Gallery 115, University of Ottawa
November 24 – December 7, 2023

Participating Artists:
Yekta Çetinkaya, Saanya Chopra, Sophie El-Assaad, Kai Holub, Sarah Hughes, Lou Koch, Marguerite Morin, Susan June Robertson-Baranick, Kalli Vath, Annika Walsh

“Planted a selection of old roses…Rosa mundi, rose of the world.”
-Derek Jarman, January, 1991

Planting Roses in January was developed as part of the University of Ottawa’s Curating for Contemporary Art course, under the mentorship of Professor Celina Jeffery.

Inspired by Derek Jarman's diaries recorded in Modern Nature (1991), Planting Roses in January is an exhibition that transcends cartography to cultivate a profound sense of belonging between humans and the earth. The exhibition transplants the natural world into the gallery space, questioning forms of connection between humans and ecological processes. In doing so, it extends Jarman’s explorations of the garden by evoking past and possible futures in a time of existential ecological crisis.

Planting Roses in January encourages dialogue and reflection through the lenses of cultural identity, eco-feminism, and queer ecologies. The artists explore how the garden functions as a site for deconstructing colonial histories, challenging cis-heteronormative hierarchies, and transforming urbanized environments. Together, they highlight mutually dependent and continual cycles of growth and disintegration

Installation images courtesy of Saanya Chopra, Tia Carey, Madeleine Merit, Margeurite Morin