‘Johnston’s Falls’ was a new addition to Ouellet’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ – a series that digitally manipulated and recreated, bead-by-bead, three iconic nineteenth century Canadian landscape paintings. This new piece, however was based on a contemporary image of ‘Johnston’s Falls,’ a majestic waterfall set in the now tamed and touristy Canadian wilderness. Like Lake Louise, Niagara Falls and the Saguenay River, Johnston’s Canyon’s attraction helps support local economies and reinforce concepts of national identity.

The work also offered a more formal investigation of materials; the image of the falls was intricately recreated using more than 46,000 plastic beads. ‘Meant for an audience an ocean away,’ ‘Johnston’s Falls’ was designed to be displayed overseas to show off the beautiful Canadian landscape in a similar way to the paintings of Church, Bell-Smith and O’Brien.