American Oil
Oil: America’s most divisive commodity. Few resources effect more corners of our lives - the economy, politics, jobs, the environment, transportation and foreign affairs. This dichotomous body of work explores two aspects of America’s relationship to the oil industry: the North Dakota oil boom and opposition to the Keystone pipeline.
From 2008 to 2015 western North Dakota saw enormous oil production as the Bakken shale formation was exploited to it’s fullest potential. It led to rapid employment, a skyrocketing cost of living and a sharp drop in the price of oil throughout the country. During the same period of time a small number of people rose up in fierce resistance to construction of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The group stood in resistance to a multinational project that would have used eminent domain to build a pipeline across private property, nature preserves and fragile ecosystems, creating a new gateway for oil to flow uninterrupted from the U.S.-Canadian border to Nebraska.