Flowering Wild, a collective floral installation, explores the intersection of art, land, and stewardship. Hosted at East Lake Farms, this year Flowering Wild partnered with the Kenhte:ke Seed Sanctuary and Learning Centre and the Department of Illumination to bring Indigenous knowledge-sharing and youth programming into flower.

Local and Quinte-area florists Begonia Moon, Alexis Joy, Early Grey, West Briar, and Smells Like Flowers created a series of installations in response to the barn and shed spaces at the former Simpson Strawberry farm. In their hands, flowers are both art and offering—ephemeral, expressive gifts of the land.

“We are prompting a conversation around land rematriation, recognizing that we all live, work, and grow food on land that is Indigenous land,” said organizer Megan Lumgair. “When people are wandering through the space and taking it all in, we want them to be asking, ‘What are we doing with this land? What are we doing with the land that we own? How are we caring for it? How are we ensuring that future generations have land to live, work, and play on?’”