the flowers and their friends

on Friday, Oct 10 from 4-7pm, artist Abby Maxwell and I hosted the flowers and their friends: queer dyeing forum , a queer and trans gathering around the practice of natural dyeing, in celebration and commemoration of the garden space we tended to throughout the 2025 growing season and beyond, as it/we entered the phase of decay and slumber, and as we continously grapple with being and making in times of collapse at scales both intimate and broad–and, as the title signals, times situated between revolutions.

drawing on the work of Larry Mitchell and Ned Asta, in the midst of revolution, we sought to extend the ethics grown within queer and trans communities to the garden and its surrounding ecologies.

we provided a framework and materials for collective creation: participants were invited to bring cherished written excerpts, treats, or other salves for the times

(with support from the Canada Council of the Arts.

text written by Abby)