A two-year photographic survey of an archipelago at the heart of the Gulf of St. Lawrence — its light, its weather, and the people who hold the line against the Atlantic.
The Îles de la Madeleine are a sliver of red sandstone, dune grass and wind, closer to Prince Edward Island than to the Québec mainland. Marie aux Îles follows photographer Marie Tremblay through two full years on the islands as she documents a single, complete cycle of seasons — not as a visitor passing through, but as a resident watching the same lighthouse change four times over.
Cliffs eroding by the season. Lagoons the colour of pewter. Borgot and Cap-Alright lighthouses standing watch over a sea that gives and takes. The work moves from the establishing horizon inward — to dunes, to harbours, to the grain of weathered wood.
Each frame is timed to the islands' astronomical light: civil dawn, golden hour, the long blue dusk. Nothing is shot in flat midday light unless the story demands it.
Shot on an anamorphic lens with a documentarian's patience, the project is, at its core, about the islanders. Cheesemakers, glassblowers, fishers, musicians — photographed mid-craft, then asked the only questions that matter: What is your story? Why are you here?
Portraits open onto hands, tools, kitchens and quaysides. The result is a book of people as much as a book of place.
A bound photographic volume sequenced by theme — Land, Sea, People, Craft, Community — each plate cross-referenced to its place and hour.
Large-format prints of lighthouses, dunes and artisan interiors, with a calendar-linked projection. Opening in Montréal and on the islands.
A digital archive and itinerary — every shot located, dated and available as a fine-art print through the Pictorum store.
Start where the project began — autumn on the cliffs — or follow the year in order from the deep of winter.
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