rainbow-jordan (2024-2025)
The Rainbow-Jordan Wilderness is one of the few remaining stands of old-growth inland temperate rainforest in British Columbia. It is in the unceded territory of the Sn̓ʕaýckstx (Sinixt/Arrow Lakes), Secwepémc, Syilx Okanagan and Ktunaxa Nations. It is located 35 kilometers north of Revelstoke on the west side of Lake Revelstoke, extending south to the headwaters of the Jordan River. The wilderness area is largely undisturbed by roads, trails, or anthropogenic development of any kind, and receives only occasional visitation by biologists and conservation groups via boat access. The Rainbow-Jordan is extremely high in biodiversity, particularly of lichens and fungi and is considered a biological safehold by scientists.
In fall 2024 a cross-sectoral group of artists and scientists will work together to visit, learn about, respond to, and advocate for this endangered and unprotected wilderness. Our intention is to inventory this unique, imperilled and largely unseen habitat, with a shared goal of amplifying the arguments for its conservation and producing a unique body of multidisciplinary contemporary art. Our group came together bolstered by a belief that artist/environmental scientist relationships can be deeply symbiotic, and that transdisciplinary collaboration is key to systemic change across fields of practice.
Our Art & Ecology Working Group is grateful to the Canada Council for the Arts for supporting stage one of this project.
Image credit: Amber Peters