Leila Armstrong | Backyard Wilderness: Burrows & Bungalows

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Leila Armstrong, “Raccoon: Burrows & Bungalows (installation detail, Casa, Lethbridge, Alberta),” 2021

(photo by Angeline Simon) (courtesy of the gallery)

Opening Reception: September 6th, 5-8:30 pm

Backyard Wilderness: Burrows & Bungalows, an exhibition by Leila Armstrong, explores the disconnect between people’s everyday lived experience and their conception of nature as something external and removed. Through these works, Armstrong aims to increase awareness of, and the need for, engagement with urban ecologies as spaces in which humans and other species must live and thrive together.

“I worry there is a disconnect between people’s everyday lived experience and their conception of nature as something external and removed. This leads to a concern that we will have no inclination for protecting the biodiversity with which we engage every day.

Given that 81% of Canadians reside in urban centres (Statistics Canada), it is important to understand how city dwellers define and interact with urban wildlife and wilderness. My aim is to challenge people to rethink their conception of nature as detached from our daily lives.

One of the intended outcomes of my research is to increase awareness of, and the need for, engagement with urban ecologies as spaces in which humans and other species must live and thrive together.” – Leila Armstrong, Artist