Sketch Harbour, conveniently located in Ketch Harbour, is one of those rare attractions that people stumble upon when taking alternative routes to explore Nova Scotia. Aaron McKenzie Fraser, the creator of this art project / tourist attraction / department of tourism, answered my many questions about this location and what lies within it when we stumbled upon what was an equally mysterious and appropriately atmospheric day in early June.
Why did you start on this project?
I work as a photographer. Most of my pictures are pictures of people and I take pictures for money, so I started thinking to myself, what do I do when I’m taking pictures and it’s not for money? I started walking around town taking pictures and I found a real energy in this space. I am less interested in what someone would see as a beautiful landscape, Nova Scotia is inherently beautiful but it is also inherently rugged and rough and raw and all of these things that our tourism department doesn't necessarily showcase. I had all these photos and I had this space. You spend a lot of money printing photos and putting them in a room that is a white gallery space and people come and say “Hey your work is really great!” and then your work gets packaged up and shipped away. With Sketch Harbour, it was like I now have my own gallery and I use this space for a sense of community as well. There's a lot of people in the neighborhood that like to chat and this is a place where they can congregate.
Has your art always had this mystical side to it?
I think I had a bit of that but didn't know where it should go. I do have some ideas that are a bit more mystical or dark but I always saw myself as a photographer technician not an artist, as in I have trained in a commercial field so I come at my photography from a trained perspective and not through the eyes of a fine artist. The commercial field can be boring and sterile, so I have always tried to figure out ways to translate something a bit more interesting when I take photos of people. I used to do a lot of work for Globe and Mail and was lucky to have the best editor. She was always trying to get her photographers to capture a picture of someone that was more than just them smiling standing beside a big company logo. I was able to give photos a bit more edge in that way and personality.
What was the inspiration to capture this mystical vision you had into this property
In terms of landscapes, when people think of landscape they see that it's beautiful (sunrise, sunsets, birds) but when I moved out here I was moved by more of the overall energy of this place. It's foggy, cold, windy and it's hard. For years I watched this house and it never looked like anyone lived there. It was for sale a long time. I called the owner and asked what was happening with the space, and he said it could be whatever I wanted it to be. The man who I bought it from loved the history of the place, so when I moved in he was a bit skeptical but I adapted to the energy of the space and it was a little bit too harsh for my partner from Montreal. I get it, the house hadn't been worked on it for at least 5-10 years. It was cold, hard, and difficult. I loved this space and it gave me a channel for the weird mystical ideas I have and of how I could interpret photography, I could channel it and be inspired from the real love I have of this place. I lived here alone for a year in a weird time where I would have some drinks and just shoot pictures of waves. I don't know if that's the right idea but I listened to a lot of weird old country music and let it happen.
How do people react to this place?
Some of the people who came were amazed, whereas the others were looking at each other like: is this it? And I was thinking, what else could it be? Take it or leave it. I want people to visit in some ways, and in others I don't care! This is a space for whoever wants to come and hangout. It’s more real to Nova Scotians who understand what we have, we don't have to tell people that much since it's an amazing enough experience as is.
What's the history of this property?
The house and shed are registered heritage properties for Nova Scotia as well as the Halifax Regional Municipality. The first owner of the home was the Mackey family who had someone in their family that survived the Halifax explosion by swimming to shore. After that a woman named Kay Hill, who was an author, bought the house from and lived here until the mid 1990s. Kay then sold the property to a wood carver, who helped make this place a registered heritage home. It is registered because of all of the different kinds of people who have lived here because they have such a Nova Scotian connection.
Did you have help to make this project come to life?
Yes! In terms of renovating this place because it was collapsing on itself when I first moved in, I met a man named Greg who lives in town and is very creative. He was into rolling with the punches which is what you need in this weird place. I showed this place to a number of other carpenters and they were all like “tear this down and build something beautiful” or, “oh you're going to paint this all white and make it an airbnb?” And I want it to stay authentic and be a real Nova Scotian place. I wanted to strengthen the structures because they were going to fall over, but still keep the character, which Greg understood, and that's why we worked so well together. I also met with a friend of mine who was a creative director of an advertising agency called Shortstop for a number of years. He was looking for a new creative project and at the time I had two ideas. 1: Real straightforward portraits of medium to well known people to put in a book and sell to clients. 2: This mystical thing that I'm not entirely sure how to package up but I see it as being this real/fake tourism department and I want guide books, stickers, matches, tuques, shirts. He worked on web design, built our website, and took the logo that I made of scrap wood and turned it into what we have today on the website.
What do you hope to get out of this project?
I have mailed out packages to agencies and put out a request for people to give me the most mediocre reviews on google. I think the tourism here is focussed on “please please come see me” but want to play it a different way. The people here are quite content with how it is. They don't need the tourism money, and I thought that my website and google reviews should showcase some of that, and the overall appeal that I give to my project. It’s whatever people want it to be and that’s the beauty of it. But don’t come here.
Sam and I had a great time visiting Sketch Harbour and all its mystery. Aaron revealed to us how he works to keep the mystery alive within his own work, while showcasing the raw beauty that is Nova Scotia. If you would like to learn more about Aaron's work, click here.
