Forage, Ignite Gallery Exhibition Essay

Drawing on the natural world to understand ourselves and others has long been many artists’ focus. Using making as a form of knowing and learning, artists have been exploring natural materials and mediums to achieve a sense of oneness with themselves and the world around them. By drawing on gathered, ecological materials, the artists in Forage consider topics such as interconnectedness, community, spirituality, and personal mythology by tapping into the abundance of the wild.

Stephanie Singh fosters a sense of responsibility to the world we live in by telling the stories of botanicals frozen in time, recalling memories and emotions to draw connections between them and us. Anam Feerasta uses transparent materials to make space for herself and women alike to create worlds within which they can explore and reclaim fragmented shards of their identity. Sophie Duarte collages clips and images of historical media to reveal the gestural dance Black women have been forced to perform, denouncing those tropes which cause emotional harm by reconsidering their historical roots. Sheldon Storey forages found materials, meticulously assembling installations that evoke both personal and universal topics of community, otherness, fragility, and wonder. Leeay Aikawa imagines their earth-based practice as an archetypal language that bridges race, culture, class, age and gender in the face of an increasingly divisive time.

Each artist brings to the gallery parts of themselves, magnified and observed through natural parallels. The work in Forage is inspired by the natural world, and yet recalls themes and topics which are products of our social structures, reminding us that each leaf, grain, and flower is as much a part of nature as it is a part of us.