In the context of Gairloch Gardens, London, Ontario, artist Ron Benner will create a garden installation, Trans/mission: African Vectors. Its shape suggests a Portuguese caravel, a small, light sailing ship used in the 15th and 16th centuries. Benner's work was inspired by five years of research, during which he travelled to major geographical landing points of European colonial expansion. The initial vector of this research was the path of ubiquitous "discoverer" Columbus, but of far greater significance were the Portuguese explorers, such as Cabral, who sailed from Portugal to India via Brazil and Africa in 1500 A.D. Following the discoverers' trails, Benner examined the adoption and "naturalization" of imported plant and animal species, and the subsequent transformation of the host environments, both biologically and culturally, with respect to the remnants of colonial enterprises.
Compelling and provocative, Benner's examinations of colonialism, representational practices and industrialization are difficult to forget. Benner says, "I make art to change people's minds. My work is about ways of thinking about the world – about European and North American ways of thinking in particular, but not exclusively – ways of thinking that converge and impinge upon other people's ways, and cause damage. I'm concerned with how cultures think and behave." Trans/mission: African Vectors will incorporate black and white photographic panels from such countries as Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. These photos, combined with plantings, will produce a garden that tells the story of language, cultural dominations, trade routes and the agricultural interests of indigenous cultures. Viewers will be enticed to make multiple visits to this garden installation as it transforms over the spring, summer and fall seasons.
