Bonnie Baxter / THE PATCH

Bonnie Baxter

A series of contemporary fables presented in three books:

September 1 | October 16 | November 13

Book I - The Patch: The Changing Seasons

François Morelli / Mathilde Rohr / Jen Rae / A Climate Chorus / Johannes Zits

Book II - The Patch: Midsummer Fables

Alana Riley / Ingrid Bachmann / Camille Charbonneau / Johannes Zits / A Climate Chorus

Book III - The Patch: Autumn and the Epilogue

Richard Purdy / Climate Village Chorus / Juliana España Keller / François Morelli and Monique Proulx

The Patch Trilogy (books I-II-III) will be presented in its entirety from December 6 to 11, 2022

With special participation of artists  : Ingrid Bachmann, Camille Charbonneau, A Climate Chorus, Juliana España Keller, François Morelli, Richard Purdy, Alana Riley, Jen Rae, Mathilde Rohr, The Serene Seasons Dream Collective et Johannes Zits.

At the center of a garden lie many stories. The fruition of millions of years of evolution on our planet exists in the cyclical success of growth, decay and adaptation. At this critical point in human history, it is a story that is changing very quickly. In the fables we humans have told—those meant to guide our path through time—we have celebrated our adaptation to this planet, our ability to compromise with, and often, to overcome its demands for our own benefit.

Told from within the environment of a tomato patch created in the heart of the Laurentians, The Patch Trilogy moves through the seasons, immersing the audience in a 360° video installation created over the past 3 years. Eleven artists from different countries, from ages 4 to 76, from many cultural viewpoints and social orientations, begin an ecosocial experiment to reimagine the way we tell the stories of ourselves: stories that initiate a dialogue on the delicately balanced relationship between eater and eaten, between wilderness and cultivation.

In 2020, climate news cast a pall of depression, social media manipulation wreaked havoc on our political systems and questioned our moral underpinnings. As we were initiated into pandemic supply-chain realities, Bonnie Baxter responded with a tomato garden she carved into the land of her Val-David home. With a handful of seeds, she created both a community food resource and, serendipitously, a stage for allegorical performance. She invited and filmed artist-storytellers and wove their fables together, layering their meanings to create a surreal chorus of beginnings, endings, and possibilities, a cyclical eulogy to hope, loss, and change that is The Patch Trilogy.