“Paper Bark”
Still Image from "Paper Bark" © Hannen Wolfe
Title:
- Paper Bark
Artist(s) and People Involved:
Symposium:
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Artist Statement:
“Paper Bark” is a virtual reality experience about deterioration, decolonization, and regeneration. It uses generative algorithms, photogrammetric reconstruction, and image style transfer to reconstruct the past, show the present and suggest possible futures. Historically pulp and paper mills were the driving force of economic prosperity for many towns in the state of Maine with the industry peaking in 1967. Due to outside firms maximizing short term profits, the industry collapsed in the 1990s leaving mill towns impoverished. “Paper Bark” focuses on the remains of a 130-year-old mill in Winslow, Maine that closed in 1997, and its past, present and potential futures. The mill is situated in the homeland of the Kennebis people who were displaced during the Indian Wars and sought refuge in other Wabanaki nations. The name of the artwork is derived from the production of paper at the mill and the bark of paper birches, a native plant material used for making canoes, baskets and other goods. “Paper Bark” embodies the ecologies of place and shifting temporalities through a virtual reality, non-linear narrative about colonization, collapse and the potential future regeneration of a paper mill town.
