Al Shearing, one of Yellowknife's legendary dump salvagers.
A few weeks ago I wrote a piece for VICE about Yellowknife's Solid Waste Facility and the people who salvage there. You can read that story here. I spent a few days at the dump talking to people and getting a general sense of why the YK Solid Waste Facility is important to so many. The dump is a place to find very good items - trash that really isn't trash at all. Some of it is used for art, some for their homes, some is refurbished and resold. It's also said that salvaging is a forward-thinking, green, and effective way to recycle items while at the same time adding character and culture to the city. While I was there working on this story I took a lot of portraits and I was happy to get some insight into the salvaging world. Only a few photos made the article due to space so I thought I'd post the portraits of everyone else I met. Enjoy.
Dave Kellett
Ayrma Schreurs
Bruce Bourque
Ian Forrest
Thomas DeBastiani
Lesley Johnson
Kim Fuller
Jeremy Emerson and Bowie
Peter Eyakfwo
Rory Macneill and Becky Davis
Bill Tetsa
Walt Humphries
Myka Jones
Marina Crews
Maliq Barnard
Kellan Marshall and Victoria Ollerhead
Mike Lacroix
Sue and Norm Glowach
Katie Glowach
Ben Russo
Jack Carter
Kelsey Magill and Tyson Hauger
Elvis Brown
Marvin Tarr
Tim Harris, Alana Harris, Wayne Davidson and Susie Davidson
Jay Macleod
Gary Adams
Ken, Teetee and Beatrice Neyelle
Fred Murphy
Lachlan Maclean
Stephen Woolf
Spencer Kaufman, Nick Henry, Rob Burrough, Keegan Lawton and Ken Burke
Loren McGinnis
John Poulter
Ryan McCord
Joel Maillet
Terry Pamplin
Elke Richter
Wallace Hickey
A man who wished to remain anonymous and Buddy Ezery
Claudia Bruehlmann
Percy Wedzin
Mary Stripewolf
Anne Losier