https://soundcloud.com/rodmanhallartcentre-1/mary-anne-barkhouse-settlement; from website: In creating this new outdoor installation for Rodman Hall, Barkhouse examines issues of sovereignty and confederacy from an indigenous ecological vantage point. As an aboriginal woman, Barkhouse is mindful of the history of conflict imprinted on this region of Ontario, particularly during this bicentennial commemoration of the War of 1812. Many of the conflicts and alliances between First Nations and settling cultures that played out two hundred years ago are still unresolved today.
Settlement incorporates sculptural elements into an artist’s garden built in the shape of a frontier house (16 x 20 feet). Last spring, the artist planted a series of border gardens of indigenous plants including corn, squash, beans and quinoa. Situated in the interior spaces of the garden are life-size bronze sculptures of a coyote and a badger, alluding to the cooperative nature of the allies involved in the 1812 conflict. Badgers and coyotes are known to be cooperative hunters in their search for small burrowing animals in the wild. Barkhouse is interested in the contentious nature of territory as is relates to struggles over land, whether between humans, amongst animals or plants.