INTO THE ARCTIC

CANADIAN PAINTER AND FILMMAKER CORY TRÉPANIER EXPLORES THE SUBLIME AND RAPIDLY CHANGING CANADIAN ARCTIC

- CORY TRÉPANIER

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, Cory Trépanier set off on the first of five expeditions to the Canadian Arctic. His mission? To explore and record the sublime beauty of the remote wilderness of the Far North. The filmmaker and painter would travel more than 60,000 kilometres between 2006 and 2018, using the landscapes he encountered as inspiration for more than 100 oil paintings and three documentary films.

Into the Arctic: Painting Canada’s Changing North preserves a changing land in a limited-edition coffee-table book that includes Trépanier’s behind-the-scenes stories about each painting (a selection included here), as well as thoughts from fellow Arctic enthusiasts and experts who evoke the power and magic of the polar region through their words. Contributors include guide Billy Arnaquq of Nunavut Experience Outfitting Services, acclaimed naturalist and painter Robert Bateman, celebrated explorer and cultural anthropologist Wade Davis and Royal Canadian Geographical Society CEO John Geiger.

Trépanier has said that through conveying “the sense of wonder and awe I have when I’m out there,” he hopes his work will inspire efforts to preserve and protect the fragile Arctic ecosystem and the way of life of the North’s inhabitants.

Asgard (study), 2019