Hibernators

The piece resulted through collaboration with various individuals from the Parks Board, the Stanley Park Ecology Society, and the Vancouver Aquarium. An enclosed concrete environment, the site was formerly part of the Stanley Park Zoo til the early 1990’s. But park visitors today still pause to lean against the railing, hopeful of something to see.

BioNet is a biodegradable erosion control matting used in the massive Prospect Point reconstruction. I worked with it to create a series of amorphous shapes that were subsequently stuffed with wood chips. The forms, entitled Hibernators, were quite malleable and capable of assuming lifelike and emotive postures.

In a parallel process to the restoration of Stanley Park, Hibernators is intended to revitalize the zoo through an intervention that draws attention to its potential as a viewing stage or theatre. The forms interact with each other and the site in a drama that is subject to the viewer’s interpretation.

The bear is one of the last true symbols of the primal, natural world, and many ecologists believe that how humans respond and protect their lands and their future will be the most honest depiction of how serious we are about preservation of our environment and the natural resources within it.

These images document Hibernators over a two year period to follow the biodegrading process.