KABLOONAS

KABLOONAS
Burial of John Franklin. Author: me

KABLOONAS

Kabloonas is the way in which the Inuit who live in the north part of Canada call those who haven´t their same ascendency.

The first time i read this word was in the book "Fatal Passage" by Ken McGoogan, when, as the result of the conversations between John Rae and some inuit, and trying to find any evidence of the ill-fated Sir John Franklin Expedition, some of then mentioned that they watched how some kabloonas walked to die in the proximities of the river Great Fish.

I wish to publish this blog to order and share all those anecdotes that I´ve been finding in the arctic literature about arctic expeditions. My interest began more than 15 years ago reading a little book of my brother about north and south pole expeditions. I began reading almost all the bibliography about Antarctic expeditions and the superknown expeditions of Scott, Amundsen, Shackleton, etc. After I was captured by the Nansen, Nobile and Engineer Andree. But the most disturbing thing in that little book, full of pictures, was the two pages dedicated to the last Franklin expedition of the S.XIX, on that moment I thought that given the time on which this and others expeditions happened, few or any additional information could be obtained about it. I couldn´t imagine that after those two pages It would be a huge iceberg full of stories, unresolved misteries, anecdotes, etc. I believe that this iceberg, on the contrary than others, would continue growing instead melting.



viernes, 27 de julio de 2012

GRAHAM GORE

Commander Graham Gore (from the only known photo of him for me) author: me
My drawing hasn´t got a big physical resemblance, or any resemblance at all with the original, I would say, but it is the first aproximation. From the study of his face in the original photo while drawing his face features I became familiar with his gesture, and It is fun to watch his slight smile, nearly ironical. It seems that he is trying to contain his laugh, showing that perhaps he was a man of good humor. He is staring at something or at someone, perhaps to a good friend or a mate who was laughing at the same time when the photo was taken. It is also remarkable the dimple or wound in his cheek.

The original photo is here:

And a very very interesting analysis of the original picture is in the Russell Potter blog which I highly recomend to read and it is here:

The byography of this man is fascinating, he was another artist as could be George Back and Robert Hood, some of his sketches are really impressive, two of them are here:

A complete an really interesting account of his life and of the life of  his ancestors is here in the blog of William Battersby: 

From all this places I´ve learned that he was a talented artist and curious details about his life like he was in the "Beagle" for three years, something about his mood and other curious anecdotes.

Mi dibujo no tiene un gran parecido físico, o ninguno en absoluto con el original, diría yo, pero es la primera aproximación. Del estudio de su cara en la foto original al dibujando sus rasgos faciales me he familiarizado con su gesto, y es divertido observar su ligera sonrisa, casi irónica. Parece que está tratando de contener la risa, mostrando quizás que se trataba de un hombre de buen humor. Está mirando a algo o a alguien, quizás a un buen amigo o compañero quien estaba riendo en ese mismo momento cuando la foto fué tomada. Es de señalar también el hoyuelo o herida que tiene en la mejilla.

La foto original está aqui.

Y un muy muy interesante análisis de su foto está en el blog de Russell Potter, cuya lectura recomiendo encarecidamente y está aqui.

La biografía de este hombre es fascinante, fué otro artista como lo pudo ser George Back y Robert Hood, algunas de sus pinturas son impresionantes, dos de ellas están aqui.

Una descripción completa y realmente interesante de su vida y de la de sus antecesores está aqui en el blog de William Battersby.

De todos estos sitios he aprendido que el fue un talentoso artista y curiosos detalles sobre su vida, como que estuvo embarcado en el Beagle durante tres años, algo sobre su caracter y otras curiosas anécdotas.

1 comentario:

  1. Nice! The dimple/scar on his cheek is as remarkable as his family history! He was also quite the artist, much like Fitzjames.

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