I have been following Roy Carpenter’s Beach, a coastal community in Matunuck, RI – where these photographs were made – for twenty-some years and counting. It’s of interest for many reasons, among them for its value as a case study of a community that is steadily losing its shore as it retreats, inland. But it is also a lesson in accommodation, as the landscape changes, literally, and the residents adapt.
What does all that look like? How does it feel?
Let me show you. Let me share my affection and concern for this community that has been part of my life for so many years. Revel in its sense of fun and kitsch, and while you do so, also….keep in mind that this community and others like it could disappear, in a heartbeat, if the storm everyone on the East Coast fears, a replica of the 1938 hurricane, or worse, strikes. Those two sides of the same coin are ever present.
Get to know the residents. See for yourself what the ever-changing landscape imposes on life and ask yourself how you would deal with these circumstances. Would you, as a life-long resident or a new cottage owner, enjoy the experience of living there, wring every morsal of pleasure out of it until you no longer could do that? Would you sell your cottage in an effort to get out while you still could? This project is an opportunity to confront these kinds of questions, which are now myriad all along our coastline.
Dedication
This show, at the Coastal Ecology Center Gallery at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm, is dedicated to the residents of Roy Carpenter’s Beach, in Matunuck, Rhode Island, whose generosity and grace allowed me to join their community as a sort of stepchild for years on end….To those who have befriended me, fed me, made me laugh and cry, whose 90th birthday parties, christenings and funerals I have attended and who, in the end, made this project possible.
My gratitude goes to the many people who helped me, over the years as I learned about climate change, flooding and weather, and to those who in particular helped me put this show together. To Dr. David Gregg, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Natural History Survey, for his editing and curatorial skills, without which I would have been lost, so many thanks. To Jason Tlush for being the best printer I know. To Joelle Webber whose bookbinding skills made the scrap book shine; to Bruce Hooke whose digital skills and ingenuity miraculously pulled me through a technical thicket; to Jack French for helping me understand what I was doing and how to do it; to Sandra Miller, a resident at Roy’s whose friendship and open door always makes a difference…and to my many patient friends who kept me going, got in the trenches with me, among them Jocelyn and Jeff Foye, Barbara Pagh and Michun.