Project in Process

Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories (Tuk for short) is a small Inuvialuit community of 900, located just north of Inuvik, that serves as the seaside base for oil and gas exploration in the Beaufort Sea/Arctic Ocean. It has the greatest possibility for rapid change due to imminent construction of the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline (which is pending final approval by the federal government and could commence as early as 2009), as well as the renewed interest in offshore drilling (Imperial Oil—a subsidiary of ExxonMobil—is doing its 3d seismic work this summer and, just last month, BP paid 1.2 billion dollars for an adjacent parcel). In addition, the fabled Northwest Passage skirts the shores of Tuktoyatuk; the town will bear the greatest impact in the western Arctic from increasing barge traffic. Yet perhaps the most disturbing threat is that due to the warming climate; scientists predict that, due to erosion caused by a spike in extreme weather conditions combined with rising sea levels and a loss in sea-ice protection, that Tuktoyaktuk Island will be entirely inundated in 30-50 years. 

Curiously, this community of natives living to a large degree off the spoils of the land—Beluga, Caribou, Goose, Fox and Wolf, as well as wild berries and plantlife—also enjoys its share of modern comforts, including satellite dishes, flat screen televisions, and an abundance of large trucks. As a result, many people in Tuk eagerly anticipate the impending ‘oil boom’ despite their land claims, which restrict them from tapping into the monetary benefits stemming from oil and gas exploitation. 

For my project I will work with a collection of diverse maps made by both the Inuvialuit Joint Secretariat and oil and gas companies, as well as maps that accompany environmental impact reports and other on-going scientific research projects in the area, to create a large scale drawing that will center on Tuktoyaktuk and extend outward to the larger marine ecosystem and management area of the Beaufort Sea and Mackenzie Delta. Beginning as a map of the land in 1970 (just before most of the gas/oil exploration began) and ending with a vision of the landscape circa 2050, the drawing will change over the course of exhibition via addition and erasure to reflect shifting species migration routes and population levels, as well as locations of oil and gas facilities, a growing labyrinth of trade routes and exploration parcels, and overall climatic changes. 

I would also like to include a video piece of interviews conducted via Skype with the elders of the community. This portion of the project would allow the elders of Tuktoyaktuk, in the deep of their winter, to comment and reflect on the coming changes, as well as give voice to a community whose future should be of global concern.