Forest Fire Regrowth

Forest Fire: Regrowth is an art experience without goals or objectives. It is a digital work that lets you step inside a hand-painted landscape and look at the natural cycle of regrowth after a forest fire in an Ontario forest.

This is a roomscale experience, you stand in the centre and physically walk around the world, no controllers needed. Every two minutes, the scene will change, moving from the burnt ashes of the fire to the sprouting of seedlings, transitioning into a lush regrown meadow in the third scene. From there, the cycle will restart.

The initial idea for this work came out of the record-breaking forest fires across Canada in the summer of 2023. Over the course of my research for the work, I learned that forest fires are an important part of the natural cycle that has been exacerbated by global warming and a forest management regime that prevents the natural fire cycle. All of the plants and animals depicted in the work are native to Ontario and grow in areas that have recovered from forest fires.

300 individual paintings, made by hand on paper over one year, make up everything you see inside.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.