From the Other Side is the outcome of a collaboration with refugees from once-colonized countries who came to Canada. It comprises six delicate hand-made glass sculptures, suspended from the ceiling – materially and metaphorically linked to the fragile state of a displaced person – representing “non-native” plants. The plants (originally from the participants’ home country), initially brought into Canada because of their beauty, are now categorized as “alien and invasive” by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. They are among the plants that have gone wild, burst through asphalt and grow in alleys and roadsides.
The project explores the legacies of botanical exploration, plant-collecting and documentation inherited from colonial scientific expeditions, and includes in-depth fieldwork with refugees and immigrants from the region that stretches from Southwest Asia to North Africa, historically labelled as the “Orient.”
