Overview

HERBARIA × PELICULA: Field Portfolio is the single channel version of a multichannel installation which examines the work taking place at the HAM Herbarium at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario. The Herbarium is located along the edges of the Cootes Paradise wetland on the traditional territory of the Mississauga and Haudenosaunee peoples. Its collection comprises over 60,000 specimens from around the world, though it’s primarily composed of local vascular plant types gathered by members of the scientific community alongside educated hobbyists and amateur botanists. Combining documentary footage of the herbarium, code-generated database animations of digitized specimen sheets, and images of plantlife processed in plant material, the film positions the specific labour of botanical gathering and collection as an image-making practice, in addition to a mode of knowledge production.