Tara Nicholson: Cultivate

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Tara Nicholson Cultivate



tara nicholson Cultivate

Vernon Public Art Gallery October 19 - December 20, 2017

Vernon Public Art Gallery 3228 - 31st Avenue, Vernon BC, V1T 2H3 www.vernonpublicartgallery.com 250.545.3173


Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Vernon Public Art Gallery 3228 - 31st Avenue, Vernon, British Columbia, V1T 2H3, Canada October 19 - December 20, 2017 Production: Vernon Public Art Gallery Editor: Lubos Culen Layout and graphic design: Vernon Public Art Gallery Copy editing: Kelsie Balehowsky Cover image: Spray Suit (detail), 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 52 in Photography: Tara Nicholson Printing: Get Colour Copies, Vernon, British Columbia, Canada ISBN 978-1-927407-40-0 Copyright Š 2017, Vernon Public Art Gallery All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the Vernon Public Art Gallery. Requests for permission to use these images should be addressed in writing to the Vernon Public Art Gallery, 3228 31st Avenue, Vernon BC, V1T 2H3, Canada. Telephone: 250.545.3173 Facsimile: 250.545.9096 Website: www.vernonpublicartgallery.com The Vernon Public Art Gallery is a registered not-for-profit society. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee/RDNO, the Province of BC’s Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, British Columbia Arts Council, the Government of Canada, corporate donors, sponsors, general donations and memberships. Charitable Organization # 108113358RR.

This exhibition is sponsored in part by:


table of CONTENTS

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Executive Director’s Foreword · Dauna Kennedy

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Introduction · Lubos Culen

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Liminal Legalities · Toby Lawrence

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Images of Works in the Exhibition

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List of Works in the Exhibition

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Artist Biography

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Executive Director’s Foreword

Cannabis, a controversial topic in our country right now with the proposition of legalization in Canada just around the corner in 2018. The VPAG is pleased to present the work of Tara Nicholson which provides us with a glimpse into the hidden realm of grow ops. Nicholson’s exhibition Cultivate presents us with a view as seen through the lens of her camera. She ventures into both legal and illegal operations and provides us with a view rarely seen by the public. The work of Tara Nicholson is a welcome opportunity to explore and discuss the challenging topic of cannabis production. I’d like to thank Toby Lawrence, Curator of the Kelowna Art Gallery and writer for various artist catalogues and art publications for her contribution of an essay on this important subject matter. I’d also like to thank Lubos Culen, Curator for the VPAG for his work in presenting this important body of work and his introduction to this catalogue. It is our hope that through exhibitions such as this, the VPAG can provide the opportunities to challenge ourselves and create dialogue around topics that are relevant to our current society. Thank you to our funding partners, the Regional District of the North Okanagan, the BC Arts Council, and the Province of BC - gaming. It is through this support that we are able to produce quality programming for our community and create opportunities for artists to explore and present their work in the public realm. I hope you enjoy this exhibition. Sincerely, Dauna Kennedy Executive Director The Vernon Public Art Gallery

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introduction

Victoria-based Tara Nicholson’s latest body of large-scale photographs focus on the instigation of a dialogue regarding the nature of cannabis cultivation and its use in light of the proposed decriminalization of cannabis for recreational use by the federal government planned for July 2018. Nicholson sums up the premise of her current work in the exhibition stating that her photographs investigate the quickly changing landscape of cannabis grow operations within BC and their placement within rural and urban communities. Nicholson visited and photographed cannabis grow operations both licensed and unlicensed on Vancouver Island and the interior of BC in order to document the artificial environment created for the indoor cultivation of cannabis. The images capture various sites which were engineered to control the environment in which the plants are cultivated. Nicholson’s photographs document almost laboratory-like conditions where the exposure to light, amount of water, supply of nutrients, air flow and venting are precisely controlled. The interiors of grow ops are usually dense environments in order to maximize the production of cannabis within a small space. The cultivated plants are often surrounded with intense high-output grow lights connected with wiring throughout the grow spaces and the somewhat futuristic ambiance is visually completed with the maze of fans and air ducts of the ventilation systems. Despite the production of a desirable biomass product and the traditional outdoor cultivation of crops, the plants growing in enclosed areas are taken from a natural environment and are subjected to engineered artificial conditions where the light, water and nutrients are supplied with almost scientific precision. Nicholson’s photographs in the exhibition Cultivate document several aspects of cannabis cultivation, but more importantly, it is the context of facts surrounding the many issues of producing cannabis as a product intended for sale. Despite the fact that most of Nicholson’s photographs are devoid of human presence and only with traces of human activity and intent, in some images the viewer gets a glance of tasks performed by people during the routine cycle of cannabis cultivation. Just like in her previous bodies of work, Nicholson documents the work spaces and people working there, whether in a small size cubicle or hidden room grow op or a large warehouse-sized production. The viewers have an opportunity to get glimpses of spaces visually hidden from the public which include grow ops situated in remote rural areas with a low density of population, but also many cannabis producing enterprises that are situated in urban and residential areas.

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Nicholson’s photo-essay documents the various stages of cannabis cultivation and how it is done from incubation of plant clones to harvest, including images of routine tasks performed during the length of the cultivation process. The images portray uninhabited spaces both indoor and outdoor with solitary persons absorbed in the work of caring for the plantations. This portrayal of seemingly remote work spaces reflects Nicholson’s continuing interest to photograph unusual work spaces in her previous excursions to Arctic and Greenland based scientific camps. Providing the secrecy and legal implications surrounding unlicensed grow operations currently, Nicholson’s photographs provide the backdrop for the working conditions of people deriving income from the secretive activities they perform. Considering all of the conditions of clandestine operations, the questions of how the workers are employed and how they are found also come to the forefront of Nicholson’s inquiry. The workers must be skilled in a particular type of ‘work’, reliable because of the secrecy surrounding the grow ops, but also hard working. The hired workers are often young people attracted to the good pay and often they move from one grow op to another just like the fruit pickers in the Okanagan Valley moving from orchard to orchard. Nicholson’s exhibition has been produced at a time when the current laws and regulations governing the production, sale and consumption of cannabis are in flux as the decriminalizing of cannabis use is less than a year away. In light of the increasing dialogue in the media, public opinion is also shifting in favour of the access and use of cannabis for medicinal and recreational purposes. For now, the legal aspect of access and decriminalization of cannabis is in the grey area in light of the growing number of licenses for cannabis cultivation and an increasing number of dispensaries throughout Canada. While Nicholson’s exhibition of photographs visually documents the various spaces and stages of cannabis cultivation, the context of her artwork addresses the issues of social, legal and political importance reflected in the multiple layers of implied narratives. Lubos Culen Curator Vernon Public Art Gallery

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Liminal Legalities by Toby Katrine Lawrence Cannabis cultivations and culture has varied extensively and geographically since its earliest human cultivation, thought to be around 12,000 years ago. Throughout its migration from Central Asia to East Asia, Eastern Europe, South Asia, Europe, and the Americas, the plant has consistently been used for fibers and its psychoactive elements and the seeds for nutrition.1 Supported by this long history, Tara Nicholson’s Cultivate calls attention to the liminal spaces of marijuana legislation, social awareness, and general understanding around cannabis cultivation and usage through a series of large-scale photographs taken in grow-ops throughout the interior and west coast of British Columbia. These images represent both the sophisticated and DIY functionalities of these operations, and additionally find parallels in the aesthetic and material dependence of the photographic medium on light. Toby Lawrence: What was the impetus for this series? Tara Nicholson: “I grew up in the suburban culture of the 1990’s with illegal ‘grow-op houses,’ hidden grow shows in crawlspaces and rumors of massive underground operations. Since I was in highschool, I have had friends who worked as trimmers or started their own grows, but since then, the public perception of marijuana has completely changed. Now with legal growers and more dispensaries than liquor stores in Victoria, the use of cannabis has become commonplace and widely accepted, but they are still very hidden spaces. Many people have never been inside a grow-op and know very little about the plant; how it grows or where it is grown. I think people are becoming much more interested in the process and want to know more about the products they are buying. Even now with legalization, there is a lot of grey areas and unanswered questions, about how it will be distributed, produced, what will happen in the future, and what will be ‘legal’ and ‘non-legal,’ which I find really interesting. It is a massive industry in British Columbia, employing thousands of people and providing good paying jobs to mostly young people.” As reiterated through a recent study on the normalization and stigmatization of cannabis use in Canada, “Stereotypes persist around the popular assumption of marijuana’s association with criminality or deviance, and as a ‘gateway’ to the use of other drugs. In reality, few users engage in criminal behaviour, other than the crime of using cannabis itself or activities related to maintaining a supply.”2 Barney Warf’s historical geography of cannabis further fleshes out the stigmatization of marijuana usage, though with reference to the United States in particular, identifying that

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the “discourses surrounding the war against marijuana reveal how particular gender and ethnic categories are selectively deployed in deliberately inaccurate ways, often invoking racist imagery.”3 Therefore, amidst the complex histories of normalization, stigmatization, and criminalization, the failure to acknowledge a distinction between hemp and marijuana in United States law in conjunction with the establishment of a colonial mechanism of demonization supported the criminalization of cannabis in the early decades of the 20th century (in the US, followed shortly after by Canada) as a response to “cotton-growers, who feared competition from hemp.”4 The long migratory history of cannabis cultivation and its global dissemination are intertwined both with extensive and varied cultural and religious practices and with the development of capitalism.5 Contemporary cultivation in British Columbia, and Canada, is no less tied to economics, and furthermore, to the precariousness of the current job market in this region with the rise of a temporary and contract-based labour force—in numerous sectors. TL: What fascinates you about this industry? TN: “I began photographing marijuana growing facilities in 2015 shortly after my trip to Greenland to document scientific labs and testing sites at a climate research station. Having never been inside a grow-op before, these rooms seemed somehow similar to scientific spaces. Often hidden, highly specialized and specific environments, these spaces are unlike any space I had photographed before. The lighting, temperature, airflow, and humidity within these sterile spaces are all designed to cultivate the highest yields, in the shortest period of time from a wide variety of different cannabis strains. Many of the lights are either home-made (with crazy reflectors and materials) or highly specialized, which are incredibly expensive. I also became interested in the people growing marijuana, investing thousands into its infrastructure, employing people year-round, and the still unresolved questions surrounding its legislation and how it will be labelled and distributed. I began to discover massive grey areas within the industry and little control of how marijuana is grown and the products being used to fertilize and maintain these spaces. I began to meet growers involved in research surrounding organic and bio-farming within the industry and a growing desire from individuals to know how cannabis products are produced. I met people interested in growing marijuana at home, and both dispensaries and growers invested in community education, awareness, and cultural events. The industry is still in a rapid state of flux, with people becoming more aware of marijuana’s

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production from hobby growers to large-scale operations and a wide range ways of consuming it becoming common alongside its slow road to legalization.” The legalization of marijuana in Canada is scheduled for July 2018, initiated and planned by the current Federal Liberal government. Through restrictions on access, advertising, and THC levels, along with labelling, taxation, conditions for personal cultivation, and other regulations, the Federal government’s 2016 report, A Framework for the Legalization and Regulation of Cannabis in Canada: The Final Report of the Task Force on Cannabis Legalization and Regulation, seeks “to strike a balance between implementing appropriate restrictions, in order to minimize the harms associated with cannabis use, and providing adult access to a regulated supply of cannabis while reducing the scope and scale of the illicit market and its social harms.”6 Reflecting the historical social positioning of cannabis, oscillated between legality and illegality for centuries, the Task Force Report interestingly acknowledges that “excessive restrictions could lead to the re-entrenchment of the illicit market,”7 while insufficient restrictions could, conversely, compromise the legal products with harmful results.8 TL: What do you feel is important for the public to see and/or understand through this series? TN: “When I started this work, I knew nothing about marijuana and now I have a pretty solid understanding of how it is grown. I have seen people employ whole groups of people with good paying jobs. Regardless of what I think about marijuana, its use for recreation or medical purposes, it is a fascinating plant. I have seen plants outside grow so quickly it was visible and I have seen plants ‘wake-up’ when the lights are turned on. I have seen all different age groups of people use cannabis for both pain relief and relaxation and think there is a need for the legalization of its use. I definitely think people should be aware of what environment, pesticides, fertilizers, and other products are being used within its growing process, especially if they are using it on a regular basis or for medical purposes. Like my Arctic Claims series, exploring science structures in the far North, these spaces are still very hidden and, as an artist, it is an amazing experience to recreate elements of them within a gallery. Using medium format film to record these environments and producing large-scale prints, further emphasizes their bizarre and intense make-up and highlights their still unseen and almost alien quality. I hope the work generates questions and dialogue about the placement of these spaces and how they will be regulated and maintained in the future. Lastly, in the end, cannabis is an amazing plant, which I think is sometimes forgotten alongside everything else. 9

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Toby Katrine Lawrence is a curator, writer, and researcher based between Kelowna and Gabriola Island, in British Columbia, on the traditional lands of the Syilx and Snuneymuxw peoples. She contributes frequently to artist catalogues and art publications such as C Magazine, BlackFlash and esse, and continues to be involved in independent and collaborative projects and research. She has held curatorial and programming positions with the Vancouver Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and Nanaimo Art Gallery, and is currently curator of the Kelowna Art Gallery. Endnotes 1 Barney Warf, “High Points: An Historical Geography of Cannabis,” in Geographical Review 104:4 (October 2014): 419. 2 Andrew D. Hathaway, Natalie C. Comeau & Patricia G. Erickson, “Cannabis Normalization and Stigma: Contemporary Practices of Moral Regulation,” in Criminology & Criminal Justice 11: 5 (2011): 459. 3 Warf, 430. 4 Ibid, 429. 5 Ibid, 425. 6 A Framework for the Legalization and Regulation of Cannabis in Canada: The Final Report of the Task Force on Cannabis Legalization and Regulation (Ottawa: Health Canada, 2016), 2. 7 Ibid, 11. 8 Ibid. 9 All interview questions and responses: email correspondence with Tara Nicholson, September 12, 2017 and October 3, 2017.

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images of works in the exhibition

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Spray Suit, 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 52 in



Clone Room, 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 42 in



Greenhouse Bubbles, 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 42 in



Summer Grow, 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 42 in



Hidden Room, 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 42 in



Summer Plants, 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 42 in



Watering, 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 52 in



White Wall, 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 42 in



Trimmers, 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 42 in



Incubation Domes, 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 42 in



Pruning, 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 42 in



Netting, 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 42 in



Warehouse Grow, 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 42 in



Leftovers, 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 42 in



Rows, 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 52 in



Drying Racks, 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 42 in



Hidden Grow, 2017, limited edition archival pigment print, 42 x 42 in



List of works in the exhibition

Spray Suit 2017 limited edition archival pigment print 42 x 52 in

Summer Plants 2017 limited edition archival pigment print 42 x 42 in

Clone Room 2017 limited edition archival pigment print 42 x 42 in

Watering 2017 limited edition archival pigment print 42 x 52 in

Greenhouse Bubbles 2017 limited edition archival pigment print 42 x 42 in

White Wall 2017 limited edition archival pigment print 42 x 42 in

Summer Grow 2017 limited edition archival pigment print 42 x 42 in

Trimmers 2017 limited edition archival pigment print 42 x 42 in

Hidden Room 2017 limited edition archival pigment print 42 x 42 in

Pruning 2017 limited edition archival pigment print 42 x 42 in

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Netting 2017 limited edition archival pigment print 42 x 42 in

Incubation Domes 2017 limited edition archival pigment print 42 x 42 in

Warehouse Grow 2017 limited edition archival pigment print 42 x 42 in

Hidden Grow 2017 limited edition archival pigment print 42 x 42 in

Leftovers 2017 limited edition archival pigment print 42 x 52 in Rows 2017 limited edition archival pigment print 42 x 42 in Drying Racks 2017 limited edition archival pigment print 42 x 42 in

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TARA NICHOLSON taranicholson.com

curriculum vitae

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 2017 Cultivate, Vernon Public Art Gallery, Vernon, BC, solo show & catalogue 2017 Arctic Claims, Burnaby Art Gallery, Burnaby, BC, solo show & catalogue 2017 Water Works Space, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, BC, 3-person show & seminars 2017 Broken Paths, Two Rivers Gallery, Prince George, BC, 4-person show 2016 Numinous Islands, Modern Fuel Artist-run Centre, Kingston, Ont, 2-person show 2015 Somewhere Beyond Nowhere, Arnica Artist-Run, Kamloops, BC, solo & catalogue 2015 In Session, Legacy Art Gallery, Victoria, BC, 4-person & catalogue 2014 Frames, Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, Scotland 2014 FERAL, Installation/Performance, Royal Bank, Victoria, BC, catalogue 2014 ALMANAC, Installation/Performance, The Guild, Victoria, BC 2014 REWILD, 507 Studio Gallery, Victoria, BC 2014 Tethered, Galerie Les Territoires, Montreal, solo show 2014 Tethered, Slide Room Gallery, Victoria, solo show 2013 New Work, Künstlerhaus Gallery, Künstlerhaus Dortmund, Germany, solo 2013 Transitory Spaces, The Whyte Museum, Banff Floating Gallery, group 2012 Somewhere Beyond Nowhere, Deluge Contemporary Art, Victoria, solo 2012 Somewhere Beyond Nowhere, Exposure Calgary-Banff Photography Festival, solo 2010-12 Faculty Shows, Slide Room Gallery, Vancouver Island School of Art, Victoria 2010 Further North, Ignition Exhibition, The Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery, Montreal 2010 Wilderness and Other Utopias, Collision 6, Parisian Laundry Gallery, Montreal 2008 Further North, Balcone Art Society, Jeffrey Boone Gallery, Vancouver, 2-person 2008 Contemporary Photography in Alberta, Triangle Gallery, Calgary, catalogue 2007 Commonspace, Latitude 53 Gallery, Edmonton, solo show ARTIST RESIDENCIES 2016 Self-Directed Residency, The Banff Centre, Banff, AB 2015 Arctic Research Centre, Artist in Residence, Greenland 2013 Invitational International Artist Residency, Künstlerhaus Dortmund, Germany 2013 Self-Directed Art Residencies, The Banff Centre, Banff, AB 2008-09 Self-Directed Art Residencies, The Banff Centre, Banff, AB 2008 Artist Residency, Gros Morne Park, The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery, NFLD 2006 Artist Residency, Num Ti Ja Lodge, Bow Lake, AB 50


EDUCATION 2007-2010 MFA, Studio Arts, Concordia University, Montreal 2003-2004 Art History Post-Graduate Diploma, University of British Columbia 1994-1998 BFA, Ryerson University, School of Image Arts, Toronto AWARDS 2017 BC Arts Council Project Assistance Grant 2015 BC Arts Council Project Assistance Grant 2013 KĂźnstlerhaus Artist Award, Summer Residency, Germany 2012 BC Arts Council Project Assistance Grant 2012 150 Victoria Celebration Artist Award 2009 Carolyn and Richard Renaud Curating Scholarship Award, Concordia 2008 Canada Council Travel Grant, Gros Morne Residency 2008 Alberta Foundation for the Arts Project Grant 2007 Balcone Art Society, Selected Artist 1999 Leica Photography Award, Ryerson University PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 2010-present Continuing Sessional, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Victoria 2010-2017 Teaching Faculty, Vancouver Island School of Art, Victoria, BC 2014-16 Board Member, The Ministry Of Casual Living, Victoria, BC 2013 Juror, X-changes Artist Run Centre, Victoria, BC, Exhibition Selection 2011 Thesis Advisor, Department of Communications, Royal Roads University 2007-2004 Photographer/Artist Assistant, The Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff CATALOGUES, PUBLISHED WORK AND REVIEWS 2018 Feature Article, Black Flash Magazine, Issue 35.1, Portia Priegert 2017 Catalogue, Burnaby Art Gallery, Curatorial Essay and Exhibition Images 2017 Arctic Claims, Exhibition Reviews: Preview, Georgia Straight, Galleries West 2015 Catalogue, Legacy Art Gallery, Curatorial Essay and Exhibition Images 2015 Catalogue, Arnica Art Run Centre, Curatorial Essay and Exhibition Images 2012 Preview: Tara Nicholson, Galleries West Magazine, Fall/Winter 2012, John Luna 2012 Natural Disconnections, Times Colonist, July 26th, Cory Ruf, Victoria 2010 A Star Pupils: Tara Nicholson, Concordia Review, June 2010, Montreal, Quebec 2008 Contemporary Photography in Alberta, Galleries West Reviews, Galleries West 2008 Catalogue, Contemporary Photography, The Triangle Gallery, Hutchinson 2006 Commonspace, SEE Magazine Issue 676, Edmonton Arts, Amy Fung 2005 CAMPsites Exhibition, Walter Philips Gallery, Catalogue, Melanie Townsend 51


vernon public art gallery vernon, british columbia canada www.vernonpublicartgallery.com


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