variegata | Taiessa

Artist Statement

The collection and cultivation of rare plants is a centuries-old practice. Historically, colonial powers’ greenhouses served as grounds to exercise dominance over land and its resources. Throughout the course of European imperial expansion in the 17th and 18th centuries, plant species were transplanted from their native habitats with varying levels of success, and with varying levels of respect for local and Indigenous knowledge systems. Not only were they studied for their medicinal capabilities and other useful properties, but their collection and display became a symbol of status. In the ongoing series variegata, I am interested in examining the commercialization of plant collecting as tied to colonial extraction, continuing to serve as an accrual of social capital in contemporary times. variegata is a projection of the future windowsill, greenhouse, and plant nursery if current botanical trends of chlorophyll-less, chimeral variegation is prioritized and selected for in growing practices. The hand-made plants in this series, wryly displayed in glass vials designed for propagation, act as mementos. Much like the colonial and imperialist history of plant-collecting, this imagining relegates plant life to trophies to be amassed. Complicating this, however, is the methodology. Like living plants requiring investments of time and care to thrive, these sculptures have been made through laborious craft practices including appliqué, sewing, and felting. Calling on the work of Robin Wall Kimmerer, this display questions flora as capital rather than life ripe with histories and knowledges to be appreciated and learned from, and beckons for more equitable forms of exchange.

This project is supported by the Edmonton Arts Council and the City of Edmonton.

Artist Bio

Taiessa (she/her) is a white settler and multi-discipline artist living in amiskwaciwâskahikan, so-called Edmonton. Her artistic practice explores themes of nurturance, longing, exchange, and (im)permanence. Conceptually driven while rooted in process, she works primarily in printmaking and soft sculpture.

Taiessa obtained a Fine Art diploma with distinction from Grant MacEwan University in 2018, and later completed her BFA at the University of Alberta. In 2020, Taiessa participated in the Mitchell Art Gallery’s Artist Exchange pilot program. She has since expanded her engagement with local arts organizations through writing for Art From Here and SNAPLine, acting as Production Supervisor at The Works International Visual Arts Society, and is the 2022/23 Harcourt House Artist in Residence. Care and reflexivity motivate her artistic, writing, administrative, and pedagogical practices.

www.taiessa.com
@tai.the.girl