the show.

Once the designer has developed the layout and it’s been approved by the Natural History

Museum in London, England, the fabrication team goes to work.

After having spent a few weeks to empty out the gallery from the previous exhibition—in this case, our duel feature exhibitions

Broken Promises and Between Us:

Adad Hannah’s Social Distancing Portraits—the team begins to assemble our temporary wall units. Each wall needs to be tied off to the ceiling for seismic safety purposes, have any holes patched up and get a fresh coat of paint. But the walls aren’t finished just yet.

Each image requires power to illuminate the internal lighting, and that’s where our audiovisual technicians step in. Running cables and wiring to each frame, they then have to repeat this process along the permanent walls of the gallery underneath a custom-built cable cover. The AV technicians are also responsible for focusing the lights in the gallery to make sure all of the graphic panels are properly lit and there’s ample light in the gallery so the public aren’t bumping into things. Besides the lighting, the AV techs are also responsible for installing all of the accompanying video screens and audio components for the soundtrack that accompanies the show.

When the walls are ready, it’s time to hang the photos, which is surprisingly the quickest part of the installation. Despite making sure all of the images are at the exact right height, perfectly level and properly spaced, it only takes our team a few days to hang all 100 photos in the show along with all of the additional graphics.

We can’t forget about that statement entrance the designer thought up during the planning stage. These large mural-sized images and title graphics are typically printed in house and installed by the exhibitions team, which is no small feat considering the size and complexity of some of the images.

Last but not least, the gallery is given a thorough cleaning before opening day to make sure there are no stray screws on the carpet, objects have been dusted and everything is looking its best before opening to the public.

After close to a decade of hosting Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the exhibitions team is a well-oiled machine when it comes to finding the best ways to display these incredible works of art.