LYLA RYE

While canoeing in Algonquin Park I identify certain trees as “Tom Thomson trees” revealing how much the Group of Seven and his paintings have influenced the way I view that landscape. Tom Thomson’s The West Wind (1916-17, in the collection of the AGO) has iconic status and encapsulates the symbolism and cultural significance of many of the group’s paintings. In it a lone pine tree stands heroically against the elements in a wild, pure and unpeopled landscape. This effectively erases the indigenous peoples, their deep history and the ongoing reality of logging in the park.

I digitally modelled the tree from that painting and imagined how it might exist in 3 dimensions. I projected the image across walls and floor to distort the image. Then, working wet on wet, I allowed the ink to respond to the laws of hydro physics. I thought of this as a rewilding of the digital image. I dislocated some sheets of the paper grid off the walls/floor. This complicated the act of perception, giving the viewer pause to recognize the source image and consider the impact of these iconic cultural images on our perception of the landscape.