Banff, Bankhead Mine

October 2023

Hosted by 

Stephanie Springgay, McMaster University & Aubyn O’Grady, Yukon School of Visual Arts | Yukon University

Activators included:

Stephanie Springgay, Aubyn O’Grady, Alana Bartol, Leah Decter and Jackie Olson with soundscape interludes by Matthew Cardinal.

The walking tour was a site-specific and site-responsive method developed to tune into practices of healing, care, and remediation in Bankhead, a former mining site located just outside of Banff Town. A curated group of artists, activists, and scholars were invited to activate the walking tour, and to consider themes of extraction, settler colonialism, remediation, and place. It was not a historical tour of the site, but a live performative event that questioned and challenged place. The walk and activations were broadcast live via a portable FM radio transmitter; a roaming pirate radio station worn by O’Grady.

Photographs by Jason de Haan and Miruna Dragan.