Marlene Creates, Larch, Spruce, Fir, Birch, Hand, Blast Hole ... (2026) (signed)
Larch, Spruce, Fir, Birch, Hand, Blast Hole Pond Road, Newfoundland 2007–2026
Softcover, perfect bound, colour images
160 pages
6 x 10 x ½ inches
Publisher: Impulse[b:]
Published: May 2026
Edited by: Denise Frimer
Designed by: Eldon Garnet
ISBN: 978-1-988817-23-1signed
Canadian environmental artist, Marlene Creates extends her ongoing photographic investigations of the six-acre patch of old-growth boreal forest in Portugal Cove on the island of Newfoundland / Ktaqmkuk, the unceded territory of the Indigenous Mi’kmaq and Beothuk. The book brings together the complete set of 154 photographs, spanning her project of 19 years, in this series, Larch, Spruce, Fir, Birch, Hand, Blast Hole Pond Road, Newfoundland 2007–2026. The sequence is composed of 77 black-and-white photographs taken on 35 mm film and 77 reprises eleven years later as colour digital photographs. They are presented as pairs and showcase Creates’ close attention to processes of time, memory, and local ecologies. The photographs of the artist’s hand in the empty spaces where individual trees have been lost in hurricanes and other windstorms point to the impact the climate crisis has had on the ecosystem, as well as a “place-based” history of the site in Portugal Cove where the artist has lived and worked since 2002. The book includes an essay by award-winning poet and author Matthew Hollett, based in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
This publication's launch coincided with Marlene Creates's 2026 exhibition at Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Selected Works from 24 Years in a Patch of Old-Growth Boreal Forest on Blast Hole Pond Road, Newfoundland 2002–2026.
