Installations in Natural Spaces by Tania Willard
#BUSH, land marking spray paint on land
Our featured artist today is Tania Willard. Tania works in various media and also has a notable curatorial practice. Her works explore First Nations identity, recently using installations in natural spaces to address critical issues.
Simluations, acrylic and chalk on printed cotton fabric
Tania’s ongoing collaborative work Bush Gallery explores an outdoor space through the lens of media tropes that seem to express “settler’s guilt.” Many of the installations reference the aesthetics of industry and construction, with neon surveyor’s tape wrapped around antlers, or bright orange spray paint applied directly to the ground. The result is jarring and critical, with an almost-humorous edge.
The artist has also worked with the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation to bring a natural intervention to Stanley Park, in which a braid of natural materials and fabric was hung on a cedar tree and left to the elements. Tania has held a number of artistic and curatorial residencies in BC, and is currently Curator in Residence at the Kamloops Art Gallery.
