Lan “Florence” Yee: Do Weeds Still Grow in Heaven?

for the cracks, wire and silk, edition of 80, variable dimensions, 2024.

Lan “Florence” Yee: Do Weeds Still Grow in Heaven?

November 9 – December 14, 2024
Opening Reception: November 9, 2024, 2 – 5pm, poetry performances 3pm
Gallery 101, Ottawa

As a taxonomic category, weeds are not an actual species of plant, but a behaviour of appearing and thriving in a place where they are unwanted. Do Weeds Still Grow in Heaven? feature the kinship of weeds with racialized queerness/transness, viewed with hostility as undesirable or unorganizable excess. The allusion to ‘heaven’ emerges from this common tactic of hinging hope on a queer utopia, in conjunction with the popular use of Belinda Carlisle’s 1987 song Heaven is a Place on Earth as a sapphic anthem. The exhibition then looks inwards: seeing weeds as the experience of abuse in queer relationships, a subject often cast aside in the narrow celebratory refrain of queer love–a flawed but strategic way of advocating for belonging. Through embroidered text on fabric prints and installation structures reminiscent of undomesticated interiors, the space becomes a tentatively hospitable container for disparate kinds of weeds to crop up.

Join us for a reception on November 9, from 2pm to 5pm at Gallery 101, with poetry performances at 3pm.

The exhibition travels to the Southern Alberta Art Gallery (SAAG) in Lethbridge, AB from January 25 to April 19, 2025.

A note on content: although this content addresses elements of domestic violence, there are no graphic descriptions or images of physical violence. Please take care when viewing.

Too Early, hand-embroidery on printed cotton, balsa wood, blind ladders, and spruce structure, 89″ x 58″ x 2″, 2024. Photo by Toni Hafkenscheid.

Lan “Florence” Yee is a visual artist and cultural worker based in Tkaronto/Toronto & Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal. They collect text in underappreciated places and ferment it until it is too suspicious to ignore.

This exhibition is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council

Connect
Instagram @lan.florence.yee
lanflorenceyee.com

Press Contact
Lan Florence Yee
lan.they.them@gmail.com
&
Kristina Corre
office@g101.ca

Visit
Gallery 101
280 Catherine Street
Ottawa, ON K1R 5T3

Tuesday – Saturday, 1 – 5pm
Tours are available by appointment.
Book a tour by contacting: office@g101.ca