Plants of Grassy Mountain and Seeds for Grassy Mountain
Plants of Grassy Mountain, 2020. 38 drawings: heated milk on paper, 38 drawings: charcoal and milk on paper, 17.78 x 25.4 cm, original drawings, HD video, 47:34.
This series of drawings depicts plants that have historically grown on or may still grow on Grassy Mountain, a strip-mined mountain and the site of the proposed Grassy Mountain Coal Project in the Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. The drawings were created using milk on paper. Initially invisible, the heat from a candle or rubbing charcoal on the drawings reveals the image of each plant.
Seeds for Grassy Mountain, collaboration with Latifa Pelletier-Ahmed, 2020-ongoing, participatory artwork, 400+ seed packets, seed packet designs: Coal Plant, Canary Awaiting Resuscitation, and Crowsnest River Watershed
Seeds of Grassy Mountain is a companion piece to Plants of Grassy Mountain. Working with long-term collaborator, Latifa Pelletier-Ahmed, a botanist, herbalist, educator, artist, and co-owner of ALCLA Native Plants, we sourced and developed a series of native plant seed packets of plants that grow or have historically grown on Grassy Mountain. Participants and gallery visitors living in the Treaty 7 or Treaty 6 territories (areas where the plants are native) are invited to take a packet and plant the seeds as a way to connect with Grassy Mountain. In the exhibition, Processes of Remediation, the seed packets were displayed in a re-purposed core storage box obtained from the Greenhill Mine Complex. The box is labeled "GM" for Grassy Mountain. We also developed a series of in-person and online workshops sharing information about native plants, seed germination, and the importance of biodiversity. Seeds included: silky and silvery lupine, rocky mountain fescue, tufted hairgrass, fireweed, yarrow, paintbrush, fringed sage, prairie rose, and more.
