Hand-pulled screen print on accademia paper. Edition is limited to 25 prints, which are all part of the Energy Futures Print Portfolio. I have 5 AP prints (artist proofs) available to the public.

19” x 13”

Featured in Climate Matters at Three Sisters Gallery in Canmore, AB, 2023.

The Athabasca oil sands, while providing jobs and economic growth, have a tremendously negative impact on the surrounding environment. Numerous fish have been found with deformities including crooked tails, lesions, tumours, and bulging eyes. The cause? Harsh toxins in the river directly downstream of the oil sands tailing ponds.

While my artwork was created specifically about the Athabasca river, it parallels other crude oil disasters. There have been similar deformed fish found in the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf of Alaska after their oil spills.

As the fish pass through the barrel of oil, lesions begin to spread. Carrying on through the absent oil barrel, they begin to heal. This mirrors what would happen in the Athabasca river if the oil sands halted and pollutants were removed from the environment. When we allow Mother Nature to restore herself, the ecosystem doesn’t take long to spring back to life.