Trading Tradition for Contemporary Comfort

By MATT MCCANN

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Sometimes, it seems as though the story of modernity will be told as a series of unsettling trade-offs between longstanding values and contemporary comforts.

In his project “Sleeping With the Devil,” Aaron Vincent Elkaim shows a profound ambivalence about what is lost, and what is gained, as traditional cultures embrace modern materialism. A Toronto-based photographer and founding member of the Boreal Collective, Mr. Elkaim spent four months last year in northeastern Alberta, photographing the rewards and the consequences of living on lands rich with natural resources. He lived among the Fort McKay First Nation, amid indigenous people whose fate has become intricately tied to the Athabasca oil sands on which their reserve stands.

The vast fields of bitumen and heavy crude oil provide significant development opportunities that enrich some First Nation populations. The economy in Fort McKay relies almost exclusively on the extraction of that oil. But for some of its citizens - mostly Cree and Dené First Nations  - this symbiotic relationship means surrendering traditions that have lasted centuries.

This transition, from subsisting on the land and fur-trading for profit, to a more modernized economy occurred abruptly.

“A lot of the elders in the community grew up in the bush, grew up on the land,” said Mr. Elkaim, 31. “And then you've got the younger generation, and their reality is one of affluence - having all the modern things. But it's a completely different life.”

The Fort McKay citizens whom Mr. Elkaim met and lived with are fully aware of, and sensitive to, that change. “But at the same time,” he said, “they're making really good money.”

Mr. Elkaim saw other manifestations of an uneasy pact with dubious forces: illness. Although there is not yet a widely accepted body of evidence, he described an increased incidence of cancer at Fort McKay, as well as respiratory and skin afflictions.

Nevertheless, some were nourished by a sense of pride in their hard work for the companies that had altered their lands. At other times, they expressed a sense of loss and powerlessness.

What emerges, then, is a sort of collective sigh, Mr. Elkaim said.

His most recent major project, “Jewish Morocco,” touches on similar themes, as Mr. Elkaim seeks to understand how and which cultures survive - which realities remain and which fade. For the residents of Fort McKay, finding a reasonable way through the bludgeoning effects of economic expansion is the reality at hand.

“They're saying, ‘Let's make the most of this, because we can't stop this. It's just too big,' ” he said. “How does that settle in t heir souls? That's a question that's hard to me for to answer. It's their history and their future, but it's also a reality that they feel they don't have the power to change.”