Relationship Tools
Published in:
Terrarium: Miranda Bellamy + Amanda Fauteux
Published by Owens GAllery, 2024
Sackville, NB, Canada
ISBN: 987-0-88828-272-9
“ My investigations show that all plants, even the trees, are fully alive to the changes in the environment, they respond visibly to all stimuli, even to the slight fluctuations of light caused by a drifting cloud.”
A terrarium is a powerful tool that gives us the ability to replicate our world in miniature. By enclosing plants within a glass bubble, a self-sustaining water cycle and atmospheric system is established, which replicates the environment that humans and other life forms depend on. Since its invention by Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward in 1829, terrarium technology has been used for a wide range of applications, including both the destruction of ecosystems and the best attempts at understanding and restoring them. Miranda Bellamy and Amanda Fauteux’s exhibition Terrarium (Owens Art Gallery, 2022), references this mixed history and prompts reflection on how biotechnologies, like all tools, amplify our intentions—whether we are seeking to have power over other species or trying to understand and respect our ecological relations.