This is the final post in our series on last summer's Wild Waysides: Queer Ecology and the New Natural. The exhibition ran August 6–16, 2025 at the Red Head Gallery, Toronto.
Curated by Pearl Van Geest and James Fowler, the show featured 2SLGBTQ+ artists and researchers exploring queerness, ecology, and creative practice. Many works grew out of the Queer Up North Artist Residency in Temagami, where artists engaged land, sound, movement, and storytelling through queer and ecological lenses. This exhibition is made possible though the generous support of @canada.council and @ontarioartscouncil

Sound workshop: The Queer Sonic Postcard: Queer Frequencies and Fugitive Listening, part of the Queer Up North Symposium II, created space for listening, reflection, and creative engagement alongside panels and dialogue.

Led by Mike Wyeld and Charlie Hunter, the workshop invited participants to explore queer listening as an act of attention, resistance, and world-building. Rooted in sound art, ecological awareness, and queer presence in public space, the session unfolded as a collective experiment in sonic record-keeping. Through brief reflections, audio excerpts, and shared listening, participants created "sonic postcards" that reimagined the soundscape of the city as a space of resonance, memory, and queer connection.

#soundart #fieldrecording #queersound

Cyanotype workshop, part of the Queer Up North Symposium II, offered space for hands-on discovery alongside dialogue and panels.⁠
⁠
Walt Segers, Kristy Boyce, and Jackson Bailey led a cyanotype workshop in the parking lot of 401 Richmond, where about 15 participants created striking blue-toned prints. Using this simple, UV-light-based photographic process, participants experimented with shadows, objects, plants, and transparencies to produce unique images. Centred on play and discovery, the workshop required no prior experience, with all materials provided.

Queer Up North Symposium II, organised by the Throbbing Rose Collective, took place August 8–10, 2025 at 401 Richmond Street West in Toronto. Rooted in wildness, land, and queer connection, the symposium built on the momentum of the 2024 artist residency in Temagami and the Wild Waysides exhibition series. Over three days, artists, scholars, and community gathered to share ideas, practices, and dialogue at the intersection of ecology and queerness.⁠
⁠
Panels explored a spectrum of ideas related to Queer Ecologies. The IndigiQueer panel with Terre and Lou opened the symposium, followed by an exciting sound workshop. After the sound workshop, Terry Dame, Mike Wyeld and Charlie Hunter addressed issues of field recording and approaches to creative output. The Ethics of Gathering panel with Christian Bernard Singer, Schem Bader Rogerson, and Terre Chartrand, with guest speaker Peter Hobbs, discussed their art practices in terms of materiality. Our largest panel, Exploring Trans & Queer Ecologies Through a Post-humanist Lens, included Cesar Forero, John Rubino, Rose Cullis, Mimmo Baronello and Jackson Bailey and was moderated by Kelly McCray. Our cyanotype workshop was followed by Picturing Queer Ecologies with Walt Segers, Kristy Boyce and Jackson Bailey. Mimi McGurl was our Keynote speaker, who gave a dynamic talk on plants, art and conceptual framework.

Collective member Micheal Venus brings the iconic House of Venus to Toronto for a one-night celebration! Join us for a special screening of Venus Envy: The House of Venus Story plus the 30th anniversary of their legendary Wiggle Festival

About last night… The Opening reception of WILD WAYSIDE: Queer Ecologies and the New Natural was last night. Thank you to everyone who attended. There is a curitorial talk and tour with @pearlvangeest and @jamesfowlerart this Sunday, August 10 at 1pm @redheadgallery at @401richmond. Many of the artists will be in attendance. The exhibition continues to August 16. Come enjoy the work. For some, it is a new way of looking at queerness and ecology. This initiative is made in partnership with @nrccprojectspace and with the financial support of @canada.council #queerecology #queerart #canqueer #throbbingrosecollective
__________

À propos d’hier soir… Le vernissage de WILD WAYSIDE : Écologies queer et nouvelle nature a eu lieu hier soir. Merci à tous les participants. Une conférence et une visite guidée avec @pearlvangeest et @jamesfowlerart auront lieu ce dimanche 10 août à 13 h à la galerie Redhead au 401richmond. Plusieurs artistes seront présents. L’exposition se poursuit jusqu’au 16 août. Venez admirer les œuvres. Pour certains, il s’agit d’une nouvelle façon d’envisager l’identité queer et l’écologie. Cette initiative est réalisée en partenariat avec