In the summer of 2011, thanks to a grant from Canada Council for the Arts, I spent four months driving from British Columbia to Newfoundland for what became my Oh Canada! project. Having moved from my native Toronto to New York in my mid-20s, I’d spent 14 years in the US, travelling more widely there than I ever had in the country of my birth. So this adventure was an opportunity to discover and photograph Canadians outside the big cities.
My dad tagged along for some of the trip, and I was joined by my mum for a couple of weeks. Neither of us had ever been to Alberta before. We went to a Star Trek festival, visited museums populated by stuffed gophers and creepy dolls, and explored a replica pioneer village. This picture was taken at the Fantasy Land hotel in West Edmonton Mall. People who grew up in Edmonton told me they would rent rooms there for birthday parties or prom nights. There were a lot of themed rooms, including one with an igloo-shaped bed. As soon as I saw that, I knew we had to book it.
