Hand-makers will be the change when or if 'The Big One' hits
Of all the things I fret over — a neighbourhood arsonist, identity theft, Trump burning it all down, an all-out war in the Middle East — ‘earthquake’ is not one of them. But it may seem like I’m tempting the fates, living on the west coast of Canada. True, it’s one of the few areas in the world where three tectonic plates are sliding around and occasionally crashing into one another to the tune of 1,000 earthquakes a year. And in what seems like a death wish, my travel is mostly within the Pacific Ring of Fire. I’ve experienced minor earthquakes in Vancouver, Kyoto and Oaxaca. I arrived in Mexico City two months after the 7.1-magnitude 2017 Puebla earthquake when excavators were still clawing at the rubble of mangled apartment buildings.
Of all the things I fret over — a neighbourhood arsonist, identity theft, Trump burning it all down, an all-out war in the Middle East — ‘earthquake’ is not one of them. But it may seem like I’m tempting the fates, living on the west coast of Canada. True, it’s one of the few areas in the world where three tectonic plates are sliding around and occasionally crashing into one another to the tune of 1,000 earthquakes a year. And in what seems like a death wish, my travel is mostly within the Pacific Ring of Fire. I’ve experienced minor earthquakes in Vancouver, Kyoto and Oaxaca. I arrived in Mexico City two months after the 7.1-magnitude 2017 Puebla earthquake when excavators were still clawing at the rubble of mangled apartment buildings.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Fire
Compounding this, I’ve always lived in older wood-framed places, the kind that tremble when someone slams a door or takes a run at the stairs, even next door. I understand that it’s just a matter of time before The Big One hits this region but this information doesn’t keep me up at night. When the bedroom walls shuddered at 4:05 a.m. this past Thursday I recognized it was an earthquake and when there was no follow-up seismic activity I turned over to get some sleep. I would have got some were it not for the guy outside calling out for an escaped pet (though I’m really hoping “Michael” is not the name of that hefty Burmese python that hangs around the neck and waist of a guy in the neighbourhood.)
I thought about the Go Bag that I put together (radio, batteries, Biolite stove/USB port, cash, plastic trash bags, emergency blanket, Leatherman, painkillers, protein bars, Life Straw) in the bedroom closet and the footwear beside the bed, because chances are that’s where we’ll all be if we’re at home when it hits.
If/when the neighbourhood is reduced to rubble, a lot of folks will be standing around in the debris-filled street pointing their dead phones to the sky, wailing at the lack of even one bar and praying that their saviour Elon Musk is doing something. Meanwhile, I will be gathering up scraps of tarps and shower curtains and Luxury Homes Coming Soon vinyl banners to rip into strips to braid into covers and bedding. I will be collecting armloads of scrap wood, loops of downed wiring, mangled metal gutters and tree limbs to bind into building blocks. I’ll be gathering people immobilized by shock to join in on these simple projects, or just regroup around my litter-fuelled stove for tea in the warmth of my makeshift shelter.
I thought about the Go Bag that I put together (radio, batteries, Biolite stove/USB port, cash, plastic trash bags, emergency blanket, Leatherman, painkillers, protein bars, Life Straw) in the bedroom closet and the footwear beside the bed, because chances are that’s where we’ll all be if we’re at home when it hits.
If/when the neighbourhood is reduced to rubble, a lot of folks will be standing around in the debris-filled street pointing their dead phones to the sky, wailing at the lack of even one bar and praying that their saviour Elon Musk is doing something. Meanwhile, I will be gathering up scraps of tarps and shower curtains and Luxury Homes Coming Soon vinyl banners to rip into strips to braid into covers and bedding. I will be collecting armloads of scrap wood, loops of downed wiring, mangled metal gutters and tree limbs to bind into building blocks. I’ll be gathering people immobilized by shock to join in on these simple projects, or just regroup around my litter-fuelled stove for tea in the warmth of my makeshift shelter.
Scaffolds I, Carlyn Yandle, 2018: The design of the city’s clutter of construction cranes inspired makeshift structural units composed of construction-site scraps — piping, cardboard, conduit cable, building wrap, hazard tape, jeans, framing wood. The panels, lashed into triangular building blocks, are explorations of shear strength and diagonal tension of units built without tools or hardware.
Maybe my lack of fear comes from seeing The Big One as the ultimate test of an art practice motivated by a something-out-of-nothing sensibility. Engaging in repetitive, tactile activity also brings a sense of calm in the face of fear: emotional survival.
Seismic Rug, 2011: petroleum-derived fabric, thread. 60”OD x 8”H (Carlyn Yandle)
Seismic Rug emerged in the hours, days and weeks following the Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011. The rote action of braiding quelled the hand-wringing as the disaster unfolded, often in horrific real time. Undulations created by increasing and decreasing tension reflected my own moments of tension as well as the concentric waves from the undersea earthquake that led to the devastating tsunami. It was woven from a desire for quietude, reflection and meditation but it also functions as an artifact of humane activity in a worst-case scenario.
Rest assured that in the event of a West Coast version, while you digital-nomadic gamers and Cybertruck-owning marketing executives stand in puddles moaning over your lack of connectivity, I’ll be grappling with the physical world. I’ll be the busy lady in the barbecue-cover poncho.
Rest assured that in the event of a West Coast version, while you digital-nomadic gamers and Cybertruck-owning marketing executives stand in puddles moaning over your lack of connectivity, I’ll be grappling with the physical world. I’ll be the busy lady in the barbecue-cover poncho.
