Headframes dominate the landscape of mining communities in Northeastern Ontario and Northwestern Quebec. Distinctive structures built to house the apparatus at the head of the mine shaft, headframes tower above their surroundings, reminding every resident that without the mine, there would be no reason for their settlement to exist. For the past several years, photographer Louie Palu and writer Charlie Angus have been documenting historic mining sites in the north. Many of these have since been erased from the landscape. Co-produced with Prise de parole.
An incisive recording of the miner’s stories and of the former glories of mining camps, Industrial Cathedrals of the North clarifies and elucidates how “mines aren’t found, they are made.”
– Rosemary Donegan, independent curator, writer, and educator