Bucket Wheel Excavator, Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, 2010
From: £250.00
Oil Sands investigates the complex issues surrounding the Albertan oil industry. The photographs record the ruthless exploitation of a valuable natural resource, as well as the explosive economic growth in the region.
This image shows one of the gigantic bucket wheel excavators used in open-pit mining operations at Fort McMurray. They operate continuously removing thousands of tons of soil, rock, and clay every day to access the bitumen sands beneath. Once extracted, the bitumen, a heavy crude oil, is separated from the sand and other solids using copious quantities of water. The toxic wastewater is stored in vast tailings ponds which many believe are polluting the water table and the Athabasca River with serious health consequences for First Nations people living off the land downstream.
In his foreword to the Oil Sands photobook, Dr John O’Connor reflects on what Gignoux’s images conjure for him: ‘I can almost hear the constant hum – the black background noise – of enormous pieces of machinery destroying the so-called “overburden” of pristine surface growth, to get at the black earth and bitumous tar sands… the orchestra of flowing water and birdsong is gone.’
This image was exhibited as part of Alan Gignoux’s solo exhibition Bruised Lands both at the Fishing Quarter Gallery, Brighton (2019) and during COP 26 at the Briggait, Glasgow (2021), and in the group exhibition “Taxed to the Max”, the Noorderlicht International Photography Festival, Groeningen (2019).
It is included in the award-winning project photobook Oil Sands (now sold out) which was originally available from The Photographers’ Gallery (London), Tipi Book Shop (Brussels), Impressions Gallery (Bradford), Open Eye Gallery (Liverpool), Street Level Photoworks (Glasgow), and NOUA (Norway). The Oil Sands photobook is in the V&A Collection of Photobooks (London), the Artphilein Library (Lugano) and the Protest in Photobook collection (Montefiascone).
Available in two sizes, printed on fine art quality Canson Arches 88 paper:
A0 – edition of 5
A3 – edition of 10
Description
Oil Sands investigates the complex issues surrounding the Albertan oil industry. The photographs record the ruthless exploitation of a valuable natural resource, as well as the explosive economic growth in the region.
This image shows one of the gigantic bucket wheel excavators used in open-pit mining operations at Fort McMurray. They operate continuously removing thousands of tons of soil, rock, and clay every day to access the bitumen sands beneath. Once extracted, the bitumen, a heavy crude oil, is separated from the sand and other solids using copious quantities of water. The toxic wastewater is stored in vast tailings ponds which many believe are polluting the water table and the Athabasca River with serious health consequences for First Nations people living off the land downstream.
In his foreword to the Oil Sands photobook, Dr John O’Connor reflects on what Gignoux’s images conjure for him: ‘I can almost hear the constant hum – the black background noise – of enormous pieces of machinery destroying the so-called “overburden” of pristine surface growth, to get at the black earth and bitumous tar sands… the orchestra of flowing water and birdsong is gone.’
This image was exhibited as part of Alan Gignoux’s solo exhibition Bruised Lands both at the Fishing Quarter Gallery, Brighton (2019) and during COP 26 at the Briggait, Glasgow (2021), and in the group exhibition “Taxed to the Max”, the Noorderlicht International Photography Festival, Groeningen (2019).
It is included in the award-winning project photobook Oil Sands (now sold out) which was originally available from The Photographers’ Gallery (London), Tipi Book Shop (Brussels), Impressions Gallery (Bradford), Open Eye Gallery (Liverpool), Street Level Photoworks (Glasgow), and NOUA (Norway). The Oil Sands photobook is in the V&A Collection of Photobooks (London), the Artphilein Library (Lugano) and the Protest in Photobook collection (Montefiascone).
Available in two sizes, printed on fine art quality Canson Arches 88 paper:
A0 – edition of 5
A3 – edition of 10
Additional information
| Size | A0, A3 |
|---|
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