Scott Rogers: Between Leaf & Light

Presented by CMBT at Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre

Illustration by Scott Rogers

Between Leaf & Light
Scott Rogers

On view until August 31, 2025
Waiting Room, Hudson Regional Cancer Centre
Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre, Barrie
Please note: This space is not open to the public; it is for patients only.

A Note from CMBT:

We are CMBT—Co-conspiracy Means (to) Breathe Together—a collaborative curatorial initiative founded in 2024 by Kara Hamilton, Patricia Ritacca, and Yan Wu. As cancer patients and arts professionals, we are dedicated to life as art. Our work begins from lived experience and aims to create site-specific contemporary art that connects with fellow patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers navigating the complexities of treatment together.

CMBT is an experiment in collective care—one that believes in art’s potential to communicate, to heal, and to transform. At its core is a question: how can clinical spaces become places not only of care, but of pause—where we are invited to breathe, reflect, and simply be?

With the generous support of Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) and the City of Barrie, we’re honoured to launch our inaugural curatorial residency at RVH’s Hudson Regional Cancer Centre. From February through August 2025, this six-month residency features Between Leaf & Light, a newly commissioned six-channel sound installation by artist Scott Rogers. Located in the waiting room of the Cancer Centre, the installation occupies a calm, light-filled space that looks out onto the garden.

Spanning 43 minutes and playing on a loop, Between Leaf & Light features birdsong recordings from 73 species found across RVH’s time zone, from northern Ontario and Québec to Peru, drawn from open-access archives. This quiet chorus of resident, migratory, and tropical birds unfolds over time, never repeating in quite the same way. It’s a soundscape attuned to the variability of breath and light, inviting listeners to inhabit a different rhythm—one shaped by the movement of the day rather than the metrics of treatment.

The piece doesn’t demand attention. It hovers. It’s there when you want it, and easy to miss. It was designed that way: to gently accompany, not interrupt. The title, Between Leaf & Light, is drawn from the forest canopy—where greenery meets sky—and gestures to the layered ecologies we inhabit, even inside a medical building.

For patients, families, and staff entering the space, our hope is that the work provides a subtle, sensory shift—a moment of calm, presence, or quiet stimulation. In the sometimes disorienting or numbing experience of healthcare environments, we see art as a kind of inspirational distraction—not an escape, but a different way of being present. A way to reimagine the passive rhythms of waiting with a trace of curiosity or wonder. We were inspired by RVH’s own approach—its permanent art collection thoughtfully woven into the architecture—and its commitment to treating art as an integral part of care.

Screenshot from the behind-the-scenes video by Joe Miller, featuring the CMBT curatorial team (left to right: Kara Hamilton, Yan Wu, Patricia Ritacca).

We also recognize the people who made this project possible. Between Leaf & Light is dedicated to the late Tracey Baker, a fellow cancer patient whose generous contribution enabled us to realize this project. Her courage and spirit remain deeply with us. We are also profoundly grateful to Frances Thomas, Senior Curator of the RVH Permanent Collection, and Carol-Ann Ryan, the former Public Art Coordinator for the City of Barrie, as well as everyone at RVH, especially Dr. Follwell, whose support and belief in this vision brought it to life.

In honour of the patients and families who use the space, members of the public are asked not to visit the waiting area directly. Instead, a video about the installation—produced by Joe Miller, Digital and Design Lead, RVH Corporate Communications, and featuring clips of the audio, behind-the-scenes reflections from the artist and CMBT, and a tribute to the late Tracey Baker—is available on RVH’s website.

To learn more about Between Leaf & Light, view the full list of bird species, or explore CMBT’s work, please visit: c-m-b-t.com

Contact: cmbtcollective@gmail.com