Message/ Concept/ Ideation
I want to convey the idea of existing in an interdependent world- either between species of plants and animals or within a species.
Living in Cumberland, I am very interested in how the community exists and interacts. A lot of connections are made through music- live events or jamming together- sports and outdoor activities like hiking, mountain biking, lake swimming. There are writers and artists who gather and exhibit their work. Many of us get our inspiration and energy from the forest and mountains around us. It’s a village with a lot of young families, as well as elders and those in between. It’s also welcoming and inclusive to the queer community- with regular gatherings and events at the Weird Church, for example. We also have a food bank that serves anyone in need of sustenance.
I’m interested how we all blend or weave together to make a cohesive whole- not perfect but beautiful and supportive. People of all ages, with diverse skills and qualities creating a whole that is welcoming to old friends and newcomers alike.
My idea of interdependent species is around the ecosystem of a salmon or trout stream on Vancouver Island. Fish are born in the creek and make their way to the lake. People help with this when the creek dries up- they rescue baby fish and take them to the lake. Eventually the salmon will make their way to the ocean and travel the seas for years and many miles before returning to the very place they began their journey. Some of the salmon will be caught by humans for food. Some will be eaten by bears and their remains will fertilize the trees- keeping the forest healthy. The salmon that make it home will lay their eggs and fertilize them and then die. Their rotting bodies will provide nutrients for their eggs to thrive. Humans help in this process by bringing in gravel to areas that have been degraded by past human activity (industrial- eg logging). Hatcheries also help to keep salmon stocks healthy, although it would be great to have no need of these interventions.
Rewilding projects such as Kus-Kus-Sum in K’omoks and Raven Park (Baikie Island) in Campbell River will benefit salmon enormously- returning land to it’s pre-industrail state.
3 Ideas
Firstly I am wondering about making overlapping prints to show the process of the Kus-Kus-Sum rewilding project. I would need to research this as I don’t have my own photographs to use as reference points.
I might do overlayered mono-prints or I may also do some screen printing and create the layers/matrices by drawing or a combination thereof. It will be a large piece of paper- I have yet to decide the type and specific dimensions.
A very large paper would allow me to offset some of the layers to give a ghost like effect. I would also use different opacities of ink to suggest the fading and passing of time. I’m not sure of colours but I envision the original layer of what the area looked like pre-colonisation might be in red or brownish red. The industrial layer might be dark grey. The derelict layer a pale grey and the newly rewilded ares in a green or greenish blue.
I also have the idea of incorporating fragments of a poem I have written in pen and ink.
I have researched the project as a whole- reading the following articles.
https://komoksfestival.com/highlights1/kus-kus-sum
https://comoxvalleyrecord.com/2026/01/22/kus-kus-sum-project-reaches-major-milestone-with-retaining-wall-removal/: FIN 211 Unit 3I also followed the progress with my lived experience of driving by the village site over the last few years and watching the progress. I remember feeling a visceral sense of relief the day I drove by and all the metal pilings were gone (besides the necessary reinforcing ones by the bridge). I felt that the lans and the river were heaving a great sigh of relief. I came home and wrote a poem. This is what I have so far:
Kus-Kus-Sum
.
Kus-Kus-Sum heaves a great sigh
takes an ocean-deep breath
.
No longer hemmed in
no longer braced by steel
nor weighed down by concrete
.
She is free
free to return
to her natural state
~before industrial levels
of resource extraction
clipped her wings
~before the take, take
of newly arrived men
reshaped her banks
.
She is free to return
to mourn and honour
her K’omoks ancestors
laid to rest by the Pəntl’áč River
where life flows unending
where salmon have journeyed
back and forth for ever
.
Where Nootka roses once decorated the shore
where salmonberries ripened in June
and red flowering current in July
shaded by Willow, Alder and Douglas Fir
watched over by Queneesh
the great white whale
.
The way it was for millennia
the way it was meant to be
the way it will be once more
Kus-Kus-Sum
Kus-Kus-Sum
Kus-Kus-Sum
By Carys Owen
Another Idea is to tell the story of a Vancouver Island Salmon stream from egg to spawning salmon and the interdependence within the ecosystem with other species and the stream. I would create a circular work (cylindrical) that someone could walk around and get back to the beginning. I would use water from a local creek in part of the process.
I also have the idea of incorporating fragments of a poem I have written in pen and ink. This poem was written after visiting my local salmon stream and wondering when they would arrive…if they would arrive…they did and I was so grateful!
Salmon Odys-sea
We’re waiting by the river
every day this week
waiting to see you
swimming upstream
doing what you do best
turning philosophy on its head
as you refuse to go
with the flow
We wait in hallowed silence
to see your sacred entrance
and know the Anthropocene
elevates your arrival
to an odys-sea
as you battle with
storms
heat
drought
floods
and other harms
We’re waiting by the river
with a heartfelt apology
with reverence and gratitude
with a promise
to do better
With the hope that you
will never give up
By Carys Owen
A third idea is to convey the connections between community members of Cumberland and with their ecosystem. It could be a series of drawings presented in a folding book that can be viewed as separate pages and also opened out to be one big image.
I also have the idea of incorporating fragments of a poem I have written in pen and ink. This is a poem I wrote last year. I might write a new one about this year- I was so moved by some of the messages along the main street on Valentine’s Day- about being kind, caring for everyone, living a peaceful life etc
Cynical
.
It’s Valentine’s Day in Cumberland
and hearts pop up around town
~ in child-like script ‘I luv my Mom’
scribed for a tot ‘I love my dog’
written by an elder ‘Love to all’~
.
And my visitor ponders
‘Am I too cynical for Cumberland?’
.
They have been stickering
‘Abolish the monarchy’ and have
a hundred and one vital causes they support
they want to rail and know others
get it too…and truly I do
.
I sit with these words as a singleton
who receives sparse messages of love
and know that I was moved by the
telegraph pole valentines-
that fed my soul, that filled me up
democratizing who receives an ‘I love you’
.
It feels like fortifying the soil
before planting the seeds
this kindness readies me to go out
in the world, to build community
to speak of the things that matter
to create safe spaces
to make a better world
from the ground up
.
By Carys Owen