I exhibited Rural Route at the Manitoba Museum and at several other venues in Manitoba in 1987 – 88. My friend and mentor, Steve Prystupa, not only championed, but wrote a kind introduction for, the exhibit. I have attached an excerpt below as well as a quote by Elizabeth Martin from The Hunger Machine, a 1986 CBC documentary.
“The artist celebrates the vitality of rural people but he is also keenly aware that he is capturing a passing way of life. The family farm is under siege today more than ever before with declining grain markets, mounting bankruptcies and large scale rural-urban migration. If current trends prevail, more than half of our family farms may disappear within a decade if not sooner. And if the family farm goes, what will be the fate of the rural town?”
Steve Prystupa, Curator of Multicultural Studies, Manitoba Museum 1987
“I think there is a growing idea that family farmers are like white baby seals. We need to put them in a museum and think about them fondly, but they are of the past. That is a romantic view that does not reflect reality, that family farmers are highly efficient producers, that they are the backbone of a rural community’s economic viability.”
Elizabeth Martin, California Institute of Rural Studies 1986
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28 Responses
Incredible!
Thank you Robert
It certainly takes an old fellow back to the days of growing up on a farm. Thank you rob.
Thank you
That was a great show Rob. Sherry and I have a copy of the ‘three pigs of unknown size’ (or as you refer to it, ‘Untitled Swan River Manitoba 1986’) hanging in our living room. Everytime my sister sees it, ahe turns around and remarks ‘Its Pigs? ‘ Always puts a smile on my face.
Thanks Bert
Great exhibit, Robert. Beautiful compositions and light. I love how it takes you on a visual journey from the land or homestead, to the animals, to the people. Wonderful presentation.
Thank you Brian
Beautiful work, Rob, as always! I remember seeing, and living many, many moments like these, with both side of my family having rural origins. A more earth-grounded, less sanitized world. Much healthier, connected, in a lot of ways. (yep…thass the ole guy talkin’ 😉
So glad you documented and shared these.
Thank you Norm …
Always loved this work. Great to see it breath again!
Thank you Bob
Loved this exhibit Rob. Quite a trip down memory lane.
Thanks Rob … much appreciated
Beautiful Rob:):) love the quote on The Family Farm – we need them back. The woodpile photo – father-in-law Bob farmed in Spy Hill in the 20s, asked him why the mound instead of a row stack, Bob said they would walk the mound in winter and easily split chunks too large for stove – saved one move in the day long labour. I liked that. Good memories from Mr. Barrow’s photos!
Thank you Gerry
Enjoyed seeing this wonderful exhibit again, Rob.
Thank you Joyce … 36 years ago OMG …
Rob – thank you ever so much for capturing some of the images of my youth on those wonderful visits to “the farm” wherein my uncountable cousins shared their world with me. Loved it and will share with my family.
Thank you Ron, very much appreciated
This exhibit, beyond the quality of the images, is a delight as it has tapped a wellspring of mental images from my first 19 years in the rural/small environment of Plum Coulee. So many amazing characters, such simple pleasures, a life much less complicated (if naive), some less pleasurable, rough interactions. But riches abounded.
Thank you Gord … freedom to roam …
Thanks Rob for capturing these images that speak so eloquently of the rural life we grew up in. At the time I didn’t know those days were numbered but you must have sensed it. Thanks for bringing back those memories.
Thank you Wendy … as well as document, I hoped these photographs would “evoke” Thank you again
Thanks Rob for sharing. Indeed a pleasure to be taken on such a sweeping visual journey.
Thank you Harry “the east rushes west and the west rushes down” – Wallace Stevens
Impressive as always. Invaluable. How will Manitobans access your archive in the future?
Thank you Robert, I have some work in the National Archives and have donated materials and research from a project on a Doukhobor photographer, Peter Bloudoff, to the Sask Archives and I am currently getting the materials and research from another project on a Black photographer, William Beal, ready for donation. I haven’t made any decisions on any thing else. This website is actually a kind of sorting tool.