Information Office

Under 60 Tons documents the lived practices and working conditions of maritime labour along the Pacific Northwest coast. Between 2016–2024, Reave Dennison took black-and-white analogue photographs while employed aboard small tugboats, classified by Transport Canada as under 60 tons.

Photographed from within the working environment of the boats, the images encompass portraiture, landscape, and still life of the tools within maritime labour. Dennison offers glimpses of the wheelhouses, bunkrooms and hulls of these primarily analogue boats, which are being retired in favour of larger more technologically advanced vessels. He documents the physical knowledge that has been an integral part of the tow boating industry along the coast, but is being replaced by technology. And he shows us the tempestuous landscapes and weather that mariners are driven by. Woven throughout the photographic sequence are handwritten, journal entries that accompany the images. Moving between the vernacular language of the crew and reflective observation, Dennison’s writing introduce a lyrical counterpoint to the photographs.

Co-published by Pale Fire and Information Office, the book presents a carefully sequenced selection of more than 90 photographs drawn from Dennison’s work aboard the Under 60 tons vessels. Printed in duotone with exceptional fidelity, the volume translates the depth and material nuance of Dennison’s practice into book form, rendering the intimate details of environment, labour and economy that shapes life along the Pacific Northwest coast.

Contributors

1. Reave Dennison

   is a photographer living and working on Mayne Island, British Columbia. Actively employed within the trades, his practice focuses on documenting labour and working environments in the Pacific Northwest. His photographs examine the infrastructures and lived practices of maritime and forestry work, drawing from his experience as a crew member aboard tugboats as well as work in beachcombing and arboriculture. Dennison has presented his project Under 60 Tons at the Maritime Museum of British Columbia, Victoria (2025), the Vancouver Maritime Museum (2023), and the Gibsons Public Art Gallery (2022).

2. Amy Kazymerchyk

   is a curator and writer based in Vancouver, Canada. Her curatorial practice has paid particular attention to moving image and time-based works, considering their intersections with cinema, performance, visual art, and poetics. She was Curator of Simon Fraser University Galleries’ Audain Gallery from 2013 to 2018 and previously served as Events and Exhibitions Coordinator at VIVO Media Arts Centre. In 2008 she inaugurated DIM Cinema at The Cinematheque, a screening series dedicated to artists’ moving images. She is the founder and director of Pale Fire, an exhibition and publishing platform that supports artists working across photography, film, and interdisciplinary practices.

This publication is made possible through the generous support from the Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council, John & Helen O’Brian, Jane Irwin & Ross Hill, and Claudia Beck.

1. Under 60 Tons
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   Under 60 Tons presents a photographic study of maritime labour along the Pacific Northwest coast. Produced over eight years while working aboard small tugboats, Reave Dennison’s black-and-white photographs document the infrastructures, tools, and lived practices of coastal industry. 160 pages and printed in duotone with exceptional quality, the book brings the depth and material nuance of Dennison’s photographic practice.

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