Foraged Materials on wood panel: seagull feather, peanut shells, Garry oak acorns, pine cone, pine frond, peafowl feathers, slate, plastic gems, Garry oak branches, pine cones and branch with red spray paint, wired earpiece, stones, lichen, nut/bolt, rock with paint and writing, ribbon, origami folded paper, bottle cap x 2, City of Victoria tree tag, shattered tempered glass, mini-LED party light, jingle bell, remnants of metal spoon and plastic fork, squirrel fur, lighter, raccoon fur, plastic rope, Ten-lined June beetle, holly leaf, plastic poppy, lint, wool thread, human hair, glass marble, cedar tree, aluminium tag, a pile of woven human hair and squirrel hair, 37″ x 37″, 2020 (full view).

Levelling the Hierarchy (Winter, 2020). This project is my response to Aristotle’s Scala Naturae. A series of multi-day walks took place via city sidewalks between my home and MEE-qan (Beacon Hill Park), Victoria, BC. By chance, I walked through a road construction zone on Sunday morning and resulted in objects unearthed by bulldozers still in situ and attached to the Earth’s surface. In the gallery, the items are arranged in a circle as I attempt to un-classify life. There is no hierarchical system because multi-species co-evolution is unpredictable. The objects are arranged on a wood panel painted white and situated on a low plinth for the viewer to circumnavigate around. The objects are both natural and human-made. Some objects are intersecting others – peanut shells intersect a feather or holly leaf. There’s a connection to humans as animals – hoarding and collecting, but the logic is left open in the grouping.

On this day, I collected: a small bell, a battered Armistice Day poppy, earplugs, a metal tag, a dead ten-lined June Beetle, a bolt, a broken spoon, and a painted rock with an inspirational message that reads, ‘Be your best self.’ 

Foraged Materials Feb 2020, 37″ x 37″, 2020 (detail)
Foraged Materials Feb 2020, 37″ x 37″, 2020 (detail)