Inheritance
Latcham Art Centre
May 26- July 12, 2025
Opening reception & talk: Saturday, May 31st
talk: 2-3PM, reception: 3-4PM
Latcham Art Centre
2 Park Drive, Stouffville, Ontario, L4A 4K1
exhibition text & curation by Jeffrey Nye
The rich visual world of Stanzie Tooth’s “Inheritance” is populated by mysterious figures. At times they are absences—the white of the paper—defined by their surroundings. At other times they emerge as colourless, foliage-inscribed silhouettes that might be coming into being or fading out of existence—almost camouflaged, almost transparent. It is clear that these figures are in relationship with the landscapes that surround them, but the nature of that relationship is an open question.
How much of a person’s identity is determined by the places they inhabit and their relationships to other people? Some believe that those relationships are what matter most in determining a person’s identity. Russian philosopher, Mikhail Bakhtin, wrote, “my own birth and death are events which I am in principle incapable of experiencing.”[1] In Bakhtin’s worldview, each life is a collaborative event because we rely on others to imagine us before we are born and to remember us after we die. Accordingly, if an artist’s life was represented by one of their own paintings, they would be merely a co-signer with the finishing touches belonging to others. In this way, each generation’s stories are inherited by those who come next.
An inheritance involves the passing of things (belongings, property, heritage) from one person to the next. It suggests the end of one life and the continuance of another. The intergenerational themes within Stanzie Tooth’s exhibition are informed, in large part, by her experience of becoming a mother through the Covid pandemic—a time when a heightened awareness of mortality and inheritance became a global reality. If mortality is near the core of this work, the figures in Tooth’s exhibition might represent the ghosts of those who previously inhabited these lush places.
Bursting with colourful flowers and foliage, the landscapes of Tooth’s “Inheritance” are also rich with references drawn from two sources, art history and Tooth’s childhood memories of the rural Ontario property where she grew up. Tooth’s painting “Inheritance,” for example, is informed by a famous Botticelli painting known as “Primavera” (Spring): a celebration of love, peace, and prosperity[2] Tooth replaces Botticelli’s figures with autobiographical ones, and the 138 species of plants featured in the original Botticelli composition are reimagined as foliage inspired by Tooth's own memories of native Ontario flora as well as flowers from her mother’s garden.
The art historical references throughout the exhibition are a vehicle for exploring how painting is historically linked to the fetishization of nature—not as a place to inhabit, but rather as an image to capture and contemplate. This is where Tooth’s approach to landscape differs. These are not the distanced, objectified and idealised views of Western Romantic landscapes—devoid of human subjects. Rather, Tooth’s paintings emphasise the direct connections between the figures and their surroundings. Tooth has inherited images, stories and languages, which might have determined the artistic lens through which she views the world. Yet, they do not dictate how she chooses to retell the story.
In Western thought, the separation of human civilization from nature has played a key role in classifying nature as a mere resource to be extracted towards ever-increasing wealth and comfort. The shift towards urbanism and a technologically dependent way of being drives daily human activity further and further away from nature. As a result, natural spaces become perceived as alien and hostile environments. If human behaviour in the 21st century is characterised as a force of consumption, devouring and destroying the natural environment, the figures in Tooth’s work could be regarded as something alien—draining colour from the landscape.
On the other hand, humans, like all creatures, depend on the land and seek a sustainable relationship with the planet. As natural forces disrupt our daily lives in more extreme ways, the urgency to reconcile the human/nature divide becomes more pressing. In response, people from many walks of life—farmers, scientists, educators, engineers, and artists—are searching for innovations to shift humanity’s momentum away from the climate change precipice. In her description of the sacred bond between humans and non-humans (plants, animals and earth), Robin Wall Kimmerer evokes the words of Anishinaabe linguist, James Vukelich when she describes the gifts provided to us by plants as “a manifestation of unconditional love that plants have for people.”[3] Kimmerer equates nature’s gifts to a parent’s yearning to provide for their children, ideas that resonate powerfully with Stanzie Tooth’s paintings. From this perspective, Tooth’s figures may appear to be communing with or empathizing with their surroundings—returning to nature.
Regardless of how one interprets the figures in Tooth’s artwork, they invite a personal connection—allowing the viewer to imagine themselves in these landscapes, feeling the earth and breathing in the fragrance of the flowers. The life-sized figures amidst the massive span of foliage in “The Wall” surround and include the viewer, immersing them as active participants in the exhibition and its themes. The interplay of the figures in this work also highlights another key theme within Stanzie Tooth’s work—human relationships.
At the entrance of the gallery, the first three works— “Foundation VI,” “Gateway,” and “Portrait”—feature lone figures, introducing the figure-ground relationship that is central to the exhibition. The next grouping of paintings explores the theme of connection in Tooth's recent work. “Crossing (After Matthew Wong),” “Counting Breaths,” “Parents III,” “Foundation II” and “Couple” present moments of spiritual, emotional, and physical connection. The final grouping of works explores familial relationships and the impact that motherhood has made on Tooth's life and work.
Stanzie Tooth’s experiences have brought her to a place where love, with its variety and complexity, is a subject of exploration. The work in “Inheritance” comes from a period of her life that is shaped by the force that binds families, one that embedded itself into Tooth's practice when she became a mother. Her sense of responsibility to her child led her to make significant changes to her art practice, seeking less-toxic materials and transitioning from oil paint to naturally derived ink on paper.
Environmental sustainability has become a central aspect to her work—both materially and conceptually. Driven by her parental responsibility to advocate for a healthier future for her son, Tooth’s imagery has also gained an urgency and directness, embracing a more representational approach to her themes.
The echoes of familial relationships extend beyond the imagery within Tooth's work. The impact of growing up in a rural environment, living close to the land, gathering kindling for firewood, and learning to appreciate the effort required to maintain that lifestyle has informed Tooth's art production. Her desire to create physically demanding and labour-intensive work stems from that upbringing. The motto inscribed in the Tooth family crest is, “Perseverance will obtain the reward.” Informed by parental guilt, Stanzie Tooth’s inherited work ethic also takes the form of a kind of penance in her studio practice—as if experiencing too much pleasure in creating art would be an affront to her love of being with her son. The parental longing to exist in two places at once is visible in both the vinyl installation “The Wall” and in the painting “Inheritance” where the mother figure is physically separated from her partner and her child. The space between them is meaningfully filled with the product of Tooth’s labour. In the exhibition’s extension, located in the Stouffville Library, the father and child figures are even further removed from the mother’s presence, reinforcing this emotional separation.
Stanzie Tooth’s exhibition poses questions about humanity’s place in relation to nature, exploring the line between human civilization and the natural world. Latcham Art Centre is meaningfully connected to this aspect of Tooth’s work through its geographical location on the outer edge of the Greater Toronto Area, bridging urban and rural spaces. Situated on the fringe of nature, where trails lead out of town among forests and fields, such places offer unique opportunities to experience the natural world. Similarly, this exhibition invites visitors to imagine that a deeper, more reciprocal relationship with the natural environment is attainable.
[1] Bakhtin, Mikhail. Art and Answerability: Early Philosophical Essays by M.M. Bakhtin. Edited by Michael Holquist and Vadim Liapunov. Translated by Vadim Liapunov. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990. P 104.
[2] https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/botticelli-spring
[3] Robin Wall Kimmerer. The Serviceberry, 2024. P 7
above: A Presentment, ink on watercolour paper, 41.75 x 59 inches, 2025
below: The Wall & Counting Breathes, each 30 x 22.5 inches, 2025