Ebb and Flow, 2024, watercolour, coloured pencil, and charcoal, 61 by 71 inches
Ebb and Flow took place from January to April 2024, which is a time when most species in British Columbia are either dormant or going through stages of decay. Nature can easily be aestheticized. I will not deny the beauty of nature; however, along this train of thought dying and decaying species are overlooked and forgotten about as they do not fit into the ‘aesthetic’. In Ebb and Flow, I chose to focus on plants that tend to be overlooked, specifically drawing attention to physical changes that can occur to different species right before they die.
Death within forests is inevitable. Trees like the western hemlock are consumed by fungi. The Berries and leaves of Armenian blackberries rot. Western sword ferns shrivel up; However, this is not a bad thing. For the forest to thrive, there must be a balance between life and death. Yes, western sword ferns will die, but come spring new green shoots will bud and begin to grow once more. The rotten berries may end up nourishing the forest soil and their stems will bloom with fresh berries once more closer to the summertime. The western hemlock that rotted and died may end up becoming a nurse log, sustaining even more new life. In this work I wanted to capture both the ‘death’ and the ‘life’ this forest possesses.
Ebb and Flow includes approximately 30 different plant species found within my local forest between the months of January and April. Each plant is identified and written about in an accompanying field guide.