Duct-tape artists recreate 55-foot Manitoba Hydro billboard
Univited artists tell utility to clean up the dam mess in Cree homeland
by Will Braun
In broad daylight at a major Winnipeg intersection, two uninvited artists calmly dangled in front of a 55-foot-high corporate mural. Having scaled the back of the building with a ladder, they descended the face of the Manitoba Hydro mural and used a dozen roles of duct tape to revise the most prominent piece of advertising in the city.
Eight squad cars, two fire engines and plenty of yellow police tape added to the daring drama on September 27. At street level, forest advocates from several countries handed out leaflets explaining to motorists that Manitoba Hydro's hydroelectric mega-project is devastating the Pimicikamak Cree people and their northern homeland.
As cameras rolled and police watched helplessly below, the mural's message was changed from "It's about the future of your energy" to "It's about Hydro's dam mess". "Power Smart" became "Power Dumb".
The artists, Greg Higgs, 33 and Clement Lam, 34, are part of the BC-based Forest Action Network, which works with Aboriginal peoples to protect forests from industrial development. Sara Peloquin, a 23-year-old Winnipeg woman, remained on the roof as a safety officer. All three were arrested and later released.
Referring to the huge baby face that dominates the blue sky mural Peloquin said the message is that Manitoba Hydro's industrial projects are not about blue skies and cute babies. They're about continued destruction of vast watersheds, contamination of critical rivers, and they are about Pimicikamak Cree people finding the remains of their ancestors sticking out of the mud where ancient gravesites erode because of the dams.
Industrial dams on the river that lies at the heart of Pimicikamak homeland pump out $3 million worth of electricity every day. One third of the energy is sold to the U.S.
Manitoba Hydro spokesperson Glen Schneider said he didn t know what the point of the dangerous stunt was, and insisted that hydroelectricity is a clean source of energy. [footnote: taken from Schneider's comments in a CBC radio interview]
Pimicikamak Chief John Miswagon was grateful for the daring support. "We don t have millions of PR dollars for billboards," he said "but we have allies with creativity and courage. More and more people from far beyond Manitoba are telling Hydro that it s time for them to clean up their mess in the boreal forest."
Links:
www.mcc.orgwww.mcc.org (photo gallery)
www.taigarescue.org/news_update/news.php?news_update=america
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