OFF-SEASON
13 minutes, HD Single Channel Video, 2019Off-Season is a short experimental documentary of Prince Edward Island’s seasonal tourism industry. Theriault grew up on P.E.I. and has had summer jobs at several of the locations shown in the video. She would often return to these places throughout the year with an interest in seeing how they had changed.
The footage has a calm stillness and slow pace as it cycles through views of tourist destinations and attractions from across the island in the off-season, including closed down shops, restaurants, booths, amusement parks, campgrounds, beaches, and entertainment venues. Subtle movements are visible within the once bustling locations, with signs of fall and winter creeping into the frame, while cheerful signage and advertisements seem misplaced with few people around to witness them. Contrasted with the imagery is audio that was recorded at the same sites at the height of tourist season, layered together to create vibrant soundscapes. The resulting video reveals the transitory nature of place, bringing together the varied seasons of an island that is seldom represented as anything other than an idealistic summer destination.
Off-Season was presented at Art in the Open Festival (Charlottetown, PE) on August 24, 2019 and in the exhibition Lisa Theriault: Off-Season at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery (Charlottetown, PE) from September 14, 2019 - January 5, 2020. An earlier version of this work had a duration of 21 minutes.
Lisa Theriault 2024©