JENNIFER LONG: MENDED LEAVES

A curator and a care-giver in conversation

A long sleek grey table is covered in dozens of photographs of over-sized leaves. Look closer, and you’ll find the foliage appears layered, like a patchwork quilt. A pair of golden paint-by-numbers looking leaves sit nestled against each other; a broad, dark green leaf bears at its centre shingles of teal, seafoam, and ochre; a flower sits afire in scarlet, crimson, and marmalade.

These pieces are part of Jennifer Long’s series, Mended Leaves, the most recent entry into her decade-spanning lens-based consideration of motherhood, caregiving, and community.

At home in Toronto, the photographer shares her work with Peppa Martin, a visiting Vancouver-based gallerist, writer, and curator. The conversation flows from photography to family, care-giving, the pandemic, and how it has all shaped Jennifer’s current art practice.

Peppa Martin (left) looks at a piece from Mended Leaves by Jennifer Long (right).

“The artwork evolved as I circled close to home, walking through my neighbourhood as a way to reclaim public space during the lockdowns.”

“While on these excursions I collected petals and leaves and upon returning home these tokens were pressed in books, placed in vases, or laid out for immediate intervention. Using on-hand art supplies, I began exploring ways to transform the foliage through repairing tears, matching and re-imagining colours, and other such experimentations. These instinctual and meditative explorations gave me time to reflect on the experience of mothering during a period filled with unease, when time bent, stood still, and stretched in unfamiliar ways. I was altered by the act of care-giving during this time and those I provide support to were also affected. It led me to consider how the balance of self-care and giving of oneself is fundamentally tied to communication.”

Jennifer explains that the project began with her daughters.