Flightlines

Recently I was gifted a series of sequential aerial photos along straight flight paths called flightlines, taken by the British Columbia Ministry of Forestry. I soon became absorbed in the photos and was suddenly inspired to write poems with extra-long lines that delve into the vastness of British Columbia, as well as the connections and contradictions that coexist between the aerial and ground views of our province, and how we internalize them. Does our interpretation of our land change when we see it from above? Does a government stamp change our perception of the land? Is it ‘crown’ land, or is land even something that can be owned? 

Photos of forests, rivers, mountains, lakes, and ocean not only incapsulate the beauty of our province, but also reveal the harsh effects of colonization, resource extraction, and ecosystem disruption that have devastated aboriginal communities and cultures who have inhabited BC for thousands of years. There is much more going on than first appears on the surface. 

Flightlines will be an expansive show that initially displays a series of the aerial photos interlaced with my own extra-long line poems. Visitors will be invited and encouraged to share ideas and interpretations by writing their own extra-long lines for the developing display, especially at the opening and during a writing workshop. At the conclusion of Flightlines, the photos and poems could be collected in an album or booklet to document this event.

Artist Bio

Al Rempel’s books of poetry are Undiscovered Country, This Isn't the Apocalypse We Hoped For, and Understories, along with a handful of chapbooks. His poems have also appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies, most recently, the Cascadia Field Guide and Sweetwater. Rempel has collaborated in the creation of a number of video-poems with other artists; We Have Become Children and I’ve In the Rain were screened at film festivals in North America, and Sky Canoe was screened in North America as well as internationally at festivals in Dublin and Bristol. Some of Rempel's poems have been translated into Italian and Spanish. Rempel was awarded the Prince George Regional Arts and Culture Award for poetry in 2012 and shortlisted for the Fred Cogswell award for excellence in Poetry in 2013. His poems have been included twice in the Poetry in Transit project in Vancouver and shortlisted in 2015 for Arc’s Poem of the Year. He has also led a number of poetry workshops including a series of online workshops under the banner of Interior Dialogues. More information can be found at his website: www.alrempel.com.