Backyard Florilegium

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Ernest Lindner (Canadian (born in Austria), 1897–1988), “Skeleton of the Forest,” 1966

watercolour on paper. 75.9 x 56.1 cm (Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Acquired with the assistance of the Canada Council, G-69-27) (Photo: Ernest Mayer)

Backyard Florilegium approaches WAG-Qaumajuq’s permanent collection with an eye towards revealing its otherwise hidden colonial history. This exhibition challenges the romanticized history of florilegia and its Western tendency to extract components of a culture or environment that doesn’t belong to it. Instead, the focus is on the localized creative context, featuring common species seen in artists’ own backyards and neighborhoods.

Together, the artworks in this gallery disrupt the exoticization of flowers, plants, and floral imagery—an idea that is often tied to ‘Orientalism’, ‘appropriation’, and other colonial ideologies.