The final 15 copies of the first edition of On The Line, numbers 460 to 475, are being released with a set of three unique prints on washi paper on Metalable in May 2024.
On The Line explores Canada’s largest evacuation and the most costly natural disaster in its history and the complex relationship between boreal fires and their impact on social and economic dynamics in the early 21st century.
Reviews:
“A brave and visionary response. One that strikes close to home” - Robert Adams, Photographer.
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“Most impressive. I love the cover and have been running my fingers over it, tilting it back and forth under my light.
Very bituminous!
And it’s great to see the photos so large, almost window-sized.
They really put you there - struggling trees and huge, implacable vehicles - two motivations at diametric odds with one another”. - John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather, 2023.
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“A powerful collection Alan” - Maria Lisogorskaya, Turner Prize Winning Artist and Architect.
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“...There is a strange, melancholic grace in these images; one whose power contains multiplicities. Not only are each of these photos a spectacle of nature’s waning resilience, they reiterate our implication in the destruction of the natural world…” Michael Steven, poet.
About:
Photographer and Artist Alan McFetridge travelled to Fort McMurray six months after the evacuation. Sensitive to the trauma, he photographed trees on the edges of Highway 63, which became jammed to a standstill during the evacuation from the firestorm. Testament to the collective mindset of the community here, 90,000 people bravely inched away without panic to safety, with everyone surviving.
This is the first publication of his ten-year study on Landscape Fire.
Materials:
The book is made from 100% plant-based and recycled materials.
Proceeds:
Proceeds go towards touring the project and supporting the interdisciplinary Centre of Ecological Philosophy.
Above: Packaged into an archival Glassine Slip Bag
Above: Three 210mm x 297mm washi paper prints are included in this release