Gated Gardens

Reported By: Shelby McCormick

Photographed By: Yolanda Diaz

Seth Van Der Eems’ art installation in the Minthorne Gallery, titled “Gated Gardens,” reflects the artist’s exploration of  “marks of a human being on their environment.”

        The art is centered around Van Der Eems’ own experience in moving and owning land. “How do I care for it? How do I build on it in a way that recognizes my fleeting position in that space?” said Van Der Eems.

To begin the exploration of these questions, Van Der Eems dove into the history of the land he is living on. His property is near Wapato Lake and Hagg Lake and is in the area that, in the past, was the gathering place for indigenous tribes to come together in the winter months to harvest and trade with one another.

        This land would later be bought up by loggers and farmers “in all kinds of agreements. Some of them were probably fair and some of them were probably very unfair,” said Van Der Eems. These dealings would displace the tribes from this seasonal gathering place.

        These farmers began to change the hydrology of the land so that food could be grown on it year-round without flooding. However, this work was difficult and expensive. So, these farmers then sold their land to Asian immigrant farmers, many of them Japanese, who came to Oregon looking for land.  

Then, as WWII began and Oregon instituted internment camps, these farmers lost their land, and white farmers came back into the land to finish the hydrology work. Today, Hagg Lake supplies much of the drinking water for the Western Portland metropolitan area. And in 2013, land surrounding the Wapato Lake would be converted into a wildlife refuge to return this area from farming land to its wetland state.

        As Van Der Eems learned this history of farmers changing the land over history, he reflected on the fences built and other changes these farmers implemented to make the land usable for them. This led to his reflection of his own responsibility to the land. “How do I maintain this place so that it’s not just a beautiful place for me to look at, but actively participates in the ecology and hydrology of the whole Portland area?” said Van Der Eems.

        As viewers go through the exhibit, Van Der Eems wants them to consider questions such as: “How do we look at the land? What marks do we make on the land?” He does this with visual motifs and “pulling everyday marks on landscapes out of their normal context to create a juxtaposition that may seem strange to the viewer,” said Van Der Eems.

        “Gated Gardens” will be on display until Dec. 2, where there will be a closing event as part of the First Friday Art Walk.