This piece, along with a series of pen and ink drawings were commissioned by the Tropical Conservancy of Canada and the Centre for Traditional Knowledge in 2002 for their special issue of Biodiversity: Journal of Life of Earth, Indigenous Peoples’ Perspectives on Biodiversity, Environment & Sustainable Development, Vol. 3, No. 3, August 2002.  

Prominent within this piece are the large yellow hairy flowers which represent a plant called the Pitcher’s Thistle.  Listed in Canada and the US as an endangered species, the Pitcher’s Thistle is a plant found around the Great Lakes area that blooms and seeds only once in its lifetime and then dies.  A major reason for species loss is destruction of habitat.  By highlighting this plant, I hoped to draw attention to the state we have reached in the earth’s history, where under the guise of development, we threaten another’s complete existence on this planet.  Other plants featured in this piece are the Milkweed, Purple Cone Flower, Fiddleheads, and Birch.