A City is Born in the Shadow of Nuclear Colonialism
Three Channel Video. 8 minutes 36 seconds. Looping.
A three channel video piece investigating the meeting points of colonial industrialism, propaganda, government intervention, and the lasting legacy of nuclearism in the context of settler Canada.

Channel A: An archival propaganda documentary about the history of Elliot Lake produced by the Province of Ontario (Date Unknown, 1950-1960) to celebrate the province's contributions in the Canadian uranium rush and nuclear arms race. The documentary ignores the health risks of uranium mining, and the cultural and environmental impacts affecting Serpent River First Nation. The artist incrementally disrupts the documentary by imposing the degradative effects of radiation on film upon the footage, as well as interrupts its narration with audio from geiger counter measurements. The film degrades until it is overtaken by its own consequences.
Channel B: Video performance (2025) of the artist and his maternal grandfather investigating the radioactive worksites in Elliot Lake where his grandfather was exposed to radiation. Dawning geiger counters and clipboards, the two revisit the sites, and in doing so, confront the inter-generational traumas of radiation, and grapple with the complexities of the home in the face of poisoned land. The artist and his grandfather provide a counter-narrative to government and private remediators, who have historically under-represented the dangers of radioactivity on workers, community members, and the land.
Channel C: An archival documentary from the National Film Board (1967) about an assimilation program that relocated Indigenous Peoples to Elliot Lake in order to live, work, and learn under colonial observance. The Indigenous Peoples were displaced from their homes, brought to sites of radioactive danger, and exposed directly to the toxic poison of colonial industry. The artist isolates two key interviews from the documentary: R. Keith Wilson, a representative of the Department of Indian Affairs, and Tom Fiddler, the Chief of Sandy Lake Indian Reserve, one of the northern reserves chosen for the program.