St. George: Land & People
Artist Statement
Characterized by one curator as both “practical and poetic,” Susan’s photography explores the relationships between people and place. Her work has been described as a love letter to the town of St. George, a fishing village in New Brunswick, Canada. For generations, the people of St. George have cherished their short maritime summers and long evenings. Susan captures these quiet and extraordinary moments, as light bends, time slows, and families gather around bonfires to share the day’s adventures. Her images capture moments between memories and evoke the rhythms of summer: wildness and tenderness, sun-glazed cheeks and dizzy laughter.
Susan first began taking photographs of the community in 2006. While in some ways the town life has stayed similar for decades, she has witnessed firsthand how St. George is also undergoing massive shifts due to climate change and an increasing globalized fishing industry. Susan wanted to create an enduring document of this moment in time - she wondered what fishing would like for future generations. Will children share with grandparents and overhear their parents to learn the histoy and knowledge important for this rural life when gaming and streaming draws them away.
Rich, sensitive, and intimate, Susan’s photography is full of contradictions: a town that is home to fishing industries, and ephemeral moments that seem to last forever. Through these images, she aims to reflect the collective memory of the people of St. George, capture these fading summer days, and document the monumental changes through a series of small, intimate moments of daily life.