Artist Statement:
We often trust that what we see today will remain tomorrow. Yet change is constant, and each shift sets other changes in motion. In this diptych, I offer two views from my kitchen window overlooking the rolling hills of the Niagara Escarpment, a designated UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.
In one panel, the landscape thrives. Clover blooms in the foreground while Monarch butterflies gather and couple—radiant gestures of continuity. In the second panel, the butterflies are cut from the scene, revealing frayed edges where they once connected the whole. The clover has disappeared. The contrast is an invitation: to notice, to value, and to tend the intricate bonds that sustain life.
Each year, I observe fewer Monarchs. Where I once witnessed kaleidoscopes of them, I now look more closely, more grateful for their existence. And After They’re Gone? becomes a meditation on care—how attentive stewardship, even in our own backyards, can help keep these vital threads intact for generations to come.