A Scene of Jouissance, 2019, explores myriad and layered experiences to colonialized, classed and consumer leisure spaces. Utilizing the ornamental and ordered aesthetics of the jardin à la française; a style of garden popular in the 17th century, based on symmetry and the principle of imposing order over nature. This horticultural tradition provides a generous metaphoric framework to continue my artistic inquiry into performed and consumed privilege and power.

I have been reflecting on the privilege to travel, and who and what is displaced or unseen to create the conditions of pleasure in experience. The garden is sublime, a vestige of ceremony, of outward representation, a space of taming, of cultivation; the garden is a backdrop; the garden is gendered; the garden is colonized. I am particularly drawn to exploring the jardin à la française for its historical use outdoor theatre the upper classes, and now a tourist site largely for the consumer class. The works will be constructed from personal memories, touristic and historical references of examples of jardin à la française.

Installed at Ministry of Casual Living, Victoria, British Columbia, 2019