On the line, 2019.
On May 1st 2016, an unseasonably hot and dry spring brought yet another record-breaking wildfire to this region. Locally known as ‘the beast’, the Horse River wildfire was first sighted seven kilometres from Fort McMurray, an industrial North American Urban Service Area. Once a fledgling community, its population boomed from 1,110 in 1960 to support the extraction of dangerous fossil fuels from the Tar Sands of Alberta, Canada.
Two days later, the mercury reached 32 Celsius. A rising wind shifted, turning a growing hellfire directly towards the outer suburbs. Without sufficient warning, residents evacuated immediately. They fled, leaving their homes and animals, some not knowing if their partners, friends or children could reach safety. Then, as over 80,000 residents descended upon the sole access route, seen behind these trees, Highway 63 jammed to a standstill. First-hand accounts described absolute terror and chaos. Miraculously, no human life was lost by fire.
48 hours later, over 1850 structures were incinerated. By week five, an area of 589,000 hectares had burned. Over $8.8 billion of estimated damage made this wildfire the costliest insured natural disaster in Canadian history. These pictures were made during autumn, six months after the event. The trauma was still in people’s voices, and their movements hurried as they rushed to prepare themselves to face winter. In some cases, home became a modified recreational vehicle adapted to withstand the coming cold. That January, temperatures dropped to -40 Celsius.
Wildfire, a natural phenomenon, is increasing in frequency, severity and area-burned in many parts of the world. This change is likely to have a rapid and profound effect on the boreal forest, the world's largest woodland. Studies conclude greenhouse gas emissions from human activity have made this region warmer, which is undoubtedly the cause behind the change.
Where will we go, as a species, when we are forced from lands we have inhabited since our beginnings? —Alan McFetridge
Set of 9: 1830mm x 1500mm
On The Line | Print Series
Set of 9: 1830mm x 1500mm
On The Line | Available for Purchase
Prologue and first edition, On The Line is available for purchase via our online shop.
On The Line, first print edition: Photographs and words by Alan McFetridge Edition of 1000, first 500 numbered 11 colour photographs.
Published by Here Sue, 2019 | Design by Duncan Whyte | ISBN 978-1-9164729-0-7 | H: 394mm x W: 330mm
Materials: Embossed soft cover, sewn cotton binding, 16 pages, end paper: Extract Khaki 300gsm by G.F Smith produced from recycled coffee cups, body paper: EU Ecolable Certified paper from the Scandinavian Boreal Forest, cover: Extract Flint 380gsm by G.F Smith produced from recycled coffee cups Ink: 100% plant based at Park Communications, London, Archival glassine sleeve, Foil, pigments and cotton
© Alan McFetridge
© Alan McFetridge
© Alan McFetridge
On The Line | Super 8mm Film
Still frame at 03:35 - On The Line. Super 8mm film transferred to video (colour, silent), 4:48min, looped. 2017
© Alan McFetridge
On The Line | NZ Photoforum Review
Auckland poet, Michael Steven's writes a compelling review of On The Line for Photoforum NZ.
“...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…”
You can read the full review here.