I have a piece in the Strange Creatures show opening April 6th at the James Black Gallery in Vancouver, B.C. This should be a fun show! "Strange Creatures will explore the identities and depictions of people and creatures on the fringes of history: those with associations with magic and witchcraft."

The piece I have included is a part of an ongoing study on the intersection of folkways, nature and representation. It uses the form of natural history illustration in juxtaposition with the grimoire to call attention to the varied intersecting relationships people have with the plant kingdom . Although plants are often viewed as a benign and purely decorative, their relationship with humans is tangled with politics, religious and spiritual beliefs, medicine, mythology, folkways, women’s rights, gender politics, and magic. Plant politics are inextricable from the witch trials, and though that might seem like a long and dark time ago, plant politics continue today. One need only to look to the regulation of plants (many long-revered in spiritual practices) and the incarnation of, by-and-large, already marginalized communities for their possession as evidence of its ongoing presence.

Come see the show! It's going to be magical.

P.S. That's my illustration in the gold frame.