‘Western Isles of the Bay of Fundy’
Artist Statement
St. George is a town of 2,800 people and not a single traffic light. It is situated on the Bay of Fundy in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Recognized for its magnificence, the Bay is known for its large tides and dramatic skies. The families and children still create memories of summer like their ancestors before them.
In this series of photographs, I explore the relationship of the community to their landscape, both natural and artificial, for work and for play. With these photographs, I have tried to capture the collective memory of the people of St. George and create an enduring document of the region.
One of the pioneers of the farm-raised salmon industry, St. George’s fishing industry is thriving, creating employment for many residents and more recently for people around the globe.
As the catch of herring and cod has diminished from overfishing, independent fishermen now scuba dive to fill the demands of the worldwide markets of sea urchins, periwinkles, seaweed, and lobsters.
St. George isn’t a tourist town, but it has a few landmarks that are popular stops as people pass through on their way to the Deer Island ferry or other regions of the Canadian “Maritimes” (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and PEI). These were on the old Route 1, which is now a four-lane highway with exits. Hopefully these stops can continue to draw the locals and the passers through.
Biography
Susan Lapides’s work focuses on people, culture, and place. An accomplished fine art photographer with a strong background in editorial photography, Lapides is a sensitive and passionate visual storyteller. Her subjects range from portraits of visionaries to the fishing communities of New Brunswick, Canada. Lapides is a graduate of Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. As a professional photographer, she worked on assignment for many major clients, such as the New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, Life, Time, Forbes, US News & World Report, Condé Nast Traveler, People, Unicef, Harvard University Art Museums, Worcester Art Museum, and American Repertory Theater.
Two of the highlights of her early professional career were photographing President Barack Obama, then the first African American editor of the Harvard Law Review, and photographing Rose Kennedy on the occasion of her 91st birthday.
Lapides has shown her work widely in group exhibitions at the Danforth Art Museum (Framingham, MA), Rayko Photo Center (San Francisco, CA), Photoplace Gallery (Middlebury, VT), Lesley University (Boston, MA), Panopticon Gallery (Boston, MA), Nave Gallery (Somerville, MA), Cambridge Art Association (MA) and also in a solo exhibition at the Griffin Museum of Photography (Winchester, MA). She has also won several awards for her photography including several gold awards at the ASMP Big Picture Shows and an award from the Advertising Photographers of America. Her work is in several private and public collections. Lapides resides in Boston, Massachusetts and St. George in New Brunswick, Canada.
Visit Susan’s website: susanlapides.com