Calgary’s Kelly Hofer offers inside look at life in Hutterite colony
Photographer and activist Kelly Hofer offers look at life in a Hutterite colony
It would be understandable if Kelly Hofer still harboured bad feelings about where he grew up.
After spending a number of lonely and confusing years coming to terms with his sexuality, he felt compelled to leave his small Hutterite community in Manitoba at the age of 19 in 2012. He moved to Calgary and came out as gay a week later, which alienated him from many in the closed Hutterite world. Even when he is allowed back in, as he was recently to attend his brother’s wedding, it is often under severe restrictions.
Such are the drawbacks of being openly gay and pushing for widespread change in a community that has been slow to accept progress on social issues.
“Some colonies shun me and some don’t,” says Hofer, matter-of-factly, in an interview in Calgary. “It depends on how forward-thinking the minister is. The ministers who allow me on the colony get into trouble from other higher-ranking ministers for allowing me on. It’s very politicized. When I go there, the amount of red tape and stuff I can’t say and stuff I have to do is insane.”
So one might assume this frustration would seep into Hofer’s work. A professional photographer and artist who founded a support group for LGBT Hutterites, the now 23-year-old admits that his formative years were not without strife.
So it is surprising to learn that one of the main thrusts behind his new book of photography, titled Hutterite by Kelly Hofer, was to convey the “warmth” of life on the Green Acres Colony just southeast of Brandon, Man. This is not an expose, at least not in the traditional sense.
“There is no animosity toward it now,” he says.
“I knew I had to go because of the way the culture is and it doesn’t change overnight. I realize that. So it was either me leaving, or me staying at home and being miserable. So I just chose the former. I had a really, really good childhood. I just knew it wouldn’t work as a place to grow old.”
It’s a diplomatic stance, particularly for an activist. But the photos included in Hofer’s 240-page book show his undeniable affection for his community, providing an insider’s look at an often misunderstood culture. Of course, it helped that Hofer was in fact an insider when he took the photos.
He was 11 years old when he began snapping nature shots using a point-and-shoot camera that his father, a principal at the colony’s high school, would bring home. For the next eight years, Hofer became an obsessive shooter, moving from nature shots to portraits of family and friends at Green Acres and neighbouring colonies. It became a passion and an artistic outlet for a confused teen struggling with his identity, even if photography was not the most popular of pastimes in a camera-shy Hutterite colony.
“It was always a problem for me,” says Hofer.
“Nobody really ever liked me shooting photos of them. But I just kept doing it and eventually they just go used to it. It is a really difficult culture to get access to in terms of shooting photos.”
Which is what makes Hofer’s work so unusual. The photos in the book capture candid day-today life as only an insider could. The cover shot, a beautifully composed black and white photo of boys siting atop a soccer net, was taken when Hofer was only 11. Many of the photos are of joyful children in the colony. Some have them mugging for the cam- era, but most are observational. There’s a beautiful shot of Hofer’s two cousins sitting in tall grass at twilight. Another pictures shows a group of five girls lying on their stomachs peering down at a river from the edge of a cliff.
Hofer will be offering the public a sneak-peek of the book on Saturday at his ARCHE loft studio in Calgary’s southwest.
It will also launch a Kickstarter campaign to help fund printing.
“It's all just my friends, family, the community around me and the culture around me,” he says. “There was really nothing off limits for me because I was part of the culture. There were religious gatherings, baptisms and weddings that were a little off limits, but not very. The power of the book lies in that. It's untainted by an outsider's perspective.”
While the book is more or less apolitical when it comes to addressing the social issues Hofer is dedicated to as an activist, he says it does have a message. If the Hutterites haven't progressed much when it comes to gay rights, they are far more forwardlooking than they are often given credit for, he says. Nor are they the Luddites that many outsiders assume. Green Acres was technologically advanced, filled with Internet and cellphones. Among Hofer's early jobs were apprentice automotive electrical engineer and waterjet operator. The colony's main business was manufacturing fire trucks.
“If you really break it down and look at the societal structure we have and the way we take care of old people and the way Hutterites work and how the money is all pooled and spread based on what you need, it's a really, really forward-looking culture,” Hofer says. “I think it's one of the most resilient cultures of the world in terms of standing up to market forces, standing up to economic downturns, standing up to trends in how you live.”
Still, while Hofer is keen to convey what he sees as the beauty of Hutterite life, he also has no plans to stop pushing for change. After leaving the colony, he came out via Facebook. It was a decidedly bold move and one that sparked outrage from Hutterites across Canada. But because of his public profile, Hofer says many gay Hutterites now look to him for support.
Earlier this year, he was the subject of Calgary filmmaker Laura O'Grady's 15-minute documentary Queer Hutterite, where he spoke about the alienation of being gay in a place where it was viewed as “invalid.”
He is still working to change that, hoping to prevent young people in the colonies from having to go through the isolation, self-deception and confusion he did when growing up.
“I speak to a lot of leaders within the community and talk to them about the issues,” Hofer says. “I allow them to be very honest and ask any question they want, just so there is a greater understanding as to what it means to be gay and a Hutterite. They don't see it as something you are born as, they see it as something you choose and they just see the sex in it. They can't see the forest for the trees.”
Kelly Hofer will be holding a book launch on Saturday at 6 p.m. at ARCHE loft. Attendees must RSVP ahead of time at kellyhofer.com/ book.