press release
Marlene Creates To the Blast Hole Pond River
Fogo Island Gallery May 18 to October 22, 2017
FOGO ISLAND ARTS The Fogo Island Gallery presents a solo exhibition of the work of senior Canadian artist Marlene Highway 334 – Suite 100 Creates. To the Blast Hole Pond River brings together a selection of photography and video that PO Box 70 – JBS draw inspiration from the river that flows through Creates’s property, a six-acre patch of boreal Fogo Island, NL forest in Portugal Cove, Newfoundland, where she has lived since 2002. As the title suggests, A0G 2X0 the exhibition is both tribute and journey, a meditation on the specificities of place that considers Canada our connection to the natural world as a form of reciprocal engagement. T: + 1 709 266 1248 fogoislandarts.ca The Blast Hole Pond River runs through Creates’s property before joining two more rivers fogoislandinn.ca and flowing into the salt water of Conception Bay. Water Flowing to the Sea Captured at the shorefast.ca Speed of Light, Blast Hole Pond River, Newfoundland 2002–2003 is a series of four pairs of photographs, one for each season, taken at the site of a small waterfall where the river drops GALLERY HOURS 11:00AM – 6:00PM daily over a ledge of compressed volcanic ash. In each pair, a large-scale photograph of the waterfall Free is juxtaposed with a grid of 16 self-portraits shot with a camera immersed in the river, the artist’s likeness altered and disrupted by the rush of water over the camera lens.
What began as a project to document the waterfall and the cyclical turn of the seasons became a conversation between the artist and the surrounding landscape. By placing the camera underwater Creates relinquishes the photographer’s control of framing and focus, as well as her capacity to exclude unwanted elements. Rather than an imposition of a privileged viewpoint, or a sense that the landscape is passive, awaiting our interpretation, the self-portraits establish a form of exchange. The artist’s presence within the landscape is acknowledged but as if seen by the landscape itself: the river returns the photographer’s gaze.
Undertaken 10 years later, About 8½ Minutes from the Sun to the Moon to the River to My Face to the Camera, Blast Hole Pond River, Newfoundland 2012 adopts a similar strategy of pairing a large-scale landscape photograph with a grid of self-portraits. In the former, the full moon appears, reflected on the surface of the river. The self-portraits show the artist against a backdrop of treetops and the night sky, her face faintly illuminated by light reflected off the water. Creates again relinquishes control and a sense of authorship over the photographic and compositional processes of her self-portraits, relying on the night sky, the water’s capacity to reflect light, and the time required to render a photographic image in low light. The resulting works are in a sense composed by the river and sky, mediated only by the apparatus of the camera and the length of the artist’s arm. The most recent works in the exhibition are drawn from What Came to Light at Blast Hole Pond River, Newfoundland 2015 (and ongoing), a series of colour photographs juxtaposed with text. Creates employs trail cameras she has installed beside the river to record animals’ movements. Each image of moose, fox, snowshoe hare and other wildlife is paired with a line of text describing an astronomical event that occurred at the time each photograph was taken. The works align the intentioned yet serendipitously captured movements of animals with the cyclical, regular motions of celestial bodies, signaling only two among countless phenomena occurring in nature at a given moment.
In this series Creates has fully relinquished artistic agency as a photographer, relying on the motion- triggered response of a trail camera activated by passing animals. Yet by the seemingly incongruous juxtaposition of text and photograph – one is not an articulation or illustration of the other – she offers a privileged view of what is normally beyond our vision and control, and a reminder that all elements of life are caught up in the same cyclical motions and natural processes.
River of Rain (2010), a video made in collaboration with artist Elizabeth Zetlin, follows the natural cycle of water from rain to pond to river and sea, and back to rain again following a record- breaking storm. Creates’s voice evokes the water’s course, alternating with text on screen that conveys her reflections and memories of the river. Underscoring the connection between language and landscape, the work frames our experience of the natural world as simultaneously shaped by pure perception and interior consciousness.
A second video, From the Ground Tier to a Sparrow Batch: A Newfoundland Treasury of Terms for Ice and Snow, Blast Hole Pond River, Winter 2012–2013, proceeds chronologically through a season. Presented in the Fogo Island Inn cinema, the work maps the changes in the river through a rich vocabulary of terms for snow, ice and winter weather. Creates compiled an inventory of over 80 terms specific to Newfoundland that convey close observation and a sustained engagement with the land and the sea. Some of the terms derive from 17th century English, brought to Newfoundland by settlers, while others are specific to fishing and other occupational activities. The film denotes a precision and richness of language in relation to our environment, and more so to place. Narrated by Creates, with contributions from Fogo Islander Lloyd Brown (a relation of the artist’s), a distinction is carved out with language used not only on Fogo Island but, in some cases, specific to the community of Joe Batt’s Arm. The video demonstrates that we are entangled with the landscape, deriving meaning and a sense of identity from our environment.
The works presented in To the Blast Hole Pond River convey a sustained artistic engagement with place, questioning how we are bound to and shaped by our surroundings. Creates overlays her own experience and memory in interpreting the Blast Hole Pond River and surrounding boreal forest while also leaving space for the landscape to exert its own influence. Withdrawing her agency as a photographer and, with it, our tendency to impose a singular vision on the environment, Creates shows a receptivity to her surroundings that acknowledges nature and culture as an inextricable whole.
The exhibition is curated by Alexandra McIntosh (Director of Programs and Exhibitions, Fogo Island Arts) and Nicolaus Schafhausen (Director, Kunsthalle Wien and Strategic Director, Fogo Island Arts).
To the Blast Hole Pond River is presented in parallel to the exhibition Belonging to a Place: An Exhibition by Fogo Island Arts at Scrap Metal Gallery, Toronto, from June 22 to September 23, 2017. arTIsT’s BIOGrapHY Marlene Creates is an environmental artist and poet who lives and works in portugal Cove, Newfoundland and labrador. Underlying all her work, spanning almost four decades, is an interest in place—not as a geographical location but as a process that involves memory, multiple narratives, ecology, language, and both scientific and vernacular knowledge. since 2002 her principal artistic venture has been to closely observe and work with one particular place—the six acres of boreal forest where she lives. Creates’s work has been presented in over 350 solo and group exhibitions and screenings across Canada and internationally. exhibitions in 2017 include What Came to Light at Blast Hole Pond River, paul petro Contemporary art, Toronto; Photography in Canada: 1960–2000, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Belonging to a Place: An Exhibition by Fogo Island Arts, scrap Metal Gallery, Toronto; and the retrospective Marlene Creates: Places, Paths, and Pauses at the Beaverbrook art Gallery, Fredericton. she is the recipient of numerous awards including the CarFaC National visual arts advocate award (2009); the BMW exhibition prize at the scotiabank CONTaCT photography Festival in Toronto (2013); and the Grand Jury award at the Yosemite International Film Festival (2014). Born in Montreal, Creates has lived in Newfoundland since 1985—the home of her maternal ancestors, who were from lewisporte and Fogo Island. aBOUT FOGO IslaND arTs Fogo Island arts is a residency-based contemporary art venue that supports research and production of new work for artists, filmmakers, writers, musicians, curators, designers and thinkers from around the world. since 2008, FIa has brought some of the most exciting emerging and renowned artists of today to Fogo Island, Newfoundland, Canada to take part in residencies and to present solo exhibitions at the Fogo Island Gallery. Combining contemporary art, iconic architecture and social innovation in a singular setting, FIa is a world-class institution that is uniquely rooted in community. FIa is an initiative of the shorefast Foundation, a registered charity dedicated to improving the social, cultural and economic conditions on Fogo Island and other small places around the world.
FIa advisory Board members include Zita Cobb, eleanor Dawson, paul Dean, Fabrizio Gallanti, elisa Nuyten, silke Otto-Knapp, Todd saunders, Nicolaus schafhausen, Kitty scott and Monika szewczyk.
Fogo Island arts graciously acknowledges its patrons, including members of the Founders’ Circle, FIa partners and FIa Friends for their essential support of residencies, programs and exhibitions.
The artist gratefully acknowledges assistance from artsNl-the Newfoundland and labrador arts Council and The Canada Council for the arts.
Marlene Creates, spring 2003, excerpt from Water Flowing to the Sea Captured at the Speed of Light, Blast Hole Pond River, Newfoundland 2002-2003. pair of chromogenic photographic prints, each 40 x 60 inches. 1. November 19, 2015 From the series What Came to Light at Blast Hole Pond River, Newfoundland 2015 (and ongoing). Colour photograph and text, archival digital pigment print, 24” x 66”
2. March 17, 2016 From the series What Came to Light at Blast Hole Pond River, Newfoundland 2015 (and ongoing). Colour photograph and text, archival digital pigment print, 24” x 66”
3. Water Flowing to the Sea Captured at the Speed of Light, Blast Hole Pond River, Newfoundland 2002-2003. Four pairs of chromogenic photographic prints, each 40” x 60”
a. Fall 2002 b. Winter 2003 c. Spring 2003 d. Summer 2003
4. February 1, 2016 From the series What Came to Light at Blast Hole Pond River, Newfoundland 2015 (and ongoing). Colour photograph and text, archival digital pigment print, 24” x 66”
5. February 5, 2017 From the series What Came to Light at Blast Hole Pond River, Newfoundland 2015 (and ongoing). Colour photograph and text, archival digital pigment print, 24” x 66”
6. River of Rain, 2010. Video-poem, 6 min 44 sec Marlene Creates (writer, voice, producer) and Elizabeth Zetlin (director, camera, editor)
7. About 8½ Minutes from the Sun to the Moon to the River to My Face to the Camera, Blast Hole Pond River, Newfoundland 2012 Two archival digital pigment prints, each 33” x 42”
Fogo Island Cinema From the Ground Tier to a Sparrow Batch: A Newfoundland Treasury of Terms for Ice and Snow, Blast Hole Pond River, Newfoundland 2012-2013 Documentary video-poem, 26 min 7 sec
Marlene Creates (writer, camera, voice, producer); Lloyd Brown (second voice); Jake Nicoll (voice recordings); Christopher Darlington (video editing).
Regular screenings Saturdays, 11:00AM