Every Oil Tanker

Every Oil Tanker in the Port of Vancouver on May 22, 2019 captures five different tankers present in the Port of Vancouver on a single spring day in 2019. The work stems from an ongoing collaboration between Tori Foster and me in which we explore the archetypal qualities of iterative forms. The overlay of individual images merges the details of each ship, including lifeboats, derricks, ladders, national flags, and the names—High Progress, CL Aquarius, Torm Freya, Sven, and Harmonics—found on the stern of each hull. The surrounding Vancouver harbour is also visible, marked by the three bridges of Burrard Inlet, port cranes, transmission lines, and, in the image’s foreground, the Westridge Marine Terminal fence. Viewed from a distance, however, these idiosyncrasies fall away and the archetypal form of the tankers emerges: the striped funnel, square bridge, and radar mast rising above the crimson hull of five oil tankers rendered as one.