Bio

Jesse Andrewartha is a Canadian filmmaker, photographer and visual effects artist specializing in historical and obscure darkroom techniques using analogue ultra large format, hybrid processes and motion picture film. Jesse’s work uses the photographic image to examine the collision between humankind and the physical world, the connection of the viewer to this struggle and domains that extend beyond our senses.

Jesse holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons)(Photography) from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (1997) and is a Render Efficiency Supervisor with Sony Pictures Imageworks. He is active in the Vancouver analog film community having screened and shown work in group contexts at festivals such as Capture Photography Festival and The Vancouver Art Gallery. He is recipient of a 2018 Explore & Create grant from the Canada Council of the Arts for “Transmutations” and a member of the Atomic Photographer’s Guild, an international group dedicated to making visible all facets of the nuclear age.

Web: www.transmutationsproject.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/transmutationsproject/

Behind “Transmutations”: Using Historical Processes to Explore the History, Legacy, and Radioactivity of Uranium Mining in North America

Abstract

"Transmutations: Visualizing Matter | Materializing Vision” is a multi-media exhibition by Canadian photographer, Jesse Andrewartha, that explores the history, legacy and radioactivity of uranium mining during the twentieth century in Canada and the US. Captured over the course of three years using exclusively analog silver halide film, Jesse traveled on multiple expeditions with hundreds of pounds of photographic equipment, from sub-Arctic regions of Canada to a quarter mile inside the historic uranium mines of southern Utah.

In this presentation, Jesse will discuss processes used to create the images along with some of the stories behind the images: the mineral, people whose lives have been impacted by uranium, the ex-miners that toiled decades underground, Indigenous leaders and activists leading the charge to clean up the mines and the places that shifted the balance of power on a global scale.

Photos

Some of the Happiest and Best Times of my Life, Utah, USA


Uraninite - Happy Jack Mine White Canyon District, Utah, USA