T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss and Anne Riley, Sunset at Mount Trashmore Park, 2022
Butterfly Garden by the late artist, Mike MacDonald (Mi’kmaw) is an artwork in Banff Centre’s permanent collection composed of plants intended to nourish the health of butterflies that has inspired collaborative works by T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss (Skwxwu7mesh, Sto:lo, Hawaiian, Swiss) and Anne Riley (Dene, Fort Nelson First Nation); and the curatorial research and work of Lisa Myers (Anishinaabe, Beausoleil First Nation). In this talk, they will each speak to the intersection of their practice with that of the late artist, as well as on the varied forms these works and exhibitions have taken: ranging from an interactive website documenting existing and replanted gardens by MacDonald alongside new gardens inspired by his work; to a sound work on cassette tape by Wyss and Riley titled Soundtrack for the Radical Love of Butterflies (2018); and on the travelling group exhibition, Powerful Glow (2022-2023) curated by Myers that included work by Wyss and Riley. The talk will be followed by a live sonification of plants within the Butterfly Garden by Wyss using a synthesizer. The recorded event will later be released by Banff Centre for online streaming.
Walter Phillips Gallery would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Government of Canada, and Government of Alberta.