Description: a series of interviews with artists, music, and field recordings about the relationship between wildflowers, plants, and water
this so-called reclaimed land has lain bone dry is a guided audio walk along Woscotonach River (Don River) and through Todmorden Mills Wildflower Preserve. The recordings layer conversations with artists Alize Zorlutuna, Petrina Ng, and Christina Battle, with field recordings and music by Matthew Cardinal. Together the conversations grapple with complex relationships between racialized settlerhood & land, heritage & mental health, and consider the limits of the preservation site and it's confrontation with
Marina: Hello, and thank you for joining me in this space, and going on this journey with me in “this so called reclaimed land has lain bone dry” the following collection of audio pieces and music are intended to accompany you on a series of walks, alongside woscotonach or the don river, and through the wildflower preserve near todmorden mills heritage site. To start, let’s settle into a seated position on the rocks or however you feel comfortable and let’s take a deep breath and settle in. Over the past
Historically we connect back to the institution of Parks Canada with the Banff Hot Springs, and untangle the Western legacy of institutionalizing parks to prioritize profit and extraction, coming up against seemingly opposite needs for access to water, baths and swimming for mental health. Physically, we meander along paths of ‘old’ river beds, and we imagine, embody, encounter and trace the commodification of wildflowers and plants such as the waterlily, and cattails that have grown submerged or floating