As the Gull Flies

As the Gull Flies  is an immersive educational film/installation that explores the relationships between ring-billed gulls, Montreal residents, urban toxicologists, and waste experts and the tensions that arise from the presence of a wild animal that has adapted to thrive off of human discards. 

Each May on the island of Île Deslauriers, just a few kilometres from Montreal’s East end, 70,000 ring-billed gulls arrive to breed. This spectacular event is an opportunity for toxicologists to observe the gulls in order to understand the contaminants they are exposed to while feeding at the nearby landfill. But what to make of the fact that these protected migratory birds, while a subject of concern from biologists, are at the same time a nuisance to nearby city residents or sanitation workers? And, what happens when the toxic waste that humans have squirrelled away is spilled back into the environment through the gulls’ daily movements? 

As the Gull Flies delivers a glimpse of the ring-billed gull from multiple, partial and conflicting human perspectives, and asks the questions: What can the gulls teach us about adaptation? Toxic exposure? Spatial Navigation? How do gulls, often referred to as urban scavengers or waste animals, hold up a mirror to our own evolving relationships to waste? The project ask us to consider “Who really is the waste animal?”