Louis Helbig's Sunken Villages

Screenshot of the Sunken Villages website

On July 1, 1958 a controlled explosion tore open a cofferdam near Cornwall (ON) and four days later an area that had been home to 7,500 people disappeared under the waves of Lake St. Lawrence, part of the newly created St. Lawrence Seaway. On the Canadian side, twelve communities, some dating back to the 1700s, were affected. Some of their remaining buildings can still be seen trough the blue waters of Lake St. Lawrence – high up from an airplane.

Screenshot of the Sunken Villages website

Ottawa aerial photographer Louis Helbig has captured these bridges, locks, and canals which were left to be buried under water. (While some other buildings were moved and graves exhumed.) Louis' fascinating photographs can now be seen at the St. Lawrence College, in Brockville. “Sunken Villages” is Helbig's newest multimedia exhibit at the Marianne van Silfhout Gallery that runs from September 13 to November 2, 2013. Only two more weeks, if you haven't seen it yet!

For the first time, this exhibition combines Louis Helbig’s aerial photographs of what remains deep beneath the St. Lawrence with recorded first-hand accounts from 27 people affected by the inundation.

Furthermore, the Sunken Villages project has a new website sunkenvillages.ca. It brings Helbig's aerial photos of the villages lying in the St Lawrence River together with portraits and the voices (transcripts, audio & video) of 27 people who lost their communities. The new website reflects the exhibition: large format prints, audio of individual voices & stories piped into the gallery, and portraits of all the interviewees.

Screenshot of the Sunken Villages website, Interviews

The website gives in amazing insight in how people were effected by the inundation, but also in the development of that outstanding project. Like Helbig says in his artist statement: “The more I learn about the lost villages with their layers of history, human drama, politics, and tragedy, the more incredible I find it that their story is virtually unknown. Canadians often complain that their history is not interesting. I beg to differ. Canadian history is as interesting as we let it be; if we free our imaginations and mobilize our convictions, there will no end to interesting stories that we can tell each other about ourselves and, in so doing, better understand and define who we are.”

Facts:
www.sunkenvillages.ca

Sunken Villages
Brockville: St. Lawrence College, Marianne van Silfhout Gallery
September 13 to November 2, 2013