Please, Trespass

Please, Trespass is a simple, quiet installation consisting of two light boxes placed at the entrance of a public bridge, each displaying a large-scale photograph depicting “No Trespassing” signs in the forest. Evoking our instinctual malaise of being somewhere that we are not supposed to be, this imagery is intended to elicit thoughts of the environmental and social impacts of land-ownership. What does it mean when you are in the forest and are suddenly confronted with this type of abstract authoritarian presence? How can we impose restrictions on the space between trees? We are posed with a serious challenge in sustaining and protecting our land when almost 70% is privately owned in this province. Often the rights of landowners (to profit and exploit the natural resources of their land) are considered before the general well-being of the animals and ecosystems that inhabit these spaces, not to mention the historical and colonial baggage that is attached to the land claims themselves. Who really has the right to own nature? The light boxes forebodingly glow as they straddle either side of the entrance to this public walkway, imposing an invisible boundary. The image of the forest serves as a reminder of what this land once looked like prior to urbanization. With the title “Please, Trespass,” this installation invites viewers to cross that boundary and contemplate the reciprocity of their relationship to the land; to re-imagine a new perspective in protecting and sharing the land with everyone now and for generations to come.