Emerald Ash is a meditation on the fate of the ash trees in Eastern North America, decimated by the Emerald Ash Borer, an invasive species of jewel beetle brought from Northeastern Asia in the 1980s. In Montreal, where I live, some 40,000 ash trees are being cut down to reduce the spread of the insect, and it is estimated that most ash trees will not survive. A few trees, especially in the cities–in Montreal around 8000––are being spared with the use of a pesticide called TreeAzin, which must be administered by injection every two years.
It is an iterative work where each new version composts and augments the materials left behind by its former lives. The latest iteration was an installation as part of the “Listening Beyond the Human” events in 2022, organized at matralab, Concordia, in collaboration with Hexagram.




This devastation came to my attention shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, and as I began investigating, I couldn’t help but feel parallels between our species. Likewise, I was increasingly reflecting on the connections, communications and shared presence that we have with not only animal beings, but also with plants or minerals.

My creative work has been inspired by or used ecological, natural and even scientific elements for almost two decades. With Emerald Ash, I wanted to create from a place of reflection and meditation on what empathy, sympathy, or witnessing the trees, the borers, the parasitic or the symbiotic creatures in this human-induced situation. My goal was also to make this reflection a part of the score and the awareness, preparation, and playing of the performers.

The first iteration involved collaborating with Ensemble Paramirabo, with whom I explored ways to listen, witness and sound the impressions, ideas and emotions that come up when thinking about and experiencing the situation these trees are facing.


The members of Ensemble Paramirabo used a set of 30 videoscores to perform the work that I subsequently combined to create a video with many layers (see excerpt at the top of the page). Please contact me for access to the score.
