Prize-winning 'Rewilding' art debuts at Canadian Museum of Nature, on view through Sept. 8, 2025
OTTAWA—Art and ecology converge in the capital as the Canadian Museum of Nature opens Rewilding – the David Suzuki Foundation Arts Prize on October 11, a yearlong exhibition running through September 8, 2025. The show features works by 13 Canadian artists who won the inaugural David Suzuki Foundation Rewilding Arts Prize.
Rewilding—restoring natural environments to their original, self-sustaining states—seeks to boost biodiversity, strengthen ecosystems and build resilient landscapes. The exhibition asks visitors to imagine how that concept can take root in yards, neighbourhoods and communities.
Some featured creators are professional artists, while others are trained as scientists, environmentalists and educators. “Art can inspire us to explore different ways of connecting with nature, and to address challenging topics such as biodiversity loss and climate change,” said Danika Goosney, Ph.D., the museum’s president and CEO.
“We are thrilled to have partnered with the David Suzuki Foundation to showcase the works of the Rewilding prize recipients in this unique exhibition.” The artworks were selected by a jury of Canadian artists and curated by Helen Gregory, Ph.D., curator at the McIntosh Gallery at the University of Western Ontario, whose work explores the intersection of art, science and museology.
“This exhibition was a pleasure to work on and builds on the strength of the prize itself, which is open to anyone who uses their art practice to think about our relationship with the environment,” Gregory said.
“The resulting projects, and the presentations of the artworks in the Rewilding exhibition demonstrate that passionate and innovative thinkers from across disciplines are needed to find creative solutions to the environmental issues affecting the planet.” Visitors will encounter 13 interpretations of rewilding expressed through textiles, photographs, video, digital collage, plant and insect specimens, and even re-used bubble wrap.
“As we confront the escalating environmental crises, the need to rewild our imaginations and communities becomes ever more urgent,” said Jode Roberts of the David Suzuki Foundation.
“Art offers a powerful tool for this rewilding process, allowing us to envision a future that is in harmony with nature and rooted in equity and justice.” Among the exhibiting artists, Syrian-Kurdish multidisciplinary artist Xecê Khadija Baker, who now lives in Quebec, delves into themes of identity, memory and the uncertainty of home linked to persecution and displacement; her 22-minute video documents a performance, Performing Community Garden.
British Columbia-based multidisciplinary artist Laara Cerman, whose practice explores pockets of wilderness in urban and suburban areas, has created a mixed-media sculpture of a tree stump using textiles and metalwork.
Rewilding – the David Suzuki Foundation Arts Prize invites audiences to consider the role of creativity in ecological restoration—across disciplines and daily life—over its run at the Canadian Museum of Nature through September 8, 2025.