In July 2007 Toronto photographer Cheol Joon Baek accompanied a group of Toronto evangelists on a three-week mission to Guyana, one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, a country whose Canadian-educated prime minister notes that people leave because they are often ?without a sense of what they can feel satisfied about.?
The mission of the evangelists was to investigate ?the needs of people,? to offer ?support, encouragement and aid to those in need,? and to bring people to ?accept Jesus.? In the capital Georgetown and in villages along the coast of Guyana, the evangelists conducted services in churches and held three-hour open air evening ?crusades,? ecstatic, emotional events involving singing and dancing, speaking in tongues, and faith healing.
The mission of photographer Baek was twofold: first, to document the interaction between Toronto evangelists and Guyanese people; and second, to record the glimpses Guyanese people offered into their lives.
Cheol Joon Baek is a Toronto-based freelance photographer, originally from Seoul, South Korea. He shoots for Toronto's NOW Magazine, and has had several exhibitions in the city displaying both fine art and documentary photography.
