Parkland [Forêt-parc]

Artist Barbara Gamble’s work, Parkland, engages with ecological concerns in suburban Ottawa. Known for her interest in the natural world, Gamble completed this work in 1995, a year after spearheading a campaign to ban pesticides and naturalize a barren area of the community park in her neighborhood. In this mixed media work, a grid scratched over a painted map of the park illuminates both the damage caused by rigid suburban development and the planning required to rehabilitate the natural site. Gamble also includes a note of hope: a small circle featuring a daisy, one of the flowers indigenous to the park, recalls a medal of accomplishment.