AFTER ELSA
Archival silver-gelatin prints, 16″x40″
This is an ongoing photographic project that explores the isolated community of Keno City, Yukon, as viewed through the intersection of past industry and present memory.
As the site of one of the world’s greatest deposits of silver ore, the landscape of Keno City encompasses dozens of mine shafts that were constructed shortly after the mineral’s discovery in 1918. These mines powered the Yukon’s economy for much of the twentieth century, until declining metal prices shuttered production in 1989. In the wake of mass layoffs, hundreds of individuals immediately left the region in search of new work, but a small number remained in the area to settle permanently. My photographs show these residents at an intersection between past and present, as they attempt to reinvent themselves without letting go of their silver history.