'Only 68 Fish'. An Interview with LSCFN artist Lara Bode
When Lara Bode first heard about the Eagle Gold Mine fish kill incident on the radio in early August 2024, the words, "it was only 68 fish" angered her. This reaction prompted the creation of an installation art piece that featured lifesize drawings of each and every one of the 39 Arctic grayling, 27 slimy sculpin, one burbot and one round whitefish.
Lara is a third year art student, currently studying at Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver. As a Citizen of Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation, and a Northern Tutchone member of the Crow Clan, the disaster of the June 24 failure at Eagle Gold Mine has hit close to home.
"Lately in my work, I've been exploring the Indigenous relationship to the land in contrast to the colonial relationship to land," shared Lara. "I've been working with fragile materials like tissue paper and charcoal, which demand consideration and care when handling."
This is the medium of choice that Lara continued with her current piece. "Each fish is made from tissue paper and tracing paper. I used charcoal for the drawings of each fish, a yellow ink wash on the back, and red ink for the blood. As they were laid out across the floor, I wanted it to be visceral and clear that these fish were dead."
The installation where Lara displayed her work was for one of her university classes. Upon installation, another student remarked, "Oh, there has been a massacre here."
Lara shared that it took her three weeks to complete all 68 fish. "During that time of creating the fish I was feeling a lot of anger. Anger that they're not just fish. They should have never died. This should have never happened. When they say that it's 'only 68 fish' I wanted to show just how many that really is." When Lara finished the project, she noted that the pain she felt was still there, that even the 68 fish laid out across the floor still couldn't quite capture the emotion of the situation.
Lara's work highlights an important piece of the Eagle Gold Mine disaster for Northern Tutchone people. The contamination that has occurred is harm and death that has come to a land with which there is a significant spiritual and cultural relationship. As the work continues in the aftermath of the failure, the Northern Tutchone people are still grieving.
"The working title is Canary in the Coal Mine after something my Grandfather said about the whole situation," shared Lara. "My classmates here in Vancouver didn't know much about the Eagle Gold Mine crisis, but when they saw this work, one classmate shared, 'This is so wrong."
Lara hopes that her work helps to contribute to a dialogue about the relationship with land from an Indigenous perspective vs. a colonial perspective, and brings understanding that even one fish killed is too many.
