Encrustation: Barnacles of Belonging
A community-built public art project for Maffaeo-Sutton Park, Nanaimo, BC
Currently in production - installation TBA in 2027!

Encrustation: Barnacles of Belonging is a community-engaged public art project that invites Nanaimo residents to help create a sculptural installation inspired by barnacles and coastal ecosystems. The project is a part of the City of Nanaimo’s Temporary Public Art program.

Through workshops and do-it-yourself barnacle kits, I invited community members to sculpt small barnacle forms using modelling clay. These handmade forms are currently being molded and cast into concrete for installation at Maffeo Sutton Park. Individually, each sculpture reflects the imagination and experience of its maker; together, they form a dense and collective surface.

Using the barnacle as both material inspiration and metaphor, I am interested in exploring ideas of belonging, attachment, memory, and how people connect to place. Participants were encouraged to consider both literal barnacles and imaginative forms that reflect notions of home, care, shelter, and community. Community participation will be central to the development of the project, and was disseminated through a partnership with the Nanaimo Art Gallery.

This project builds on my longstanding artistic practice, which combines hand-crafted processes with forms inspired by nature and technology. My work often transforms discarded materials into whimsical and organism-like sculptures that examine the relationships between ecological systems, human behaviour, and the built environment.

Through collective making, I hope to transform public space into a playful and evolving artwork shaped by many hands: a reminder that communities, like barnacles, grow through connection, accumulation, and care.