regeneration is this us

Hidden Garden Gallery

New Denver

August 2025

regeneration is a site specific collaboration with Alison Beaumont

Inspired by the fires which swept through the Valhalla Wilderness Park in 2024.  Having gone through a year of smoke and evacuation the year before in the Okanagan Alison and Pippa were asked to bring their place based art practice to Valhalla. We listened, merged with more than human, bore witness and responded creating an immersive installation of sound, fibre and lens based work.

Pippa created a series of multiple exposure images which adorned the perimeter of the exhibition, as well as eco prints, indigo banners and buntings which were inspired by felt experiences in the Vallhallas. Alison created a soundscape from recordings onsite and within the Slocan valley. Collectively Alison and Pippa created a poem Prayer to the Vallhalla as well as paper and fabric cyanotypes created with natural objects found onsite and an eco print from found objects during their first visit to the burn site. Charred objects and materials were brought to the installation.

As the soundscape played a giant beanbag was offered for visitors to immerse themselves in floating banners, found objects, images and poem.

Regeneration.

IS THIS US

This is a video short of the exhibition https://youtube.com/shorts/X5kBaPPPwG8?feature=sha

Pippa grew up near a shore of Lake Ontario as a 2nd generation settler now dwelling on the unceded territories of the Sylix, Sinixt and Ktunaxa peoples (Okanagan Centre/Kootenay) since 1980, and completed a Fine Art Diploma at DTUC in Nelson and MEd in Art at UVic.  Alison, an English settler from West Yorkshire, England earned her BA(hons) Photography at Staffordshire University before relocating to Sylix Okanagan Territory (Oyama) BC, Canada in 2008. 

Alison and Pippa’s  art practices are focused on the human and more-than-human interconnections.  Arising from interactions with the environment Alison’s work utilizes many mediums photography, video, sound, poetry, and installations, intuitively creating immersive experiences inviting connection between human and more-than-human. Beckoned by the ephemeral fragility of the Earth, Pippa also co-creates with land and water then amplifies the voice she hears using alternative photography techniques, various fibre art mediums and poetry.  Both artists' work fosters a deeper understanding of our relationship with the environment and the need for collective action.  

Alison and Pippa have collaborated together since 2020, facilitating student collaborations as well as their own at the Lake Country Art Gallery and initiating circles in the Okanagan for climate cafes and mending.  

This Kootenay community collectively ‘saved’ the Valhalla Wilderness Park from development with the Valhalla Mile in 2008.  The land is speaking - we must listen, heal and collectively act again!