Voices Across the Water 

For Alaskan Tlingit carver Wayne Price, fashioning a dugout canoe from a single massive red cedar tree is a way to reconnect to the ancestral knowledge of Indigenous craftspeople. Helped by a new young apprentice Violet, Wayne’s long hours of labour are buoyed by silly jokes and deep conversation. Francophone artist Halin de Repentigny hand-makes birch bark canoes, like those once used by the Voyageurs. Harvesting raw materials from the Yukon forest, Halin works in painstaking fashion to create his light, strong vessels, lovingly embellished with his fanciful artwork. But what happens when the old ways are lost? For Wayne, building boats is a means to pass on his skill and expertise to the next generation, while Halin’s labour is more introspective, but both men understand the fragility of knowledge. Connected by their devotion to craft and the critical importance of succession, they carry forward the ancient art of navigating life’s unexpected currents and eddies. In the final meeting of wood and water, the vessels are launched, carrying friends and family in joyous communion: their journey complete.