FALSE FRONT, FALSE FRONTIER
Ink on cotton, 15.5’ x 19’, May 2012
Dawson City, Yukon Territory

False Front, False Frontier is a work that records the false front facade of West’s Boiler Shop located in Dawson City, Yukon Territory. In 1896, at the start of the Klondike Gold Rush, 30,000+ miners took up residence in Dawson City, resurrecting boomtown buildings using limited building materials and resources. Now, these buildings remain in distinct state of aging—manipulated by time and the shifting layers of permafrost beneath the soil.

False Front, False Frontier was created using the process of frottage where cotton was draped across the facade of the building. Ink and brayers were then used to handprint and record the textures underneath, including the well-worn lumber and an oversized large circular saw blade. This monoprint creates an indexical and portable facsimile of the original structure and documents a building in a slow but inevitable process of decay.

This work was exhibited in 2015 at Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery in an exhibition titled Beautiful Illusions curated by Ingrid Jenkner

Thanks to

  • David Rohatensky and Parks Canada who enthusiastically encouraged this project

  • Klondike Institute for Arts and Culture for supporting this project as a part of the Artist in Residence program

  • Karen MacKay, Tim Falconer, Elaine Rohatensky and others who helped in the printing of this work

  • My father, Chuck Young, who will meet me anywhere to support my work.