Michelle Rae Baikie
A descendant of Orkney Islanders and the earlier Inuit of Hamilton
Inlet, she grew up on the land and on the water with people of a unique
culture who survived and thrived on fish and fur. She has a unique
understanding of the people and their place and this is reflected in
her photography. But she has roots too on the Great Northern Peninsula
of the Island, which gives her an unmatchable appreciation for both
parts of our Province.
Senator Bill Rompkey
for Labrador, Canada
Digital imaging and dye sublimation allow Baikie to drape a spiritual,
almost ethereal, haze over the photographs she manipulates.
Modern processes combine with the historical quality of her images to
create, paradoxically, a revealing documentary of the development of
the province and its impending changes. In attempting to
represent the past Baikie is:
“Searching for something, even if it’s trying to be closer to God in some way.”
Baikie continues to sharpen her artistic eye in the colourful
surroundings of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. She is the
owner of MRB Photo Communications.
Gail Tuttle
Curator for
Merchant, Mariners and the Northern Sea Exhibition – 1999
Sir Wilfred Grenfell Art Gallery
Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador
Michelle Baikie was born and raised in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador
and comes from a Scottish and Inuit background. Michelle studied at
Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Faculty of Education by
correspondence from 1988 to 1991. She then went on to receive a
Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Biomedical Photographic
Communications from the College of Imaging Arts and Science, Rochester
Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, in 1994. Michelle
completed her Bachelor of Education in May 2003 with Memorial
University of Newfoundland. She recently graduated in the Fall 2007
with a Master in Education (Literacy) from Mount Saint Vincent
University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Through this history of varied
ancestry, education and experience she brings to her work, along with
her skill in photography, the ability to convey sensitivity to the
preservation of our heritage. Her dedication has been recognized
by many awards, including the 1992 School of Visual Communication
Cultural Diversity Incentive Award for the exhibition entitled
Footprints of my Ancestors. The image Spirits was published in
First, a catalogue for the exhibition of aboriginal art in Newfoundland
and Labrador.
Digital imaging and dye sublimation allow Baikie to drape a spiritual,
almost ethereal, haze over the photographs she manipulates.
Modern processes combine with the historical
quality of her images to create, paradoxically, a revealing documentary
of the development of the province and its impending changes. In
attempting to represent the past Baikie is:
“Searching for something, even if it’s trying to be closer to God in some way.”
Baikie continues to sharpen her artistic eye in the colourful
surroundings of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. She is the
owner of MRB Photo Communications.
Gail Tuttle
Curator for
Merchant, Mariners and the Northern Sea Exhibition – 1999
Sir Wilfred Grenfell Art Gallery
Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador
