I have a new title for my project: Where do you Belong to?
Tom said he would host a special Salon to explore the notion of "belonging" on my behalf. Here is an excerpt from the invitation that I prepared for Tom's Salon group:
“Where do you belong to?” Herb, my neighbor in Pouch Cove asked me when I first met him. I wasn’t sure how to answer this. Do I belong to the place I was born? Do I belong to the place where I just came from? What raced through my mind were all the places that I had been to, lived and settled. Hong Kong, a place I was born and raised, Canada, a place I chose to come to, Botswana, a place I chose to go to work as a volunteer. I now live in Toronto, but call Pouch Cove “home”.
Dictionary of Newfoundland English Online defines the phrase “where do you belong to” as one of the commonest phrases in the Newfoundland vernacular: one is never from or even born in a place, one always belongs to it.
How and when do people find a place that they belong to? Can we not belong to one place so that we can belong to many places? What makes a place a place to belong to?
August 30, 2011
August 29, 2011
High Park
Pouch Cove seems so far away, and yet, it is also right here ... inside me.
Met my friend Tom this morning and talked about my work. Tom suggested that I should leave the audio/video for a while and do other things, perhaps, just to take some time to reflect what I have done so far. So I took a walk down to High Park. On my way back, I saw a painter setting up to paint. Our eyes met and I stopped to talk to her. She told me about the small water colour that she just started, I told her about my encaustic work. Just before I was going to continue with my walk, she asked if I knew anything about memory drawing. A coincidence ... memory??? She told me about how one puts together fragments of memories to make something new, what people choose to remember. How can this be - meeting someone in the park and talked about memory. I've been thinking a lot about my recordings in the last few days after presenting my project, after talking to Yael. "What I am trying to say with my video/audio?" "This is not supposed to be another outport story, is it?" "Why is this searching important to me?" "Are there answers to my questions?"
Met my friend Tom this morning and talked about my work. Tom suggested that I should leave the audio/video for a while and do other things, perhaps, just to take some time to reflect what I have done so far. So I took a walk down to High Park. On my way back, I saw a painter setting up to paint. Our eyes met and I stopped to talk to her. She told me about the small water colour that she just started, I told her about my encaustic work. Just before I was going to continue with my walk, she asked if I knew anything about memory drawing. A coincidence ... memory??? She told me about how one puts together fragments of memories to make something new, what people choose to remember. How can this be - meeting someone in the park and talked about memory. I've been thinking a lot about my recordings in the last few days after presenting my project, after talking to Yael. "What I am trying to say with my video/audio?" "This is not supposed to be another outport story, is it?" "Why is this searching important to me?" "Are there answers to my questions?"
August 21, 2011
Tracing the time...
I can probably try to do this in Pouch Cove. But something about the rocks at Cape St. Francis: back to the tip of the peninsula, end of the road ...
August 20, 2011
Shoe Cove Beach
August 20, 2011
Can't believe it is time to leave. In less than 48 hours I'll be back to Toronto. I really feel that I have only touched upon the surface of what I want to do. I still have so much to learn from the people here.
Did a hike to Shoe Cove Beach. Always found something new, something that I did not notice before. Here is another evidence of a past - how many boats were tied around this metal hook? Did the people stop here for a "boil up"at the beach, or did they seek shelter from the open sea...
Can't believe it is time to leave. In less than 48 hours I'll be back to Toronto. I really feel that I have only touched upon the surface of what I want to do. I still have so much to learn from the people here.
Did a hike to Shoe Cove Beach. Always found something new, something that I did not notice before. Here is another evidence of a past - how many boats were tied around this metal hook? Did the people stop here for a "boil up"at the beach, or did they seek shelter from the open sea...
August 18, 2011
Making of a fishing flake
Went down to see Ted about making the model of a fishing flake now the food fishery is over. To my surprise he already started working on it. He showed me what he has done and kept saying "I don't know when we are going to do this, I don't have time now...". I told him we can continue with this in December when I come back. At the mean time, I should collect more branches. So that was my assignment - collecting branches.
August 15, 2011
End of another food fishery season
I was down by the cove bank this morning and saw a car driving pass the community stage. The car stopped, a gentleman leaned out from the window, looked over the deserted slipway for a minute or so and drove up. When he saw me, he stopped the car. It turned out he was one of the gentlemen I talked to last week. He said, "it was all over." The food fishery ended yesterday. The way he uttered those words gave a sense of "disappointment", or "loss", his eyes were looking pass me into the distance. I will always remember that.
A new sign indicating the launch is not safe to use is up again. The launch is managed by DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) and there are talks that they will close the launch instead of repairing it. I can't imagine Pouch Cove without this slipway where stories, memories become alive during the recreational fishery.
A new sign indicating the launch is not safe to use is up again. The launch is managed by DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) and there are talks that they will close the launch instead of repairing it. I can't imagine Pouch Cove without this slipway where stories, memories become alive during the recreational fishery.
August 12, 2011
Another day by the cove bank
Three men were bringing their boat in this morning when I was down by the cove bank. They are from Shoe Cove (the community of Shoe Cove was amalgamated and incorporated into the Town of Pouch Cove in 1987, people still identity themselves that they are from Shoe Cove). One man was telling me how fishermen used to find the fishing grounds by lining up landmarks: steeple of the church, the roof of a house, etc. I was recording this and thought it would be an ideal voice over to go with the stills of the drawings of the fishing grounds that I got from David B. I was very disappointed when I found out later that I managed to mix up the on and off sequence of the video - another lesson to learn...
August 11, 2011
Down to the Cape
August 8, 2011
Went down to the Cape in the afternoon. Did a short hike with Helen and her family to Sleepy Point. We hiked along the sea cliffs and were greeted by a field of dead stunted trees which have long been bleached white from constant exposure to winds. They are in all different shapes and forms, twisted and gnarled, as if they want to tell us something. They are living sculptures.
I am feeling sad that we will be leaving soon. There is so much that I still want to do - finding out more about the Cape, making a model of fishing stage, talking to more people ...
Went down to the Cape in the afternoon. Did a short hike with Helen and her family to Sleepy Point. We hiked along the sea cliffs and were greeted by a field of dead stunted trees which have long been bleached white from constant exposure to winds. They are in all different shapes and forms, twisted and gnarled, as if they want to tell us something. They are living sculptures.
I am feeling sad that we will be leaving soon. There is so much that I still want to do - finding out more about the Cape, making a model of fishing stage, talking to more people ...
August 10, 2011
Phillip Hiscock on recreational fishery
August 9, 2011
Went to see Phillip and discussed my project with him. I really appreciated what he said about food fishery. He said, "I recently saw someone's blog saying how she is able to stock up the fish for the winter ... the food fishery is in fact RE-CREATION(al) the old tradition. This is what people did, fishing was their livelihood. They got their fish, salted them for the winter."
Phillip suggested this book: Mary Hufford, One space, many places
Went to see Phillip and discussed my project with him. I really appreciated what he said about food fishery. He said, "I recently saw someone's blog saying how she is able to stock up the fish for the winter ... the food fishery is in fact RE-CREATION(al) the old tradition. This is what people did, fishing was their livelihood. They got their fish, salted them for the winter."
Phillip suggested this book: Mary Hufford, One space, many places
August 02, 2011
An evening by the cove bank
August 1, 2011
Walked down to the cove bank this evening to see if there were any activities. A gentleman (Mr. Harold Vater) with a binocular started talking to us. He said there were six boats out in the sea and someone came in earlier with some big fish. More people stopped by and soon there were seven of us chatting away. Every few minutes, one of them would be using the binocular to check on those boats. They would probably stay by the cove bank until the last boat came in.
Walked down to the cove bank this evening to see if there were any activities. A gentleman (Mr. Harold Vater) with a binocular started talking to us. He said there were six boats out in the sea and someone came in earlier with some big fish. More people stopped by and soon there were seven of us chatting away. Every few minutes, one of them would be using the binocular to check on those boats. They would probably stay by the cove bank until the last boat came in.
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