As a taxonomic category, weeds are not an actual species of plant, but a behaviour of appearing and thriving in a place where they are unwanted. Do Weeds Still Grow in Heaven? feature the kinship of weeds with racialized queerness/transness, viewed with hostility as undesirable or unorganizable excess. The allusion to ‘heaven’ emerges from this common tactic of hinging hope on a queer utopia, in conjunction with the popular use of Belinda Carlisle’s 1987 song Heaven is a Place on Earth as a sapphic anthem. The exhibition then looks inwards: seeing weeds as the experience of abuse in queer relationships, a subject often cast aside in the narrow celebratory refrain of queer love–a flawed but strategic way of advocating for belonging. Through embroidered text on fabric prints and installation structures reminiscent of undomesticated interiors, the space becomes a tentatively hospitable container for disparate kinds of weeds to crop up.
An essay about this body of work was written by Casey Mecija. It was also translated into French by Catherine Barnabé.
This exhibition takes place at Gallery 101 (Ottawa) from November 9 to December 14, 2024. It continues at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery (Lethbridge) from January 25 to April 12, 2025. Some artwork was included in group exhibitions The Traces that Remain at MAI (Montreal), measured by hand at Artspeak (Vancouver), and indiscernible thresholds, escaped veillances at the University of Toronto Art Museum.
I would like to thank the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, The Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council in the making of this work.
