EDMONTON - The forest is sparse, dotted only by short, ugly stumps. The sky above is harsh and suffocating, a menacing black web.

We don’t know much about the end of the world. But it will probably look something like The Silence of Chaos, a mixed media installation by Alberta artist Sherri Chaba currently showing at the Art Gallery of Alberta.

With her latest work, Chaba has created a post-apocalyptic universe of fallen trees built from workplace tools, under clouds of hand-twisted wire. A bird sits motionless on an industrial cleaning brush, opposite an iron ball. Further away, on a moss-covered mat, rubber boots stand covered in oil.

“The environment I’m trying to create, I’m trying to relate it to what happens in history and what happens today and how that might affect what the future will look like,” said Chaba, who was inspired by Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Road, about a father and son who journey through America after a devastating event that has destroyed almost all life.

“Something’s happened to the earth. The sky — there’s no sun coming through the sky,” she explained.

Like much of what Chaba has done in the past, The Silence of Chaos speaks to industry’s impact on nature and the importance of environmental stewardship, themes that hold personal significance for Chaba.

Five years ago, the land she had been raised on — property that had been in her family for three generations — was changed forever with the arrival of a pipeline that ran through her home near Redwater.

“It was that experience that started me in this direction. They cut the hills in half. They removed the material to build themselves a road to travel on.”

The landscape was recreated, but “nothing will be growing back there in my lifetime,” she said. That realization hit her hard. “It was family property, an area where we would always go to. And to come there one day and see it was very different ...” She trailed off.

While Chaba knew the pipeline was coming, she thought the trees would grow back. “I didn’t realize the full impact of it. Landowners don’t know because it’s not their field of expertise.”

Chaba and her sister continue to fight legal battles over what happened. The Alberta Surface Rights Board has awarded her family compensation for interference with the land and they will appear before the board again later this year, she said.

Until then, Chaba expresses her frustration through her art works, which in many ways are cautionary tales brought to life. “Often, my work is really big because I’m so small,” said the five-foot-nothing Chaba. “I’m often up against larger industry.”

The Silence of Chaos, which runs until May 15 at the RBC New Works Gallery, marks Chaba’s debut at the Art Gallery of Alberta.

“It’s always important to do something with cause,” said Chaba, who earned her MFA in 2007 from the University of Alberta, where she currently teaches drawing. While she’s reluctant to tell viewers how to interpret her installation, she hopes it is an immersive experience for those who come.

“It’s about space. It’s about time. It’s a bit on the dark side. This vision of the future, right? It’s what we do and how it will affect what will happen in the future.”

jfong@edmontonjournal.com

Visual Arts Preview

The Silence of Chaos: Sherri Chaba

Where: Art Gallery of Alberta, RBC New Works Gallery

When: Now to May 15

Admission: $12.50, $8.50 for students, seniors