Orphan Well Adoption Agency
Formed in 2017, Orphan Well Adoption Agency (OWAA) began employing unconventional approaches to environmental remediation that examine care, empathy, and the reliability of information. As part of this work, OWAA is dedicated to finding symbolic caretakers for orphan wells across what is now known as Alberta. Members of the public are invited to meet with an OWAA representative in the OWAA office and apply to adopt a well. If approved, caretakers receive a certificate of adoption with the name and location of an orphan well in Alberta, a postcard, and can correspond with their well through letter writing.
Orphan Well Adoption Agency reimagines the future of Alberta’s orphaned oil wells. Members of the public are invited to engage with concepts of care and environmental repair through photography, drawing, installation, video, sculpture, and participatory art.
OWAA has had temporary offices at TRUCK Contemporary Art (2017), Latitude 53 (2018-2019), Art Gallery of Grande Prairie (2019), and Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery (2024). Thank you, Canada Council for the Arts and Alberta Foundation for the Arts, for their generous support of this work—exhibition photo credits on individual photographs.
