| Scott Walden |
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Artist's Statement In reality, as soon as each hour of one's life has died, it embodies itself in some material object, as do the souls of the dead in certain folk-stories, and hides there. There it remains captive, captive forever, unless we should happen on the object, recognise what lies within, call it by its name, and so set it free. Marcel Proust, Prologue to By Way of Sainte-Beuve (Translated by Sylvia Townsend Warner) During the 1950s and '60s the federal and provincial governments implemented programs that led to the abandonment of approximately 300 Newfoundland coastal fishing villages and the relocation of at least 30,000 people. It was the government's intention to wean the population from a subsistence existence based on the fishery to a modern lifestyle based on employment in newly-created industries. Almost all of the industries soon failed, however, and the populations scattered once again, many leaving the province altogether. During the late 1990s I traveled to the isolated coastal ghost towns left behind by these resettlement programs, photographing their remnants with my large- and medium-format cameras. The photographs depict things, but things embody thoughts, thoughts that are the memories of those who built and lived within the churches, schools, and homes depicted. As the weathered remnants dissolve, sinking into the ocean landscape, where can these memories go? Can they find refuge in lifeboat photographs? |
| All images copyright June Bateman Gallery and individual artists. Reproduction by permission only. |