Abandoning Home

The fishing industry of Newfoundland (Canada) collapsed in the early 1990s because of overfishing and poor cod populations management. A moratorium was forced and put 30,000 people out of work. It was a disaster in this island with little resources and small population. I went there to photograph the abandoned villages and houses. Of all scenes I made, this one represents my best vision of abandoning the family house to move somewhere else, to find a new job, a new life. A few decades ago, there was a wharf in front of this house, there were other houses, there were children playing on the wharf, there were women waiting for their husband to come back with plenty of fishes. Now, it's mostly history. The wharf and several other houses broke down. The place that used to be lively is now inhabited mostly by elderly people who resist because this is their place, the only one they may have ever known. This lonely house, without a way to get in or to get out, illustrates the last vestiges of the past. There were still a few persons that could tell me the story of this house. But no one knows how long this house will keep resisting the forces of nature!