What once was a rough patch of grass and concrete in front of the Artscape Youngplace building in the Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood is now a lush garden — with flowering dogwood, a smoke bush and wild dandelions. A small, meandering pathway for people to walk along cuts through the garden.
At first glance, the plants don’t appear to have much in common, but small green signs poking out of the soil next to each plant tell the deeper story behind what they all share: a troubling past.
The dieffenbachia, pictured here in Isaac Crosby’s garden, was called “dumb cane,” and used by plantation owners to torture enslaved people, as it makes the mouth swell when eaten. Crosby hopes learning about this history will encourage people to begin using the plant’s traditional Indigenous names, a step, he says, toward revitalizing Indigenous languages and culture.
Isaac Crosby puts in a perimeter around the garden he has created for the Koffler Arts Botannica Tirannica exhibition at Artscape Youngplace.
A smoke bush plant, which was once called “Dusky Black Woman,” in the garden created by Isaac Crosby.