Copper mining through art
Artist Heather Vollans has her work featured in a new exhibit The Copper Mine at Laurier Brantford's Yellow Brick Wall gallery on Wednesday March 15, 2017 in Brantford, Ontario.
Is the cost of copper mining worth it in terms of human health and environmental damage?
That's the weighty question artist Heather Vollans tackles in a new exhibit of her work on display at Laurier Brantford's Yellow Brick Wall gallery.
The exhibit features mixed-media pieces created from salvaged and reclaimed materials that are fundamental to most of Vollans's art.
The project was a three-year mission for the Brantford resident who says she loves to work with copper.
"It is a beautiful material," she said. "There are so many ways you can manipulate it. You can roll it, stretch it, bend it and torch it to change its colour.
"But I wondered what was behind the mining process."
Vollans said she launched into research on the topic and was "horrified with the result."
Copper Mine questions the impact of copper mining on human health and the environment, and addresses working conditions for miners and the possible future of the industry.
Mining creates a host of environmental impacts, including erosion, formation of sinkholes, loss of biodiversity and contamination of soil, groundwater and surface water by chemicals from mining processes.
Besides creating environmental damage, the contamination resulting from leakage of chemicals also affects the health of miners and the local population.
"I knew there were social issues but I was surprised by the depths of it," said Vollans. "I didn't know the extent of it. You don't hear about it."
Copper Mine, based on a house paint colour that reminds Vollans of the desert in her native Australia, addresses historical and current issues about copper mining - lung and eye diseases; working conditions; and ongoing environmental issues, including tailings spills in Mount Polley, B.C. in 2014, soil contamination in the Kimberleys in Australia, and mining disasters in other countries.
"My research has taken me into some dark corners where I've begun to really think about the cost we are paying for the luxury of copper."
Beneath each of Vollans's works is commentary designed to pique viewers' interest with the hope that they'll do their own research into the issues.
In a piece called Where the Roses Once Grew, Vollans uses old rusted drywall screws, ceramic that has the sheen of an oil slick, and roses she created from narrow sheets of copper rolled around a pencil.
A piece called 2:1, Men and the Boys vs Workers, the artist uses found pieces to depict the roofs of houses and the division between mining executives, management and workers who are supposed to be working together "but are separate and never join."
The final work in the 20-piece exhibit is called Untethered, which incorporates glass of all sort: chunks of recycled black glass and bits from a broken outdoor table.
It represents Vollans's musings on the future of the copper mining industry and dream of miners working and living in reasonable conditions with the ability to take care of their families.
"We can't go backwards and simply not mine copper," she said. "We can't live without it. But, perhaps what is needed is greater care for those who work in the industry, more accountable stewardship of the land and better legislation to enforce it."
Although Vollans said she has been collecting stuff since she was a child - broken wooden pegs, bits of fabric, broken toys, doll parts - she only discovered mixed media mosaic about 15 years ago after graduating through a number of other arts and crafts.
"Salvaging is important - to me at least. I really love to use ordinary things that you find just about anywhere.
"I am interested in exhibiting work that speaks to the human condition - our relationships with one another, our reactions, our emotions, our lives - and how we impact and are impacted by the environment around us."
Vollans artwork often includes bits of driftwood, stones from the beaches of Lake Ontario and the Ottawa Valley, m