Alana Westwood and Olive-Sided Flycatcher

Description

“Voices for the Wild” honours female land defenders and environmentalists from across Canada. I pose the women with animals from the impacted area in the landscapes they are trying to protect. I wish to convey these narratives by highlighting women who work from all parts of our country. Scientists, authors, professors, musicians and activists, all working on environmental issues, focused on a variety of nature systems. My subjects range in age from their teens through their 90s. They are on the ground doing this important work, giving voice to the wild. I am in the studio giving voice to them. This is my contribution.

I am preoccupied by the fragility and impermanence of our ecosystem, and these challenges are a driving force behind these artworks. I want to show that these landscapes are rich and full of life, and not just resources to plunder. Nature is my main source of motivation, but I am also inspired by the beauty and strength of women and animals. I am moved by the respectful attitude to the environment found in Indigenous mythology and culture. I feel a very strong connection to the animals and plants I observe on my woodland walks.

I have been experimenting with embroidery and beading my canvases, with the goal of combining traditional women’s craft domains with media more historically considered masculine. In addition to drawing and painting, I employ other media materials including metallic foils, collage, fabric, acrylic, oils sticks, oil pastels and markers.

I interview my subjects to determine the appropriate setting, animals, flora, and fauna that will best represent their work. I draw references from my own sketches and photographs. I use resources such as local photographers (who give me permission to reference their work). Using foraged wood branches as hanging structures for my work, plant dyes and found natural objects in my work connects my art to the natural world.

The destruction of our environment and climate change are essential issues and one of my goals is to use my art to raise awareness about these topics. I see this installation as a magnet to draw more people to art.

I also hope this collection will touch young audiences who are very open to learning about and passionate about preserving and protecting our ecosystems. I hope they will see that art is a form of communication, and a very powerful, immediate one at that.

I want my viewers to be engaged, inspired and excited about the various wild environments, ecosystems and animals. I want viewers to feel motivated to get involved. I want them to look up the women’s foundations and websites, and to volunteer. Touching people viscerally through my work is a career goal and part of my life’s work.

I want to acknowledge my positionality and paradigm in this project. I am not interpreting someone else’s story for them, but I aim to interpret it WITH them. I particularly chose to portray only women because I believe we have often been left out of the conversation about the future of our wild places in Canada. I feel that whereas women I know often want to nurture and protect, those in power are thinking about short-term profitability versus the long-term impacts on nature. Women in our male-centric society are starting to make inroads, and I want to highlight both their successes and challenges.