DARK SANDS AND SALTGRASS

This series of Polaroid emulsion lifts explores the resilience of a unique wildlife refuge in Metro Vancouver weathering a century of industrialisation. Over the last five years, I have worked as a bird bander for the Iona Island Bird Observatory (IIBO) in Richmond. Bird banders at IIBO apply metal bands with unique identifying numbers to bird legs and record measurements such as wing length, fat levels, and age. The data is submitted to a North America-wide database to monitor for changes within bird population trends. During this time, I have become familiar with the unique flows of the area, which is located on the unceded land of the Musqueam on the Fraser River estuary, xʷəyeyət (Iona Island). Despite development and pollution, xʷəyeyət still nurtures freshwater wetlands, saltgrass meadows, and rare dune grass ecosystems. This series aims to portray the diverse mosaic of xʷəyeyət – freshwater wetland, estuarine meadow, forest, invasive plant encroachment – and the resilience of this sensitive ecosystem cocooned within industries that threaten to expand and further alter its structure.