Wildlife Count by Debbie O'Rourke: Humber Bay Park East, Toronto

Grand Marsh Area with Canada geese, ducks and cormorants, Humber Bay Park May, 2002: color slide

I develop artworks that commemorate the many kinds of wildlife one could observe in any piece of land: from a city garden to a deserted lot to a recovering beach-front. In spring of 2002, the Waterfront Trail Artists gave me my first opportunity to try out this idea. Rochelle Holt curated me into their on-site art exhibition Breathwork in the former city of Etobicoke, now a neighbourhood in Metropolitan Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
May 6: During a brief break in the stormy spring weather I dashed to the site. On my way into the park, I passed a tree that was recently toppled by beaver- still budding green. Turtles sunned on a log in the collosal storm-water fitration ponds. Further on, construction landfill was placed in such a way as to foster the formation of a shallow wetland: a "grand marsh". Territorial disputes, fishing, nesting, sunning, resting, courtship: the abundance in this recovering eco-system is intoxicating.

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