Peninsulas Charline Giffard
Peninsulas Charline Giffard
Premise The Gaspé peninsula is my favorite place in the world. My grandparents have cleared up a patented land in Val-d'Espoir in the 30s, where they have build their house and raised 9 children, including my father. They lived poorly but happily there for 35 years, but before I even had a chance to go in their house, they were deported and the house destroyed in 1979 like all the neighbors of the Val-d'Espoir back roads. Nevertheless, I had the chance to visit the Gaspé Peninsula every year during my childhood as a summer vacation. I still have relatives who live there and I do need to go there every year to this day as a kind of pilgrim.
In 2007, I visited parts of Ireland. I visited the Dingle Peninsula. Strangely, this place seemed very familiar to me. It reminded me a lot of the Gaspé Peninsula. The rocky steep cliffs, the mountains, the forests, the sea... Even the air seemed familiar. I also found that the people of the two places are similar in many ways. They are simple, warm and welcoming, down to earth, have a specific sense of humor and both are marked by a history of poverty surviving from the land and the fishing. This photobook is a collection of landspace photographs taken from these two peninsulas. Since these places are very personal and emotional to me I added a personal touch to the pictures to make them even more mine.
Close to Val-d'Espoir is a place called Petite Irlande (Little Ireland). The Gaspé Peninsula was partly colonized by Irish immigrants. There are some Irish descendants among my relatives.
Gaspé Peninsula, Quebec, Canada
Dingle Peninsula, Kerry, Ireland
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