Manny Wood Lynes-Ford

After They Leave

When I was younger, My grandmother told me a story: the Creator wanted us to have everything we needed, so they gave us a song to call the animals, who would offer themselves to us. This gift came with one condition-that we respect the animals and care for the land, taking only what was necessary and letting nothing go to waste. However, overtime people grew careless and one day, the Creator would come and take the song away. This story is a reminder of our responsibility to protect what we have and ensure there is something left for future generations, just as our ancestors did for us.

“In After they leave, I document the town of Wells, British Columbia- a historic mining and logging town residing on the traditional territories of the Secwepemc people and Lhtako Dene nation.This is a testament to what happens when that song is forgotten. A documentation of the marring as a result of extraction, abandonment and the displacement of indigenous peoples who have stewarded this land. This work is printed on expired chromogenic paper, its slight colour shifts and imperfections are a deliberate act of salvage. Like the land itself, the material was destined to be waste: here, it is given a new purpose. These images are not just records of destruction, but a refusal to let what has been discarded fade unnoticed- a call to remember what was lost, and what might still be healed.”