Andrew Querner : Boomtown

In conjunction with the 5th annual Exposure Calgary Banff Photography Festival, TNG's +15 Window Space features a selection of work from the series Boomtown by photographer Andrew Querner. While Canadians continue to wrestle with the notion of an environmentally responsible oil sands industry, the people of Wood Buffalo, Alberta, wade through the uncharted social landscape that surrounds the nation's most ambitious energy project ever. Unprecedented migration to Fort McMurray combined with the sudden appearance of an army of temporary workers has burdened not only infrastructure and basic services, but also the community's social safety net. Ill equipped to handle the population explosion, Mayor Melissa Blake has lobbied the Alberta government for a moratorium on all new oil sands projects.

As the face of Fort McMurray changes, the community is left to ponder its own questions of identity.  With little choice, Fort McMurrayites have watched as the international media reports on the state of affairs in their city. Aware of the largely negative boomtown stigma that is being attached to them, the people of Wood Buffalo remain caught between the forces of big business, Canada's desire to become an "energy superpower" and the raging environmental debate.