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Old Cemetery.  Private Collection
Old Cemetery. Private Collection
Oil on canvas
60 x 72 inches
2018

For thousands of years the Lekwungan First Nation here, in what is now called Victoria, BC Canada cultivated this site. With prescribed burning, the Lekwungan would open up the meadows to grow camas, a staple in the local diet and also to attract game closer to home. This place is also the site where the Lekwungan interred their dead, which is marked by cairns throughout the park - many of which were disturbed or looted by early colonials to the region. For years, I worked here too, removing invasive species in an effort of habitat restoration. The 'natural' state of this place has always included human activity - humans are nature.