Future Possible: An Art History of Newfoundland and Labrador

The first comprehensive art history of Newfoundland and Labrador.

In Future Possible (a riff on an Andy Jones monologue about how Newfoundlanders talk about their future, an attitude which he describes as "Future possible, possibly horrible"), Mireille Eagan and writers and artists such as Heather Igloliorte, Lisa Moore, Andy Jones, and Craig Francis Power navigate the tangled histories and cultures of Newfoundland and Labrador to investigate the visual output and to write the narrative that it has created. The result is an ambitious volume, arising from a two-part exhibition of the same name at The Rooms, that provides a multi-vocal, multi-faceted history spanning pre- and post-Confederation Newfoundland.

Lavishly illustrated with 180 images of art and objects from the province's visual history, Future Possible features essays by curators and artists on topics such as pre-Confederation art; contemporary art, craft, and Indigenous culture; and outsider and folk art. This intriguing volume places artifacts from the province's history and work by iconic Newfoundland and Labrador artists such as David Blackwood and Helen Parsons Shepherd in conversation with works by contemporary artists like Jordan Bennett and Kym Greeley. Together they explore how history is told and retold through objects and images and how these objects and images, and the power structures that preserve them, define an understanding of place.

Contributions from Mireille Eagan, Jamie Fitzpatrick, Andy Jones, Heather Igloliorte, Jeff Webb, Darryn Doull, Bushra Junaid, Cory Thorne, Kelley Totten, Patricia Gratan, Gerald Curtis, Caroline Stone, Craig Francis Power, Christopher Pratt, Logan MacDonald, Lisa Moore, Eva Crocker, Andria Hickey, and a foreword by Anne Chafe.