September 21 – December 1, 2019
Wilson Rodríguez’s work is an extension of his father Abel’s botanical knowledge of the Amazonian jungle. The artist’s practice is distinguished, however, by its embrace of elements beyond the medicinal and practical uses of plants—that being the relationship between humans and the “invisible world” or, more specifically, the use of plants as a means of expanding perception and forging connections with the ancestral world. For Wilson, who has been receiving ancestral knowledge all his life, art is a way to hone this plant knowledge while living in Colombia’s largest city of Bogotá.
Bio
Wilson Rodríguez (Nonuya, born in Cahuinarí region, Colombia; lives in Bogotá, Colombia) carries forth botanical knowledge from the Amazon Jungle of Colombia, transmitted by his father Abel. His artistic practice embraces the relationship between humans and the invisible world, or the use of medicinal plants to expand the perception. For Wilson, who has been receiving ancestral knowledge all his life, art is a way to hone his ancient roots and his life as an individual in the contemporary world.
Exhibition Site
Small Arms Inspection Building (2019)
Small Arms Inspection Building was originally part of a large munitions plant built in 1940 before it was acquired and renovated as an art centre by the City of Mississauga in 2018. With its female dominated workforce, Small Arms Limited manufactured thousands of rifles daily for the Canadian and Allied forces in WWII. In 1990, the TRCA conducted an environmental audit of the site, revealing the presence of polychlorinated biphenyl, volatile organic compounds, and combustible gases across nineteen acres. More than 70,000 tons of contaminated radioactive soil was removed to eventually transform the Arsenal Lands into a park.
1352 Lakeshore Road East
Mississauga ON
L5E 1E9