everyday oil: energy infrastructures and places that have yet to become strange
Infozine, Anne Pasek, 10 pgs, heliotropejournal.net
If you haven’t had the chance to read Canadian cartoonist Kate Beaton’s Ducks then Pasek’s everyday oil is a perfect prologue. If you have read Ducks, then Pasek’s brief comic is a great place to fluff up your Alberta tar sands knowledge and realize just how much of Edmonton is dominated by its relationship with oil.
Pasek, the former Albertian, went back to her hometown and observed everyday moments (without judgement) and what we got is this here zine. Each page brings to light something new; a new organization involved in oil, a new pipeline, private clubs founded by oil men, the realization of downtown buildings names and where they originate (spoiler alert: oil). I don’t feel the black and white, pencil and printer paper does the content of this zine justice and I had wished for more colour to help illustrate the realities of Edmonton’s oil ties.
Regardless, I am left with the grave understanding that oil and Edmonton are inseparable and what that means for increase in late capitalism, pipelines on Indigenous land and our ever-deteriorating environment.