Millie CHEN

Living in a forest in the Niagara Peninsula, I’m humbled by the realization that this land doesn’t belong to us. It was inhabited well before we came along, continues to be deeply occupied by non-human life, and will continue to be so after we depart. In my effort to express this awe-inspiring environment, I photographed three vertical landscapes centred on oak trees, including the elder on this patch of land we call home. I planted my feet on the earth and documented what surrounds me, arching my perspective from forest floor to canopy. Each vertical is grounded by the footwear of women who have passed through this region, including me; a glimpse of the fleeting human history that permeates this geography alters our reading of the landscape.

Acknowledgements:
I would like to acknowledge that the land depicted in these photographs is the traditional territory of the Neutral and Haudenosaunee Peoples. Thank you to Warren Quigley for teaching me about trees and many things flora and fauna over the past twenty years living together in a Carolinian forest.