Tailings Pond Abstract #2.
Series: The True Cost of Oil. Archival
Pigment Print.
Northern Alberta. Canada. 2010 So
large are the Alberta Tar Sands tailings ponds that they can be
seen from space. Disguised by the beauty of a reflection, these
toxic tailings ponds are a considerable health risk. These vast
toxic lakes are completely unlined and 19 of them currently lie
on either side of the Athabasca River. Individual ponds can
range in size up to 8,850 acres, or almost two thirds the size of
Manhattan. It has been estimated by Natural Resources Canada
that the industry to date has produced enough toxic waste to fill
a canal 32 feet deep by 65 feet wide from Fort McMurray to
Edmonton, and on to Ottawa, a distance of over 2,000 miles.
In this image, the sky is reflected in the toxic and oily waste
water of a tailings pond.
Garth Lenz has photographed environmental, wilderness, and indigenous peoples issues throughout Canada, the U.S., Chile, Ecuador, Borneo, and China. This work has led to many assignments and publication in numerous books, newspapers, and magazines. These include The Manchester Guardian, The New York Times Sunday Edition, International Wildlife, B.B.C. Wildlife Magazine, Suomen Kuvalehti, The Tokyo Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Globe And Mail, and Time Magazine. He was one of the lead photographers of the book "CLEARCUT, The Tragedy Of Industrial Forestry", and contributed to LA Tragedia Del Bosque Chileno, dealing with the clearcutting of Chile's forests.
His work for Non Governmental Organizations has appeared in numerous full-page ads in the New York Times, Conde Naste, The New Yorker, Travel And Leisure, on billboards in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Germany, and in numerous posters.
He has lead photography workshops at the Canadian Outdoor Leadership Training Centre, the Kootenay Lake Summer School of the Arts, the Hollyhock Retreat Centre, and The Western Academy Of Photography.
For more information, Fine Art Prints, assignments, and stock, please contact:
Garth Lenz
938 Collinson Street,
Victoria, B.C., V8V 3B8
tel. 250 995-2967
fax. 250 995-2985
E-mail, lenz@islandnet.com
www.garthlenz.com
