FAREWELL IN LABRADOR

‘Life was hard when the waters around here was full of fish, now that all the fish has gone, life is almost impossible.’

Situated on the Eastern Coast of Canada, Labrador is one of the most isolated places on Earth. The Flat Earth Society believes it to be one of the four corners of the world.

A mere 12,000 people populate 670 miles of coastline, which is frozen solid for six months a year. The Cod Moratorium in 1992 pretty much killed the fishing industry, many young people left to find jobs elsewhere. The Inuit and Innu nomadic cultures are on the brink of extinction, caused initially by the government’s settlement programme, alcoholism is killing what remaining hope there is. The departure of the Nato forces also spelled the end of the busy Air Base and the town that built up around it.

This project is a visual journey along the coast of Labrador. The photographs are places where memories were made and people who are left behind to battle on.