BLOOD, WATER & BATHURST STREET

BLOOD, WATER & BATHURST STREET is about navigating an active relationship to land, place, and community through textiles. This project began with exploring my family’s multi-generational history here in this place now known as Toronto, and the broader Jewish community that has grown here. Beyond blood relations, I have sought to establish further connection and understanding of/with the lands and waters that have shaped these territories. Many Indigenous Peoples have dwelled, gathered, and journeyed through these lands for millennia, yet their stories and ongoing presence have been largely erased from public memory here in the city. The Map, made of an 18-metre-long scroll of wool fabric, encompasses Bathurst Street and its geographic surroundings, from the current shore line of Niigani-Gichigami (Lake Ontario) up to Steeles Avenue (the City of Toronto’s northern boundary). It is unequal parts of my family tree, topographic exploration, historical survey, storybook, and material research. The exhibition Chapter One: A Map is Born, on from March 8-12th, 2023, will serve as the Map’s introduction to the public, where folks will be invited to contribute their own narratives and knowledge, expressed through a variety of materials.