Artist • Cole Swanson
Humber Role • Program Coordinator and Professor, Art Foundation and Visual & Digital Arts, Faculty of Media and Creative Arts
Work • The Hissing Folly
Medium • Invasive phragmites, wood, paint, and sound installation
Artwork Description • The Hissing Folly is an ecological artwork generated by a community harvest of invasive phragmites, a perennial grass species that has decimated biodiverse ecosystems throughout Canada. Drawing from a centuries-long history of thatching, the 16-foot tall pyramid references the colonial British act of folly building - decorative architectural practice appearing in the palatial gardens of European land-owners. The transmission of the invasive plant to Canada follows the transfer of thatching and folly traditions, demarcating the colonial legacy embedded in the movement of species between nations. Over 240 bundles of invasive reed were collected by volunteers from a biologically sensitive marshland in Thickson's Woods Land Trust (Whitby, ON), and were stored and dried in the historic Loft Gallery on the upper floors of the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington in Bowmanville.
The interior of the folly is blackened by the reeds, mimicking the impacts on light that the dense, invasive groves render on the land. The inner sanctum hisses with the sounds of the gigantic grass blowing in the wind from a four-channel sound installation. Visitors are welcome to enter the folly, to contemplate human relationships with nature.
See more of Cole's work at:
Instagram • @lagoochitrawaala
Website • coleswanson.org