local knowledge

native plants

multispecies refuges

patches of global connection

All around Amiskwaciwâskahikan you find multispecies refuges, where concerned citizens try to preserve natural habitat as well as restore it. These patches of human-transformed landscapes provide 'natural' habitat for multispecies survival, but in no way exist independently from humans, they are co-constituted, reminders of how humans and nature are always co-shaped.

Edmonton native plant society and other 'stewards', restoring the few remnant natural habitats by fighting invasive species and planting native species, hold valuable knowledge that is not always recognized as such. The same goes for citizens planting native flower beds in their gardens, or Indigenous people foraging traditional and medicinal plants. How come these knowledges are not valued? How can we counter that?

Repair looks at the grassroots alliances between human and non-human actors, in an effort to restore natural habitats and create multi species refuges, as a counter-hegemonic practice. It asks whether and how we can build new habitats in disturbed landscapes; what voices and knowledges we need to include to build those habitats; and what global connections they build on.