Ab-solutes: athabasca river (2020 / 2021)
Macro photographs of hydrocarbon residue from filtered samples of snow collected along the banks of the Athabasca River as it flows through the oil sands region of Alberta. The images offer visual evidence of the ways in which the Suncor recovery site (Fort McMurray) impacts the interconnected systems of atmosphere and hydrosphere.
Title of the series refers to what theorist Hent de Vries calls the “absolute” or “that which refuses to dissolve completely into the milieu of human knowledge”. The images ruminate on the ways in which invasive activities such as heavy-handed resource extraction not only impact the immediate terrestrial environment on which they occur, but also interconnected Earth systems.
Produced in collaboration with the Canada Centre for Inland Waters (Aquatic Contaminants Research Division) and support from the Ontario Arts Council.
