Josh Jensen

Forage, 2019-2020. Montreal, Quebec

RESIDUE II - Concordia Photography Collective

From the warmth that lingers after an encounter, to the microplastics in our saltshakers that were once a part of something greater, to the stickiness that anchors you to a significant other, RESIDUE is the human imprint left as we navigate our surroundings. It is our relationship with nature as well as with each other.

A heavy bombardment of selfishness, greed, desire, or yearning remains in the tools we use to create, leaving traces of identification, sometimes begging to be remembered. Other times, like the markings on a bullet that signify the owner of the violence inflicted, they beg to be anonymous.

RESIDUE calls for art to be reflexive, and generates statements about our contemporary image-making practice. It portrays work that reflects upon the inseparable bonds we have with our environment. It is about the “us” and how that remains as we leave and receive our mark.

Forage is the result of personal exploration within the foraging of mushrooms. Foraging and the act of searching sparked an interest in me; I began to look down more, pay attention to vegetation and where I was. Forage presents aspects of process in searching. The project consists largely of the use of the spore print, which is typically used indexically as an identification method. The spore print is a powder deposit of spores which falls on a surface from the fungal fruiting body. In “Forage” I utilize this print and use the technological process of scanning and enlarging to exemplify details.

What is Nature?

Curated by Max Poelzer & Jacqueline Addison

What is Nature? presents artworks that reveal the plurality of cultural and personal conceptions of the environment. Through photography, painting, dance, and spatial installations, the artists consider their own relationship with nature from diverse practices and experiences. Nature becomes both the subject of contemplation and the material foundation of the artworks. Through engagement between art and nature the exhibition seeks to dismantle the Western dichotomy between people and the environment. By presenting alternative perspectives to the persistent myth, What is Nature? invites viewers to reflect on how they have conceived of the notion of nature in the past and to participate in proposing new ways to represent nature and communicate about environmental issues.

What is Nature? was cancelled due to the early lock downs of COVID 19.