Every year on the coast of Newfoundland, the arrival of the annual Capelin scull signals the practice of a community ritual that is as old as the occupation of these shores. From out of the deep waters of the bays of the North Atlantic come multitudes of tiny fish to spawn on the beaches and to replenish their numbers in the great cycle of natural life. With them come the sea birds while beneath the waters, the cod, whales and other species come to feast on this bountiful gift of the ocean. For hundreds of years, Newfoundlanders have waited in suspense for this massive bestowal of nature. The communities of the coasts would come to the beaches just as the tiny fish were swarming in from the sea. The air would be charged with excitement as everyone issued forth from their houses to greet these silvery harbingers of their fishing fortunes.
Today, this surviving ritual may well be the last remnant of a shared community experience with the ocean that sustained Newfoundlanders as a people. The ethic of shared work and shared plenty was lived through time and time again as the annual Capelin arrival brought communities together to stand upon their beaches. It is hard to think of another natural event in Newfoundland that so freely experiences and nurtures the spiritual health of a community. As our modern world moves us further and further away from the cycles of nature that give us life it is important to take a breath and understand the significance of an annual event that brings us in touch with the forces that helped shape our cultural identity.
The great gift of the 'visiting fishes', those who come to us driven by the force of their own nature, is a sacred one. By understanding the sacred nature of this relationship, we may be able to preserve it from the demands of the secular economic realities that threaten to destroy it. Maybe then, nature can be viewed, not just as resource to exploit, but as a continuum that includes us, and with us, our responsibility for it and our own survival. "Middle Cove" is a group of photos that chronicles this ancient celebration. Taken over a period of three years on Middle Cove beach when the Capelin were rolling, it celebrates the human joy this natural event inspires. A free-standing, clothes-line type structure made of recycled and organic materials on which mounted photos were hung was installed on Middle Cove Beach while the Capelin were rolling. Afterward, it was displayed in various locations around downtown, St. John's and exhibited at the Logy Bay Museum.
For more photos in this series and shots of the installation please see Rhonda Pelley's Website
The Human Remains is an ongoing series of photo composites that document the present period of rapid change in the life of Newfoundland culture. Using the human form as the key to expressing this change, it explores the emotional forces that are at work upon people caught up in this unprecedented transformation.
Newfoundland is moving away from its historical role of being primarily a fishing culture to that of an oil and mineral producing entity operating within the dangerous culture of world globalization. My contention is that the stresses inherent in this massive and rapid societal change can be witnessed in the lives, and on the bodies, of the individuals who live within that changing society.
By focusing upon the human body as a metaphor for cultural change, The Human Remains deals with trauma and crisis. It is a narrative that explores some of the emotions and experiences that have been historically housed in the body - an investigation into the belief that our personal past informs our cells while our ancestral memory inhabits our DNA. It is an intimate map of personal life, of what is being written on our faces by the struggle to understand the forces of change that are operating within both our psychic landscapes and the changing landscapes of our environment.
See also: AfterImage
December, 2007This first edition of the Atlantic Basin Project has been made possible by the efforts of members of the Independent Artists Cooperative and its in house collective Rock Can Roll Independent and through the generous support of the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council.