Among the Drupes (Elegy for a Wasteland) is an exhibition about the dynamic and vulnerable life story of the accidental, urban wilderness. For eight months, I developed a relationship with the last remaining groves of staghorn sumac ( Rhus typhina )
35.jpg
Image by Toni Hafkenscheid
Exhibition view: Among the Drupes (Elegy for a Wasteland) at the Varley Art Gallery of Markham. Pictured here are site-specific and material process videos centred on the ecological agents of the West Toronto Railpath’s accidental wilderness. Imag
Seven videos on five monitors depict the rendering of pigments and art materials used in the exhibition’s mural: staghorn sumac; Virginia creeper; yellow ochre; Coffea arabica (?); grove snail; sumac charcoal, and curly dock chlorophyll. Image by
Image by Toni Hafkenscheid
38.jpg
The last remaining grove of staghorn sumacs along the West Toronto Railpath.
A cluster of fruits of staghorn sumac - drupes - are a common sight among females of the species, and provide sustenance for many birds and animals throughout the entire year.
A video installation featuring the seasonal and ecological transformations occuring over an eight-month period greets visitors upon a jewel-toned wall. The systematic devastation of various ecological systems are witnessed throughout the film. Image
A natural-history collection including a botanical sketch by Varley, raw materials, pigment samples, and anthotype prints (chlorophyll and staghorn sumac). Image by Toni Hafkenscheid
Image by Toni Hafkenscheid
Foraging and pigment-making can be understood as a form of forensic ecology; the rendering of colours from plants, animals, and other biotic assemblages tell us stories of life in suffering. I made seven hues from the branches and berries of sumacs,
Drupes of the female staghorn sumac ( Rhus typhina ). High in anthocyanins and tannins as well as vitamin C and essential nutrients for a range of native species, the fuzzy fruits were used to produce a range of inks from deep brown to blood red.
Shells from Cepaea nemoralis, the brown lipped grove snail. Strewn along the path in the thousands, likely dead from the dramatic loss of leaf litter from the clear-cutting of invasive trees, the snail remains contain both organic and inorganic pi
Goethite , a yellow-ochre mineral pigment unearthed by construction crews excavating earth along the Railpath.
Chlorophyll pigment extracted from Rumex crispus , or curly dock, a non-native and edible plant flourishing along the Railpath.
Red ink made from the berries of staghorn sumac.
Seven colour samples from organic, inorganic, and carbonized pigments.
Composed of creaturely colours from those entangled in the Railpath’s multispecies ecology, dozens of drupes were painted in the studio on watercolour paper, like field studies from memory to become integrated into the installation.
Using an unlikely palette made from the remains of invasive, introduced, and native species, I resurrected the Railpath grove and its graffiti backdrop in the gallery. The stag’s horns of the sumac protect and seduce us. Their chlorophyll ink leaves
Image by Toni Hafkenscheid
“Among the Drupes (Elegy for a Wasteland)” is an exhibition about grief and renewal. Horticulturalist Lynn Short and I went guerilla gardening, and transported 21 saplings from the contaminated earth of the Railpath to the protected grounds of the V
Four plots of staghorn sumac saplings were transplanted from the contaminated soils of the West Toronto Railpath to the grounds of the Varley Art Gallery of Markham. A clonal plant, the sumac produces genetically-identical saplings based on a rhizom
The graffiti featured throughout the Railpath are the aesthetic kin of the wayward species flourishing along the trail.
Iconography from the graffiti Railpath gallery were painted into a multi-perspective arrangement to provide a psychic space akin to wandering among the margins of the path.
Varley, F.H. Flower of the Staghorn Sumach . n.d. Charcoal on paper. 25.0cm x 9.4cm. Collection of the Varley Art Gallery of Markham.
Four works featuring staghorn sumac by Frederick Varley, recently acquired by the Varley Art Gallery of Markham, have been integrated into the multispecies ecology of the Railpath through the installation of framed works and image re-creations paint
Sketch by F.H. Varley (right) integrated into the installation.
Within the mural’s expanse, tiny moments were interspersed including taxonomical referents and insect/gastropod specimens.
Image by Toni Hafkenscheid
Image by Toni Hafkenscheid
Rhizomal root structures are depicted here in yellow ochre pigments as an acknowledgement of how the sumacs proliferate laterally, enriched in pigmented soils found within the site’s post-industrial earth.
24.jpg
23.jpg
The surviving saplings on the gallery grounds are situated in four plots near Toogood Pond in Markham. I acknowledge the kindness and support from employees of the Varley Art Gallery of Markham and the City of Markham grounds staff who have cared fo
prev / next