Stunning black and white images of a decommissioned oil and gas site serves as a stark reminder of a once vibrant piece of Turner Valley's history.
Stunning black and white images of a decommissioned oil and gas site serves as a stark reminder of a once vibrant piece of Turner Valley's history.
Calgary documentary photographer George Webber is displaying his 20-piece portfolio of the Turner Valley Gas Plant at the Sheep River Library's art gallery until the end of August, in conjunction with the site opening to weekend public tours this summer.
“I find it extraordinarily engaging and beautiful,” Webber said of the gas plant. “At some level it's kind of a forbidden place, a place that's not easily accessible, but it adds another labour of satisfaction for me.
“As you go through life you see things that you thought would be there forever and you are disabused of that sense.”
Webber initially visited the Turner Valley Gas Plant with historian David Finch to take photographs for a story Finch was writing about the gas plant for the Alberta Oil Magazine.
“After seeing it briefly for that first time I was really fascinated with the place and its connection to the history of the province and it's, of course, a very arresting place visually,” he said. “There is a delicious quality about a place like that when there is absolutely no human presence in it anymore.”
Shortly after a centennial celebration was held for the site's Dingman No. 1 Discovery Well in the spring of 2014, Webber returned to capture more black and white images.
His work was exhibited at the Lougheed House in Calgary, prompting the local Oilfields Historical Society to encourage him to bring the exhibit to the Sheep River Library.
“When the exhibition opened in Calgary it was just after the first great price shock when oil dropped to 50 a barrel,” said Webber. “These kind of things do remind you of, in a sense, the resilience, but also the really hard facts of the energy industry. It's so closely related to, in an absolute sense, the economy for this part of the world.”
When it comes to capturing images, Webber admits he has an eye for places that are forbidden and uncommonly photographed.
He's published several books of various subjects including the Blood Indian Reserve, Hutterites, East Village in Calgary and the Badlands of Alberta.
His book Prairie Gothic portrays several photographs documenting diminished and abandoned storefronts in small towns throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan.
“I have a fascination for the feral – things that are neglected and frequently unseen,” he said. “This is a place that was cutting edge and certainly it's important historically and economically and it's now been completely abandoned. It should be, and hopefully at some point will be, a major historical site. That seems to be the plan for that, but it seems to have been abandoned for a fairly lengthy time.”
In many ways, Webber sees his images as a recording of an earlier economic chapter in Alberta's history.
“Most of my projects, on average, from the time I start a project until it hits a book, are about 10 years,” he said. “Often it is through the passage of time that these things become interesting. That really allows the work to have a certain amount of depth.”
The 64-year-old photographer's images have been exhibited across Canada - more locally at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary and Whyte Museum in Banff.
Despite being in close proximity to the commonly photographed Foothills and Rocky Mountains, Webber said neither has interested him photographically.
“There is some things you want to appreciation without the imposition of the camera,” he said. “There is some things you enjoy for the sheer straight-up pleasure for being in a place. There are other things you engage with more aesthetically or creatively.”
The fact that both have been photographed extensively makes Webber less compelled to capture them.
“For me there is something about engaging with these things that are either unseen or overlooked or perhaps difficult,” he said. “Photographing the Blood Reserve and Hutterites is very challenging and, in some situations, dangerous. In a sense, those projects are more of a challenge and there is some great satisfaction in capturing them.”
The public will have the opportunity to meet Webber at an artist's reception, sponsored by the Oilfields Historical Society, on July 15 from 4 to 7 p.m. Webber will give a brief gallery talk about his exhibit at about 5:30 p.m.
To see more of Webber's work go to georgewebber.ca
