Winnipeg Arts Council

Fire Cycle

Dancing trees call to you as Old Market Square becomes a glowing forest for Nuit Blanche. Fire Cycle by local artist Jonathan S Green invites you into the woods, where sparks shoot up and join in the dance. The forest is on fire! Flames twist among the trees until the greenery falls and only fire remains. As the blaze slows, the trees come back to life, moving in the new growth and the cycle begins again…

Fire Cycle reflects on the incidence of wildfires in the era of the Anthropocene – a geological timeframe where human activity has started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems.

Want to learn more about wildfires? Visit pimaki.ca to learn from knowledge shared by Anishinaabe Elders and the work of the Indigenous Guardians of Pimachiowin Aki, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The temporary inflatables, commissioned by the Winnipeg Arts Council through Winnipeg’s Public Art Program, will be installed September 24 – October 7 in Old Market Square for Nuit Blanche Winnipeg and in partnership with the Exchange District BIZ for Downtown Culture Days.

Circular illustration depicting 100-year boreal forest fire cycle with English and Anishinaabe captions

Anishinaabe knowledge of resource availability following forest fire. Courtesy of Pimachiowin Aki, based on work by Anishinaabe Elders and Dr. Andrew M. Miller.

Jonathan S Green

Born in Labrador City, Jonathan S. Green comes from Mi’kmaq and Inuit, British and Scottish heritage. Green earned an MFA in Printmaking from the University of Alberta. He has been an artist in residence at the University of Alaska Anchorage, SNAP Printshop (Edmonton, Alberta), and St. Michael’s Printshop (St. John’s, Newfoundland).

His creative research investigates ideas around landscape and wilderness, bushcraft and survival, camping and shelter in the face of the climate crisis. Most recently, this has manifested in a reflection on the increased incidence of wildfires, particularly through his drawing and printmaking practice. He draws upon his own experience and his brother’s experience as a wildfire fighter to inform his work.

In 2016 he canoed down the Yukon River from Whitehorse to Dawson as part of the Canadian Wilderness Artist Residency. He has also hiked extensively through the Rockies and in Alaska.

He currently resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba - located on Treaty No. 1, the original lands of Anishinaabe, Ininiwak, Anishininiwak, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.

Photos by Carla Hernandez.

  • Artist in red plaid lumberjack shirt stands in front of inflatable tree artwork, beside sandwich board with title Fire Cycle.

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