In the second exhibition in the Asterisms series, artists Jaeden Blewett and Germaine Koh collaborate with the slow accumulation of natural forces as they intersect with local culture. For their exhibition Terroir, the artists installed three flagpoles at a crossroads of pathways in Lethbridge’s Oldman River Valley, placing them on either corner of the intersection, while an existing tree serves as a fourth marker that anchors the work within the surrounding landscape.

Attached to the poles are flags woven from the grasses and plants gathered in the river valley, entwined with yarns pulled from thrifted sweaters that colour and strengthen the flags. Combining local, natural fibres with repurposed yarn, the flags wave in the southern Alberta wind as hybrid symbols of the natural and human forces shaping their surroundings.

Terroir refers to an environment's unique combination of sunlight, wind, water, and soil that alters how life grows in an ecosystem. Southern Alberta’s exceptionally sunny days, Chinook winds, and semi-arid terrain, affect how plants used in the flags such as Yarrow, Blue Grama Grass, and Showy Milkweed have developed particular characteristics from growing in this environment. Once processed into weavings and displayed outdoors, these plants become an evolving record of the ecological forces present during the exhibition as they dry out, become bleached by the sun, and blow away. The same environmental characteristics of the Oldman River Valley that cultivated these plants will return them to the ground they grew from.

Studio assistance by Max Wu.

Curated by: Adam Whitford, Curator & Exhibitions Manager
Lead Preparator: Arianna Richardson

Thank you to the City of Lethbridge, Parks & Cemeteries for their assistance with the exhibition.

​

Courtesy of The Southern Alberta Art Gallery Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin acknowledges the support of the City of Lethbridge, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.