I don't think this was understood as well as I would have liked it to be, but I am still happy with it. I tried to juxtapose a 'message from our sponsors' - Suncor's message in an art book published for the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. In this 'message from the sponsor' is a good piece of PR about how they are always aware of and working with First People's on their projects (this is placed alongside a documentary called H2Oil which shows their tragic involvement in the Tar Sands which is poisioning the land and people for miles, with un-knowable catastrophic results)
I also included an interview with my father, who is/ was an oil man in Alberta, who spent much of his adult career life negotiating land rights for drilling on First people's land, as well as a picture of Cheif Pontiac which both my father and I grew up looking at.
My intention with this installation was to show the complexity of our relationships to land and people and the hidden nature of these things. Reserves are, especially in the prairies, very hidden spaces isolated and far away from most peoples view - and therefore subject to so much potential for abuse. Oil companies are always after their land, and what they do while they are there often goes unnoticed..
I also believe that we can't just point the finger at the oil companies, because they are partly just fulfilling a need - our need, government need etc.. the problem is a large and complicated one, I am not proposing answers or blame, simply an acknowledgment of the situation and my particular place in it for contemplation, discussion, growth.
