Global Nature: Tree Planting’s Tribes
Lorraine Gilbert Shaping the New Forest 1990 Detail Courtesy National Gallery of Canada
Organized and toured by the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography in Ottawa, “Global Nature” brings the work of photographers Sarah Anne Johnson and Lorraine Gilbert to the mountain town of Kamloops. The two artists (based in Winnipeg and Ottawa respectively) share an approach to photography that emphasizes the symbiotic, complicated and often precarious relationship between our natural environment and ourselves. Interestingly, both have also done major projects on tree planting and tree planter culture—a subject that’s likely to gain critical mass in Canada this fall with the release of Charlotte Gill’s much-anticipated memoir Eating Dirt.
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Sarah Anne Johnson Nadine 2003 Courtesy Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography © Sarah Anne Johnson |
In any case, whether tree planting becomes a trending topic or not, both Johnson and Gilbert are represented in Kamloops by their perennially compelling major works on the theme: Johnson’s Tree Planting, a 2003 installation that melds on-the-ground images and later-contructed ones, and Gilbert’s Shaping the New Forest, a 17-year documentary study of BC planters observed between 1987 and 2004. Also included are two works that probe ideas of community and environment in other settings—Johnson’s Galapagos Project, focusing on volunteers attempting to rid Darwin’s famed islands of non-indigenous species, and Gilbert’s Icelandic Walks, where Photoshop’s loose ends are allowed to dangle into a Gore-Texed group trek across a Nordic landscape.
Given that Kamloops’ surroundings are dotted with a mix of wilderness parks and forestry operations, the exhibition is worth a local look before it closes September 3.
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