Entangled Ecologies

Installation view at AllArtNow

'Resting Ground', digital photograph on vellum paper, metal clips, monofilament, 170cm x 80cm x 15cm

'Resting Ground' view from below

'To the Core', video/audio installation

'Decompose, Recompose', computer animation

'Lungs of the Earth', partially decomposed peat moss, leaves and branches

'Preservation', peat, rain water, preserve jar

2022

Entangled Ecologies was a solo exhibition that evolved during a residency at AllArtNow in Stockholm, Sweden. This new work expanded my investigation of the bog as an ecological skin and preserver of life. Both Canada and Sweden have a high concentration of peatland, which climate scientists consider to be one of the most efficient ecosystems on earth. As part of my research, I traveled to Store Mosse National Park which is the largest protected bog in Sweden.

I have been focussing on Sphagnum moss as a protective blanket that grows on the surface of bogs. In Sweden, I searched below the surface for analogies between the bog and the human body as interconnected processes. My sensitivity towards the bog in Småland resulted in photo-based installation, computer animation, sculpture, video and sound recordings to deepen my understanding of peatland as a space of preservation that protects and nurtures the environment it inhabits.

Entangled Ecologies situated visitors below ground level and intended to convey ideas about regeneration cycles, and the bog as a liminal space suspended between life and death.

This residency was made possible through a collaboration between AllArtNow and Residence Botkyrka, and with the generous support of the Manitoba Arts Council.

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