In 2017, I brought myself and my two furry companions to a farm I purchased in Southern Ontario. There, through exploration and attunement, I witnessed the multispecies land relations unfolding on the site. The farm became a research site informing my doctoral work, allowing me to observe and experience scientifically, theoretically, materially, and through embodied encounters, the ecological connections within the land community—between plants, people, soil, and other animals. I discovered that the land and its inhabitants carry memories and histories of their entanglements with humans, particularly through industrial agriculture shaped by the Capitalocene, perpetuating what Rob Nixon describes as forms of “slow violence.” I also encountered histories and communities of care: individuals and groups working to protect and sustain a refugia of biodiversity. Historic acts of care persist in the material bodies of those who were cared for, offering examples of how we might help heal and restore plant and animal communities.

As an artist listening to the land through visual arts–based research, I give visual form to too often occluded connections. The works are composed as portraits—much like my previous pieces—of individuals I have met. Materially, academic theory informing the work alongside the environment shaping the lives of the subjects are integrated into the composition itself. Here, the subject is defined by material content on which they depend and a theoretical context that helps inform a more considered response for their lives.