Children play tag on a pyramid of straw bales under a rainbow after a light rain shower on a warm August evening.
Spring Valley Hutterite Colony - 2010
In the world, but not of it.
2009 - Present
The Hutterites, pacifist Anabaptists whose roots trace back to the 16th Century Reformation, live communally on colonies throughout western Canada and the north-western United States. Their culture continues to be preserved through deliberate separation from mainstream society and economic self-sufficiency. Their belief in the sharing of goods separates them from other Anabaptist movements as well as the majority of mainstream society.
Despite a history of persecution the Hutterites are currently in the midst of one of their most successful periods. Facing no overt threats from the outside world they have prospered and grown to over 45,000 members spread out amongst approximately 500 colonies. They are one of the most successful models for communal living in modern history.
Members are provided for throughout their entire lives and on the whole experience less of the loneliness and isolation prevalent in the modern world. The importance given to engagement in family life, social life and spirituality, and the defined purpose for their lives means Hutterite communities meet many of the requirements to be considered Blue Zones; area’s where health, happiness and life expectancy rates are higher than average.
Hutterite culture is often either romanticized or denigrated as simple or backwards. The reality is that their society is very complex and no two colonies are the same. Each colony must decide how rigidly they cling to their traditions verses how much they adapt to the increasingly connected outside world. Conformity to the larger group is unofficially policed by the group as a whole. The Minister is burdened with ensuring the colony stays on a path to godliness rather than worldliness. As Hutterite author Paul S. Gross wrote “We cannot please the world and God at the same time … Either we take this world with all it offers, including trouble, mental stress, sorrow, and death at the end; or else we take a better way.”
Branding, castrating and vaccinating calves at Forty Mile Colony in Montana. The small colony of only approximately 30 residents enlisted help from other colonies in Montana, Saskatchewan and Washington.
A woman holds a bloodied scalpel for castrating calves during a long day of branding.
Hadassah Maendel takes Kahlua for a swim in the colony swimming hole at sunset on an August evening.
Baker Hutterite Colony - 2016
Nevada Waldner holds her American Girl style doll. Homemade clothes sewn by family members reflect the lives of the Hutterite girls that own them.
Maple Grove Hutterite Colony - 2016
Farm boss Jack Hofer runs through the dust and chaff spit out from a combine harvesting canola after throwing a pan under the machine to test for canola wastage.
Deerboine Colony - 2018
Mel Hofer and Arthur Wurtz break for a quick supper while combining during harvest.
Deerboine Colony - 2015
Liam Waldner in the colony garden during the melon harvest.
Deerboine Hutterite Colony - 2018
Jack Hofer runs in to bleed out a hog after shooting it so it can be butchered for use on the colony.
Deerboine Hutterite Colony - 2018
Justin and Kevin work in the killing plant butchering chickens. The job requires the majority of able-bodied members on the colony pitching in.
Justin Hofer after day two of butchering egg-laying chickens. Deerboine Colony along with Souris River Colony butchered approximately 11,000 chickens over two days. The work is hard and not particularly appetizing.
Deerboine Hutterite Colony - 2015
Kristiane Hofer sends a text while riding in the back of a pickup truck with Angela Hofer. Texting is extremely popular on colonies where cellphones have been accepted to make farming and business more productive. Individual colonies make their own decisions about how much technology to allow in but their leaders are all aware and interested in how their fellow colonies are handling the issue.
Deerboine Hutterite Colony - 2009
Doria Waldner from Green Acres Colony rides the Ultimate Swings ride on the midway at the Manitoba Summer Fair in Brandon.
Green Acres Hutterite Colony - 2018
Michelle Wurtz
Deerboine Hutterite Colony - 2015
Michelle Wurtz outside her home in Brandon, Manitoba. Wurtz left Deerboine Colony in 2016 and is currently studying criminology and sociology at Brandon University.
Brandon - 2020
Women sew quilts during a quilting bee in the school gymnasium. Volunteers from a variety of colony’s made approximately 700 quilts for Siloam Mission and Christian Aid Ministries.
Acadia Hutterite Colony - 2016
Chantel Hofer. Dahlia Wurtz and Junia Wurtz in their baptism dresses and jackets during baptism weekend.
Deerboine Colony - 2018
Edwin Hofer sits in the living room of his home waiting for the call to church as dusk descends over the colony.
Deerboine Hutterite Colony - 2015
Light streams in through the blinds in the church at Lajord Colony in Saskatchewan.
German school teacher Jonathan Hofer presides over prayer recited by one of his students after dinner in the essenschul (eating school) at Deerboine Colony. Kids between the ages of five and fifteen eat separately from the adults in the essenschul.
Deerboine Hutterite Colony - 2017
Portrait of Trina and Telsa Waldner during a day of downhill skiing at Ski Valley in Minnedosa along with students from Spring Hill Colony.
Odanah Hutterite Colony - 2016
Clara Wollmann of Good Hope Hutterite Colony sails over the high jump bar during the annual Track and Field competition at the colony.
Good Hope Hutterite Colony - 2017
Women pick garlic together at sunrise on a foggy August morning in the large communal garden.
Deerboine Hutterite Colony - 2010
Men take a break while cleaning up after a flash flood damaged homes and buildings.
Springhill Hutterite Colony - 2020
John and Ruth Waldner give thanks after he helped her with her lunch at their kitchen table. Ruth has dementia and John spends most of his day caring for her.
Deerboine Hutterite Colony - 2013
A young girl looks back from the church pew during the wake for Susanna Wollman at Decker Colony.
Family, friends and loved ones sing hymns around Susanna Wollman's casket in her home at Decker Colony prior to her funeral. Susanna lived over 100 years, had 52 grandchildren and 154 great grandchildren.
Men carry Susanna Wollman's casket from her home to the church for her funeral. Susanna lived over 100 years, and had 52 grandchildren, 154 great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.
Flowers were placed on top of Annie Wurtz's grave and hymns were sung after she was laid to rest in Deerboine Colony's cemetery following the wake and funeral. As is tradition the grave is dug by hand.
Deerboine Hutterite Colony - 2015
Geese at Pine Creek Colony.
Students at Hillcrest Colony listen to their english teacher during a lesson.
Hillcrest Hutterite Colony - 2017 (Dariusleut, Saskatchewan)
Portrait of Tilly Wurtz after church.
Deerboine Hutterite Colony - 2013
Clay shooting over the Assiniboine River at sunset on a warm summer evening.
Deerboine Hutterite Colony - 2015
Kids swim in Pine Creek on a hot July evening.
Pine Creek Hutterite Colony - 2020
Kids swim in Pine Creek on a hot July evening.
Pine Creek Hutterite Colony - 2024
Kids swim in Pine Creek on a hot July evening.
Pine Creek Hutterite Colony - 2020
Kids at the Pine Creek swimming hole on a hot July evening.
Pine Creek Hutterite Colony - 2024
Kaitlyn Wurtz swims in the colony swimming hole, fed by a spring.
Deerboine Hutterite Colony - 2015
Lukas Hofer and Tyler Wurtz spar in a friendly MMA match at dusk on the front law of homes after a bridal shower next door.
Deerboine Hutterite Colony - 2022
Kelly Waldner with her quarter horse mix Kia at Baker Colony on a windy and warm spring evening.
Baker Hutterite Colony - 2016
Hadassah Maendel practices headstands at Baker Colony. Maendel has learned a variety of yoga poses and CrossFit routines from Instagram.
Baker Hutterite Colony - 2016
Chantel Hofer puts a blade of wheat in the hair of her two-year-old niece Anabelle in one of the colony's fields during harvest.
Deerboine Hutterite Colony - 2015
Young men watch the colony wood shop burn from the warmth of a nearby building in late November.
Deerboine Hutterite Colony - 2010
Josh Wurtz chases a cow through the snow on the colony after the cow escaped from the dairy operation.
Twin sisters Kayla and Kelly Waldner.
Baker Hutterite Colony - 2016
Maple Grove Hutterite Colony - 2017
Arnold Hofer, Minister at Acadia Colony and Altester, Bishop of the Schmiedeleut (Group 1) Hutterites.
Acadia Hutterite Colony - 2017
Lajord Hutterite Colony - 2017 (Dariusleut, Saskatchewan)
Hadassah Maendel of Baker Colony pitches from the mound in the golden late day light during a cancer fundraiser softball game between the Baker Wild and the Treherne Jillhammers at the Cottonwood Campground in Treherne.
2023
Players on the Baker Wild softball team cheer as they score a run during a cancer fundraiser softball game between the Baker Wild and the Treherne Jillhammers at the Cottonwood Campground in Treherne.
2023
Trisha Maendel waits for the puck while playing shinny with friends on the colony ice rink on a late December evening. The affluent colony has a warm-up hut and a zamboni for cleaning the ice.
Acadia Hutterite Colony - 2011
Her dress billows as Judith Maendel plays the puck during a charity hockey game in MacGregor, Manitoba between Hutterite women and the local town team, the Iron Maidens, in 2016. The women’s Hutterite team, made up of players from Baker, Maple Grove, Oak River and other colonies, rarely even gets a chance to practice together but has come out on top in the majority of their annual matches against the Iron Maidens.
MacGregor - 2016
Hadassah Maendel works out in the new gym. Interest in physical fitness has grown on some colonies as technology and affluence push members into less physically demanding lifestyles.
Baker Hutterite Colony - 2017
Hadassah Maendel climbs a rope while doing CrossFit in the colony gym.
Baker Hutterite Colony - 2017
Lukas of Deerboine Colony and Rebecca of Pine Creek Colony, who are dating, cruise along a grid road near Deerboine after women from Deerboine and Pine Creek picked clover to be used for tea.
Deerboine Hutterite Colony - 2021
Doria Waldner of Green Acres Hutterite Colony holds a friends baby at the Manitoba Summer Fair.
Brandon - 2018
A young Hutterite woman lifts her dress to display the henna tattoo of a tree that she designed on her leg. The non-permanent tattoo would still be considered controversial by elders on the colony. Personal adornments such as piercings and tattoos are frowned upon.
--- Hutterite Colony - 2018
Young women are reflected in the glass of CanAmerican Corrugating Co. While washing the windows of the colony manufacturing business on a warm, late August day.
Hutterite colony proliferation in Manitoba throughout the past century.
In The World But Not Of It
Solo Exhibition - Gallery@501, Sherwood Park, Alberta
January 10 - February 23, 2020