Photographer Robin Elizabeth Williams is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From the project ‘Red Bay’. To see Robin ’s body of work, click on any photograph.
Red Bay: Reflections on Sea, Land and Life
For the past two decades I have been working on a mixed-media project that combines oral history with fine art photography to capture lived histories in the small outport village of Red Bay, Labrador. I began visiting there in the early 2000’s, during which I fell instantly in-love with this magnificent wild place, and its people. I continued to return there for lengths of time over many years. As my deep love and emotional connection grew, I became compelled to hear the stories of their lives, their parents and grandparents’ lives. About the impacts of commercial overfishing and how their resiliency has stayed intact in the face of dramatic environmental and social change. I needed do this project for the people of Red Bay to give them ownership of Red Bay and the life they built there, it is these folks that are Red Bay not the Basque Whalers of long ago that came there to hunt whales. These people deserve the recognition of their making Red Bay what it was and is. Out of my gratitude for their never-ending love and hospitality, I began this project. As I began to understand this life I realized the importance that fishing has had to these inhabitants and that it was the mainstay for the settlers that came from afar. I needed to understand it all, I began to accumulate more stories and photographs over the years.
I started by seeking out the last two Core fishermen in Red Bay. Over the years I would spend time accompanying them out to fish, photographing them in their environment and recording their story. I also spent time with as many of the village folks as I could.
Upon every visit I would photograph and record their life experiences.
As I began to understand the importance of this community, a community of lives that had been dependent on subsistence, fishing, hard work and having strong character, is what gave them their ability to eke out a life in this harsh climate. Who these people were and are– their deep love of the place they are so totally at home in. I knew that documenting this was important historically.
I believe my presence, and bearing witness to these lives and the way of life in this province for so many years as it has gone through so much change has been an important part of its history. No less important than the Basque Whalers history – a people that never stayed to claim this place “home”. Always with my camera around my neck, the years of connection and deep love is apparent in my photographs for this place and its people, it is a great love story that gave me the sense of deep belonging and longing that many have experienced for this most wild and precious changing place. This project has become my “life project” ,
I am nearing 70 years of age and it has been my passion and desire to give back to this culture that gave me so much for so many years – it has kept me, in my heart and mind in a culture I love so much more than my own.
Robin was born and raised in rural New Hampshire, she has been a photographer for over 45, her focus has been intimate portraiture. She is also a massage therapist with strong experience in the realm of death and dying. Using massage therapy, contemplative practice and other healing arts she provides compassionate care for those seriously ill and facing the end of life. In 1979, Robin Williams completed the photography program at Doscher Country School of Photography in South Woodstock, VT. She attended the Maine Photographic Workshop and the Santa Fe Workshop several times under the guidance of Mary Ellen Mark and Joyce Tenneson. Her trademark portraits have appeared in venues as varied as The Greyson Gallery in Woodstock, VT. Spheris Gallery in Walpole, NH, AVA Gallery in Lebanon, NH, the Washington Design Center in Washington, DC, the Puck Building in Soho, NY, Prince Street Gallery in Soho, NY. Her work has been published in articles and advertisements in NY Times Magazine, Yankee Magazine, Fine Woodworking, Upper Valley magazine and Here in Hanover magazine. She has won several awards, the most recent was in the International Minimalist Awards. Her most recent project has been of the landscapes and people of the North Atlantic, Newfoundland and Labrador.
All images and text © Robin Elizabeth Williams
See also:
By Robin Elizabeth Williams
Edge of Humanity Magazine for Photographers
Street Photography Events
Download Street Photography Submission Information
For the following items, please contact our editor at jo@edgeofhumanity.com
Photography, Photography Projects & Series
Photography Book & Blogs Promotions
Edge of Humanity Magazine for Artists
To promote your ARTWORK on Edge of Humanity Magazine, please contact our editor at jo@edgeofhumanity.com
NO MIDDLEMAN ART GALLERY
COMMISSION FREE
CONTRACT FREE
Online platform for artists to promote their creations
Download NO MIDDLEMAN ART GALLERY Submission Information
Edge of Humanity Magazine for Poets & Writers
Download Poetry Submission Info
Download Flash Fiction Submission Info
Articles
Download Article Submission Info
For the following items, please contact our editor at jo@edgeofhumanity.com
Fiction & Non-Fiction Book & Blogs Promotions
Poetry Book & Blogs Promotions
.
Follow Edge of Humanity Magazine
Email Subscriptions
WordPress Bloggers
Follow Edge of Humanity Magazine on WordPress.com
Search Site
With the text, the photographs are illustrative and beautiful. I get a true sense of a homeland. Thank you.