Monuments and Megachile: Lessons from the Insect Graveyard

Cole Swanson is an artist and educator based in Toronto/Tkaronto, Canada. Through a multidisciplinary, collaborative, and materially focused practice, he explores the complex relations emerging between creatures living together in tension in the so-called Anthropocene. Swanson’s work opens to multiple ways of knowing; he learns from/with conservationists, scientists, community partners, and more-than-human actors to inform key aspects of the creative process. Swanson is undertaking PhD research in Environmental Studies at York University, Toronto. A 2023 Vanier Scholar, he is currently engaged in multispecies and artistic research into Toronto’s massive and maligned double-crested cormorant colony.