From Weeds We Grow
On September 17, 2022, I ventured North of Toronto to Panorama Park in Rexdale, Ontario where I assisted with one of the summer installments of From Weeds We Grow.
From Weeds We Grow explores the intersections of nature, art, and wellness to better build community. It is an interdisciplinary continual public art project that encourages exploration and conversation around public space and our environment. Completely up my alley joining the two things I love, public art and the great outdoors! I will say that this program is a testament to the importance of our relationships with nature and of accessible public spaces in communities. Post Covid I can’t express enough how imperative these spaces are now more than ever! I was able to join a medicinal walk with traditional indigenous teachings, a community showcase featuring local poetry storytellers with MC Zara Rahman and painting leaves to attach to a community art piece in the Art Hub.
I do not have a lot of exposure to the indigenous communities within Toronto, let alone Canada. I have a basic understanding. Getting the chance to hear and listen to the acknowledgment of the land we were standing on and walk through the area was eye-opening.
It was an experience that you couldn’t put a time constraint on. As we began to leave the park side street and walk through the trees Rob spoke on how “cement is suppressing the spirit of the land”.
I have never thought of that material in such a way. In college we used it for all sorts of projects. It's versatile, useful and quick. I mean in order to get the arches for Beyond the Rain secure and sturdy in the ground we mixed more bags than I can remember. But in the context of nature it really is suffocating. When it cracks the vegetation can try and struggle to grow through but inevitably will never reach its full potential.
My favorite words that he spoke during this medicinal walk were “there is history in the layers of the earth”. It is simple but so true. Not just the bones buried in the soil; dinosaurs, unmarked graves, wars, but the physical material itself has its own stories to tell.
It makes you think of each step we take what is in the land left untold or forgotten.
There is such a difference between reading a piece of paper that states this is stolen indigenous land we are on and taking the time to listen to the stories and history of the different nations, connecting and respecting where we come from.
*** Thank you as always for reading! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I love writing these. ***
