@ First Son: Portraits by C.D. Hoy, av the Presentation House Gallery to Oct. 17 Layne Christensen News Reporter fayne@nsnews.com FAITH Moosang was working as a tree planter in the Central Interior when she mined gold at Barkerville Historic Town. A graduate of Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design wich an interest in historical pho- tography, Moosang was chatting with the curator of the town’s archives when conversa- tion turned to a fitthe-known collection of photographs by carly area resident C.D. Hoy. Hoy was a Chinese immigrant who worked variously as a farm hand, fur trader, surveyor and cook before taking up photography to supplement his wages. Following her 1995 discovery of the pho- tos, Moosang has compiled a book First Son: Portraits by C.D. Hoy, due out this weekend. The book is a co-publication of Arsenal Pulp Press and Presentation House Gallery, which is currently hosting a show of Hoy’s photos. On Srst viewing Hoy’s skilfis! portraits, Moosang says: “I was immediately shivering. Some photographs just speak right to your heart and these ones did.” They were “absolutely breathtakingly beau- diful,” says Moosang. But more importantly, she knew right away that Hoy’s portraits of First Nations peopic, Chinese immigrants and European settlers in small-town B.C. formed _an important historical and cultura! document, depicting 2 multi-racial community frozen in time. : Ann Lore didn’t exactly see her father’s otographic gold depicts ear! .G. photos thar way when she was their custodian. The third eldest of Hoy’s 2 children, Lore said her father had all but given up proftession- a photography by the vear she was born, 1921. Hoy ran the general store in Quesnel and, later, the Lode Theatre in Wells as well as the town’s light and power company. Passed from sibling ro sibling after her father’s death in 1973, the large-format nega- tives were for a time stuffed in an old suitcase, which Lore kept beneath her bed betore giv- ing them to a brother 10 years ago when she left Quesnel for North Vancouver. When her brother died, Lore and her surviving siblings debated what to do with the collection. “They thought, ‘Nobody wants really to do anything with it, we just might as well chuck it’,” she recalls. The negatives were eventually donated to Barkerville’s public archives, which is where Moosang found them in 1995. Mousang, now 33, sccured funding to research the book, speaking to more than 120 Barkervilie area residents in order to put names to the faces in Hoy’s portraits and hear their stories. “Here were portraits of families, people, triends and lovers. ... It’s really a very human- izing record,” says Moosang, of the more than 1,500 images she sifted through, editing her selections to 8] for the exhibitien and 96 fora book. : Lore, who is looking forward to viewing the show, said Moosang’s research inta her father’s photographs has brought new appreci- ation for her father’s talent. “I figure in those days he was a genius,” says Lore, who recalls her father telling her of an early foray into professional photography that accompanied stints as a watch repairman and barber. “I remember him saying ‘It curned out pretty good so I put ‘phctography’ on my shingle.’”” This Saturday, 2 p.m. at Presentation © House Gallery, Moosang wili discuss Hoy’s rtraits and his life. The public talk will be followed by a reception and book launch. 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