In 2017, public opposition and federal carbon emissions regulations forced TransCanada to cancel Energy East–the largest proposed oil pipeline in Canadian history. For their series Greetings from Energy East! artists Justin Langille and Jennifer Martin used data submitted by TransCanada to the National Energy Board to visit and photograph waterways the pipeline would have crossed in Canada’s National Capital Region, rendering their images as souvenir postcards. The postcards satirize normalization of destructive fossil fuel production promoted at gift shops during tours of Suncor’s oil sands operations and Fort McMurray’s Oil Sands Discovery Centre. Testaments to the value of witnessing contested landscapes during a time when citizen presence is increasingly relegated to digital realms, the postcards are printed on recycled paper and free for individuals to take and send to people involved in pipeline politics. Exhibited at the Gladstone Hotel’s 2019 Grow Op exhibition of environmental art and Cambridge Art Galleries with support from the Ontario Arts Council.
