Plant Walk with T’uy’tanat, Cease Wyss

Thursday, June 16th, 11am – 3pm
Please join us for an afternoon as we immerse ourselves in Stanley Park plant life with knowledge keeper and interdisciplinary artist, Cease Wyss.

The urban environment is rich with plants. By learning about plant life and their traditional and medicinal uses, Indigenous knowledge becomes a way to remap the city. Cease leads this interactive walk through Stanley Park: “Everywhere I go in the city I find plant life. I find it growing up through the cracks of the sidewalks. I see it growing out of the sides of buildings. I see it in the community gardens. The language of plants is extensive. It carries on even beyond our abilities as humans to even imagine, because they are the second oldest beings on the planet.

They are our teachers. They tell us what they are good for. They tell us in their shapes, they tell us in their colours and in their textures. You become more insightful about your bodies when you learn more about the medicines growing around you.”

We will leave promptly from Gallery Gachet at 11am and travel together by bus. Lunch and fare will be provided. Space is limited to 25 participants. If you have needs related to access and mobility please feel free to let us know in advance at programming@gachet.org, 608 ­687­ 2468 or in person at Gallery Gachet during open hours.

Cease Wyss T’Uy’Tanat is a Skwxw’u7mesh ethnobotanist, media artist, educator, food security activist and “Indigenous Plant Diva”, She is a hip, urban Aboriginal single mother, video artist and community leader. She shares her traditional knowledge of plants that can be found throughout the streets and everyday spaces of Vancouver, reminding us that the medicines are all around us in our urbanized environments.

This event is held in conjunction with an upcoming exhibition, opening August 5th and running to August 28th. Using traditional plants as a starting point to think about and through community health, this ongoing project investigates Indigenous medicines and other forms of earth­based and non­Western knowledge and healing. Over the summer Wiisaakodewini (Métis) artist, Dylan Miner, will work with community members in the Downtown Eastside as part of this socially-engaged project and resulting exhibition.