La Poile - Newfoundland

I am interested in exploring what it means to belong to a community and have traditions rooted in heritage, and alternatively what happens when one’s “place” is altered, removed, distorted and shifted. Over the last two years I have been documenting communities in Scotland and Canada, photographing the people and their way of life, which I can see is disappearing not to slowly from our modern world. The words of David Morrison, a fishermen from Scalpay in Scotland are scarred into my head, "If there is no young, there will be no old" I will return to Newfoundland this August and deliver a powerful story of life and people in coastal town La Poile, the un-spoilt wilderness, remote from everything we call civilization, yet facing enforced change, as we move into the second decade of the 21st Century.  

Somehow all our lives are connected, we all share the same dream of security and stability. The Grand Bruit, Newfoundland residents shared this dream. Last June I spent the final days with the remaining residents on Grand Bruit before the resettlement of this coastal town. Grand Bruit was settled in the 1800’s and now after making the hard choice to resettle, the people began preparing to move to new homes across Canada. The aging population could no longer survive the harsh winters, their children had left to work elsewhere, the fishing industry was no longer what it once was, they had seen the end and the erosion of this fishing culture.  The populations of these communities are diminishing. Year after year more and more young people leave their community and its heritage. The future seems absent, the past lingers in the frozen hands of the fishermen; trades and skills are no longer passed down generation to generation. The schools have shut, the traditions are coming to a hult. The fairy tale village of Grand Bruit now sits deserted; no roads in or out, the lights are off and the last ferry has left. The people decided to leave, the Government gave them $80.000 to resettle. They said bye to their ancestors buried in the graveyard, the last goodbye for most.

I am leaving in August to photograph the fishing town of La Poile, Newfoundland with an estimated population of 100. La Poile is a southern coastal town accessible only by a two and a half hour boat ride, which departs from a remote fishing town on the southwest shore called Rose Blanche.  The La Poile residents have watched as the neighbouring town, Grand Bruit, disappeared and resettled in June.

On my return boat journey, leaving Grand Bruit, we passed La Poile and I had the chance to talk to a few of residents who got onto the boat. They strongly believed that La Poile could be next and watched with heavy hearts as Grand Bruit disappeared. I will document La Poile and its people who have also been affected by declining population, dwindling fisheries and centralization. Within the context of this challenging and changing environment, I am interested in recording tradition, heritage and the life off the land and sea. The work will document not only what is but could also be speaking to what was. I will capture the people, the landscape, and tell their story through still and moving image.  I will explore the reasons for the fall of these coastal towns by learning from the residents.

With your help I will can stay longer in Newfoundland to create a more in-depth view of La Poile and it’s surroundings. It is important that people can see these photographs and study for themselves, a way of life that we have lived for so long, being swallowed up by the modern world.

The resulting images will be exhibited at the Harbourfront Center, Toronto as a large installation April – June 2012. This body of work will be an archive, an archive that captures for future generations, a people of the past. 

Thank you for your support.

Johan.