Where the Willows Weep and Orchids Dream by Tara artist Bianca Artemida Nam is at the Tom Thomson Art Gallery in Owen Sound until January 10. Image supplied.
Jane Glenn | 17 December 2025
The newest installation at the Tom Thomson Art Gallery (TOM) is an immersive, surreal marshland created by emerging artist Bianca Artemida Nam. Where the Willows Weep and Orchids Dream is inspired by the flora of Grey, Bruce, and Dufferin counties. After graduating from the Ontario College of Art and Design University, Nam moved to Tara in 2024 and says she was "deeply inspired by the swamp outside of my house."
Nam says her vision for this exhibition was to merge the swamp flora of Grey, Bruce, and Dufferin counties "marrying together two different escarpments that have and continue to shape my work."
To create the dreamy marshland, she used tree branches, synthetic yarns, preserved plants and flowers, vintage magazines, notebooks, wire and handmade paper flowers with projections and sound.
While Nam had been working with "various assortments of magazines, collaging techniques, yarn, tree branches, and other plant material and technology through projection," she recently wanted to shift to more physical sculptures to accompany or replace parts of her installations.
"I started embracing crepe paper and wire to mimic plant life, in this case various Showy Lady Slipper orchids," she said in an interview with Saugeen Shores Hub.
Nam said she hopes visitors will "enter the space and move around it as you would out in nature, inspecting and dissecting all the little details as well as showcasing the beauties and layers of installation art."
Where the Willows Weep and Orchids Dream will be at the TOM, 840 1st Avenue West in Owen Sound, until January 10, 2026.
Tara artist Bianca Artemida Nam. Image supplied.
