Royal Botanical Gardens Flora Hominis

Project Description:

The refurbishing of the Rock Garden at Royal Botanical Gardens is one of the institution’s largest infrastructure projects in a generation. To mark the occasion, the RBG commissioned a sculptural work to commemorate Gardens founder Thomas Baker McQuesten.

Funded by the Dalglish family, the work is intended to spark conversations about the relationships between people, plants, and place, all of which are central to RBG’s mission. Through a juried process, led by Cobalt Connects, 45 artists from across Canada submitted applications, with three artists being paid to create concepts for consideration.

The chosen work, Flora Hominis, was created by Hamilton artist Brandon Vickerd. Brandon’s work can be seen across Canada and around the world, and this particular work was created using a unique process that Brandon pioneered called vacuum-assisted burnout (VAOB). This process allows Brandon to gather organic material (flowers, buds, sticks, leaves, etc.) from the ground of RBG, and to cast them in bronze with incredible detail.

The resulting work calls for an “alternate understanding of what it means to be human – that humanity can only realize its full potential when it accepts that it is part of the natural world. In other words, we are not stewards of all things natural, but subjects of the complex ecosystem that surrounds us.”

Client: Royal Botanical Gardens

Collaborators: RBG staff, Donor, Jury Members, Artists

Website: https://www.rbg.ca/the-mcquesten-project/

City: Hamilton, ON

Date: 2018