Mixed Media Drawing
Mixed Media Drawing
SYNOPSIS
“Mining Human Stories” is a graphic novel which questions our relationship with the Earth and its mineral resources, through the prism of personal stories and perspectives, in different countries and across several continents.
Mining operations have shaped our society, economy and environment for millennia. Today, the energy transition and our society’s dependence to products and technologies are increasing the pressure to mine for critical minerals, in an overwhelming context of geopolitical, social, environmental and climate crises. Mineral exploration and extraction in the past two centuries are intertwined with colonialism and capitalism, and are responsible for a series of mine failures and environmental disasters. However, mining also enables innovations in science, technology, energy, telecommunications, medicine, agriculture… At the core of this industry lies a fascinating science, geology, which informs humans origins and evolution on this planet and in the universe. How do we reconcile these paradoxical scales of space, time, technological progress and noxious legacies?
This graphic novel focuses on human-scale, relatable stories and questioning told by those who live and work in the mining industry. The book unfolds as a series of chapters retracing our evolving relationship with the Earth and its minerals, starting with hand-digging the earth for flintstone and arrowheads, to copper smithing, mining for iron and the emergence of steel during the industrial revolution, then exploring for gold, molybdenum, tungsten... Through a process informed by the author’s background as a field geologist, built upon people’s interviews and visits of old and active mining sites in the Yukon, Chile and Sweden, a fascinating and paradoxical mesh of human stories emerges, rooted in a weirdly organic connection between people, rocks and minerals. Family-run gold mines in the Klondike, stories of arsenic and bismuth leading to invisible gold, the search for a lifestyle detached from money and modern-life pressures, or gold feeding global investments and distant wars…
This work-in-progress graphic novel may not provide any easy answers to the overwhelming questions of our time; it is an exploratory journey, like drilling through a complex network of human stories as if they were veins, crosscutting each other and intersecting million years old geological strata. The reader may find these stories are worth all the gold in the world!
INTRODUCTION PAGES
SELECTION OF SKETCHES FROM SITE VISITS AND INTERVIEWS IN THE YUKON (SUMMER 2025) AND SWEDEN (FEBRUARY 2026)
GEOLOGY-MINERALOGY ARTISTIC RESIDENCY IN CHILE - FINAL PRESENTATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND SUPPORT
Yukon
Thank you to all my project collaborators and storytellers in the Yukon! I received in-kind and logistical support from various individuals, organizations and companies during my research trips across the Yukon, including prospector Ryan Burke, Archer Cathro and Associates, Rackla Metals Inc., the Yukon Geological Survey. I would also like to thank many geologist colleagues and friends for discussions and ideas, including Melissa Friend, Jeff Bond, Jerome de Pasquale, Tiera Naber.
Kiruna, Sweden
Tack! Martha and Aaron for hosting me, and for introducing me to your Swedish life and friends!
Chile
My research trip in Chile occured in the context of an Geology-Mineralogy artistic residency at ISLA, in Antofagasta, in June-July 2026. Thank you to my artist colleagues and friends Dani Vera and Lourdes Silva who contributed to an incredibly rich, fulfilling and fun experience. Thank you to the SACO team at ISLA, particularly Angelo and Roxana.
A number of people contributed to this project in the form of interviews, contacts, or ideas:
-
Eduardo Campos (Universidad Católica Del Norte)
-
Gladys Hayashida and the team from C-Tys (Universidad de Antofagasta)
-
Pía Hernández (Universidad de Antofagasta)
-
Hernán Cáceres and Andrés Berkovic (INLisa)
-
Juan Claudio Veliz and Marcelo Rivas (FCAB)
-
Juan Rivera Orrego (Corporación Cultural Vivencias de la Pampa)
-
Chris and Nilda
-
Edmundo Garcia
-
Esteban Castillo
-
Tito Álvarez
-
Pamela
-
José Graña
And also: Thomas Bissig, Irene Del Real, Libby Sharman, Piri, Seba y Aurelio
Funding
-
My research trips to the Klondike and Howards Pass (summer 2025), were partially supported through an Express Micro Grant, Government of Yukon.
-
The artistic creation process (writing and drawing) is partially supported through an Advanced Artist Award, Government of Yukon (2026)
-
I acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for an International Residency grant (June 2026)
