Acclaimed Ottawa artist Christine Fitzgerald has been collaborating with the River Institute (Cornwall, ON) to photograph species at risk along the St. Lawrence River using historical photographic processes merged with modern technology. In July 2022, she led a public workshop teaching participants from the Cornwall and nearby Akwesasne communities how to create blue cyanotypes, one-of-a-kind prints made by exposing river specimens on light-sensitive paper.
The plant and animal life depicted in these images made by Christine and the workshop participants were inspired by key ecological indicators reflecting the state of the river identified in The Great River Rapport (www.riverrapport.ca), an initiative led by the River Institute in partnership with the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (MCA) and framed in the Haudenosaunee Ohèn:ton Karihwatéhkwen (Thanksgiving Address).
