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𝑡ᵢ𝑛𝑦 Լₑ𝑠𝑠ₒ𝑛𝑠 𝑓ᵣₒ𝑚 𝑚ᵢ𝑔ᵣa𝑛𝑡 ｗₑₑ𝑑𝑠
How can we use migrant species as a conduit for learning about landscapes? A workshop series and research practice by Bhavika Sharma, FIBREGRAFT continues to explore collectively working with “invasive” species while transforming them into new materials. This research began in fall 2023 during Bhavika’s Masters’ thesis research on the land-based practices of Hanji communities in the Kashmir Valley’s Dal lake. Observing introduced migrant species at Dal lake, attuning, burrowing, and emerging in companionship with weaver, labourer, and dweller, probed Bhavika to consider new ways of looking at “invasive” species.
RELATED WORKSHOPS AND PROJECTS
SUMMER 2025 • The Plumb Bar for Tunnel Mound Comeback, Exhibition with Masumi Rodriguez, Elena Kirby, and Emi Takahashi, The Plumb, Toronto, ON
SUMMER 2025 • Phragmites Processing Sessions #1 and #2, in collaboration with Masumi Rodriguez and Elena Kirby, The Plumb, Toronto, ON
SPRING 2025 • Processing and Paper-making with “Invasive” Species, in collaboration with the SEED Collective, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
FALL 2024 • Paper-making with “Invasive” Species, in collaboration with the Friends of Allan Gardens, Allan Gardens Conservatory, Toronto, ON
FALL 2024 • Paper-making with “Invasive” Species, in collaboration with RainscapeTO, Eglington Park Heritage Community Garden, Toronto, ON
SUMMER 2024 • Processing and Paper-making with “Invasive” Species, in collaboration with Nikibii Dawadinna Giigwag, UTSC Farm, Scarborough, ON
RELATED TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS
SUMMER 2025 • Artist Talk: Weedy Technologies, Guest Speaker for Tunnel Mound Comeback, The Plumb, Toronto, ON
Fall 2024 • Anatomy of a Fluid Landscape, Guest Speaker for LAN3051H: Landscape Research Methods, Daniels Faculty of Landscape Architecture and Design, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
RELATED WRITINGS AND PUBLICATIONS
FALL 2025 (forthcoming) • Sprawl: Towards a Weedy, Rhizomatic Mapping of Landscapes. To Broadcast is to Scatter Exhibition Publication, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB
FALL 2025 (forthcoming) • Anatomy of a Fluid Landscape, Scaffold Journal Vol 2: Drafting Liminalities, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
SUMMER 2025 • Tunnel Mound Comeback, Exhibition Publication with Chloe Grodon-Chow, Elena Kirby, Emerald Repard-Denniston, Emi Takahashi, and Masumi Rodriguez, The Plumb, Toronto, ON
BHAVIKA SHARMA is a designer and interdisciplinary artist living and working along the Grand River and Toronto/Treaty 13 territory. Learning from local ecological knowledge holders and non-human/weedy species, Bhavika’s practice investigates material and labour(er) relationships within constructed landscapes. Her practice seeks to expand on non-dominant histories--migratory ecologies, gentle interventions, and the knowledge held by overlooked communities become new markers for reading landscapes. Bhavika’s work is produced through mapping, glitching, transmuting, tethering, and taking apart to unravel complex narratives of place.
Bhavika’s other projects have previously been shown at Trinity Square Video (Toronto) and Factory Media Centre (Hamilton) and she has previously completed artist residencies at The Plumb (Toronto) and Hamilton Artists Inc (Hamilton). Bhavika holds an Honours BA in Visual Arts and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Toronto.
CONTACT
@fibre_graft
vikabsharma@gmail.com