A new exhibit exploring the impacts of tourism on the Bow Valley is coming to Elevation Gallery.

In her new series “Past Futures”, Canmore artist Pascale Ouellet asks the question, ‘How can we celebrate beautiful, iconic places without destroying them?’ when the exhibit opens June 7.

Coinciding with the G7 Summit in Kananaskis from June 15-17, Ouellet hopes the exhibit will catch the eye of G7 personnel and tourists descending on the Valley, prompting visitors to consider the beauty and learn of the challenges facing the mountain town.

“I  hope that they take the time to realize that the beauty that they’re visiting here is changing and is at risk,” said Ouellet.  “I hope that the G7 people will grab a local paper and be curious of where they are.”

Often working from her own photos in her artistic process, Ouellet takes a new approach in the series, painting depictions of places throughout the Valley and into Jasper like Spirit Island and Athabasca Falls as a photo negative.

“ I’ve always been fascinated by photography and I started doing photos when you would use film and I just loved looking at the negatives of the pictures I took,” said Ouellet.

“[The paintings are] all bright colours because blue sky becomes orange, our yellow leaves become this ultramarine blue, the colour is so vibrant … that’s the big main difference of what you’re used to seeing.”

Presenting a new perspective of these Bow Valley scenes through her work, Ouellet hopes the series will challenge both local and international viewers to contemplate the risks facing the community.

“[The exhibit] speaks of things that are really close to our hearts as locals. We see it firsthand; we see things happening. Jasper burnt – it could have been us,” she said.

“The minute you take a photo, it’s already changing, the wind is blowing, the temperature’s moving, the light is moving. These are just like a snapshot of that moment … when you look at that moment, you know tomorrow will be different, but it’s gonna be different because of us, because of our impact on the land.”

The idea of representing landscapes “inverted” through the perspective of a photo negative, speaks to the broader concept of the series, according to Cheryl Baxter, artist and owner of Elevation Gallery.

“When you take out all of the preconceived notions through tourism, photography, the hyper coloured images, when you remove all of that. What is at the core of what makes our place beautiful? What’s the essence of beauty?” said Baxter.

With the anticipation of the G7 Summit felt throughout the Bow Valley, the exhibit comes at a time when both local and global issues are top of mind for many.

“Bringing the world to Canmore, to the Rocky Mountains,  it gives us such a unique opportunity to talk about some of the things that leaders will be talking about,  that are directly affecting our communities and communities at risk in general,” said Baxter.

Baxter added that art and culture play an important role in these global discussions.

“These places are so fundamentally changing as we go along. The images are meant to talk about the core of place and what is left behind and I think that’s something that people worldwide can relate to.”

“I suspect that the people that will be delegates of the G7, these people that are coming from all over the world, are equally wanting to think about these bigger ideas about communities at risk,” said Baxter.

Displaying 15 large scale paintings in the collection, Ouellet says one of her primary goals as an artist is to communicate ideas, elicit reactions and challenge viewers. She also hopes the nostalgia of the film era will also resonate with people.

“I try to trigger reactions and I think by using that technical element, people will become really nostalgic of when we used film and everybody has their own memories of childhood and photography and portraits and how precious it used to be too,” she said.

An opening reception will be held June 7 at Elevation Gallery’s new location in Three Sisters Mountain Village and the exhibit will remain on display until June 26.

The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada. The position covers Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation and Kananaskis Country.