Mended Leaves

The Mended Leaves series (2020-ongoing) was initiated through my experience of being a primary caregiver during the COVID-19 pandemic.  This body of work developed as I circled close to home, walking through my neighbourhood as a way to reclaim public space during the lockdowns. To provide balance and structure during school closures, I tasked my children with the exercise of restoring and reimagining found botanicals. Their engagement was fleeting, but I found the act captivating. I collected petals and leaves and upon returning home these tokens were pressed in books or laid out for immediate intervention. Using on-hand supplies, I began exploring ways to transform the foliage through repairing tears, matching and re-imagining colours and photographing the results. These instinctual and meditative explorations gave me time to reflect on being a mother during a period filled with unease.

I have developed this series, expanding my reflections into current events and encounters. My early photographs in this series showed the plant interventions floating in a clinical white field, a reflection of the experience of isolation and a need for control in the middle of an unknowable situation. As I have expanded these hybrid botanicals through new mending styles and materials, I have incorporated background environments that reference domestic and natural space. The photographs are holders of my unpacked thoughts on responsibility and remembrance, intertwining my interest in daily rituals, caregiving, and the process of repair and renewal.