Author Description

A survey of the work of thirteen emerging contemporary artists living in the Canadian Maritimes and their engagement with the question of region. The publication's title reflects the multiplicity and uncertain origin of the region's identity, defined as much by dreams and myths of escape as by any inherent qualities. One of the most enduring tropes about the creative process is the notion that the largest gathering of people generates the most interaction, and thus the greatest production of new ideas. Countering this myth is the proposition that large centers often produce homogeneity, and that incessant communication can even lead to cultural sameness. It may be precisely the very hindrance to communication - geography, distance, isolation - that produce the new approaches that loom large in the work featured here.