Shore Road

2012 - 2016

Shore Road examines the idea of a strong regional identity forged in a part of Canada with a deep connection to the ocean. Over the course of five years, Peter covered the coastal areas of the Canadian Maritimes, documenting while exploring questions of how people relate to the places they inhabit.

As with any settled place, the built environment represents a necessary response to a particular natural environment. Here, both land and sea depict this environment, and as happens over time, the relationship to place becomes deep, turning from a predominately pragmatic one to more of an emotional one… This region is not an economic powerhouse, and in certain respects feels like it has been forgotten by the modern times, but it is neither a poor region—its economic pragmatism perhaps leading to a closer connection and respect for its land.

On the surface, Shore Road is a visual survey of the region, but the observations reach deeper, touching on the grounding force of nature and the passage of time as central in sometimes advancing and sometimes leaving communities behind. The unassuming shore roads that became the land links between the dispersed early settlements, over time become connectors of another kind: as the roads follow the contours of the shore, snaking along and linking one coastal community to the next, they fused and reinforced a shared identity of a greater maritime region.