Queer(y)ing Ecologies
How is queerness reflected in nature? Why does it matter? How have dominant scientific narratives shaped our understanding of gender and sexuality in the natural world, and what can we learn by looking beyond those assumptions?
The Queer(y)ing Ecologies workshop series will create space for 2SLGBTQIA+ community members to explore relationships between queerness, land, and environmental care through art, storytelling, and dialogue. Guided by local queer artists, knowledge holders, and facilitators, participants will engage in creative and reflective activities that connect personal experience with broader ecological themes, such as belonging, resilience, and alternative ways of relating to nature. The workshops will foster community connection, amplify underrepresented voices in environmental conversations, and support inclusive, justice-oriented approaches to climate and conservation in the Bow Valley.
This workshop series is intended for 2SLGBTQIA+ participants only and will center the lived experiences of 2SLGBTQIA+ people. To help create a space where participants feel comfortable sharing openly about their experiences, these sessions are not intended for allies. We appreciate your understanding as we prioritize a safe and supportive environment for 2SLGBTQIA+ attendees.
Allies are warmly invited to engage with the work through the public art exhibition, which will run from August 12 to September 7, 2026. Join us for the opening reception on Thursday, August 13, 2026, where everyone is welcome to celebrate and experience the artwork created through this workshop series.
Workshop series
Photo: Gyandromorph butterfly.
Upcycled Ecologies Collaging
WORKSHOP VENUE: CANMORE TOGETHER APRIL 8, 2026 I 7-9 P.M.
In partnership with Canmore Pride Society
In this mixed-media collage workshop, participants will transform reclaimed and natural materials into expressive visual stories. Led by Stoney mixed-media artist Cheyenne Suwataga-Mu and vegetation ecologist Rebecca Smith, the session blends ecological knowledge, and queer creative practice. Using upcycled materials, yarn, newspaper, found objects, and dried flowers, participants will create collages that explore relationships to land, identity, and environmental care.
Facilitators: Cheyenne Suwataga-Mu and Rebecca Smith
Queer as a Bighorn: A Textile Art Workshop
WORKSHOP VENUE: ARTSPLACE MAY 11, 2026 I 6-9 P.M.
Join two local artists as we delve into a fun night of textile art. Weave your own identity into a group mosaic portrait of one of the Rockies' queerest creatures, the bighorn sheep! Explore curiosity and identity while learning techniques of fabric collage, embroidery, sewing and more, using found, recycled or repurposed materials. The final mosaic will show a celebration of diversity in both nature and our local queer community and be exhibited at artsPlace.
Facilitators: Hannah Antonsen and Jess Sampson
Fungi, Identity & Queer Ecologies 4 hours
WORKSHOP VENUE: ARTSPLACE JUNE 13, 2026 I 10 A.M.-2 P.M.
Join us for a playful, hands-on journey into the hidden world of fungi through a queer ecology lens. This 4-hour workshop will blend discussions around queer identity and fungi, basics of mushroom identification, a mini mushroom foray, and spore prints.
Why fungi? Fungi complicate the categories we rely on. They resist neat definitions of individual, sex, and even organisms. They are not plants, not animals, not bacteria. They grow invisibly, surface briefly, and blur boundaries between bodies. Studying them invites us to think more flexibly about life.
Facilitators: Mich Lam and Arseniy Belosokhov
Why does this matter?
Queer ecologies invite us to see the natural world and ourselves differently. They challenge the idea that nature is fixed, orderly, or strictly binary, and instead highlight the diversity, fluidity, and interconnectedness that exist across ecosystems. From plants that change sex, to animals that form same-sex pairings, to landscapes shaped by complex relationships, nature is already far more “queer” than we often recognize.
At the same time, queer ecologies draw connections between environmental issues and social justice. When we frame queerness as “unnatural,” it can reinforce harmful narratives that fuel homophobia and transphobia. This is especially important in places like Alberta, where ongoing debates and policies affecting trans and gender-diverse people show how powerful—and dangerous—these ideas can be. Queer ecologies push back against this by grounding queerness within the natural world, reminding us that diversity is not an exception to nature, but a fundamental part of it.
They also ask us to consider whose relationships to land have been valued or erased, and how systems of exclusion—whether based on gender, sexuality, race, or culture—shape how we care for the Earth.
By embracing queer ecologies, we open up new ways of belonging, storytelling, and stewardship. It’s about imagining a world where diversity is not just accepted, but understood as essential to resilience—both in our communities and in the ecosystems we are part of.
curious to learn more?
Animal Pride: Nature’s Coming Out Story (film): In Animal Pride: Nature’s Coming Out Story, Queer naturalist Connel Bradwell challenges mainstream biology’s blindspot for queer animal behaviour in nature. Schooled in the birds and the bees, survival of the fittest, The Origin of Species, Connel sees the disconnect – how can humans be Queer, while animals supposedly aren’t?
A Field Guide to Gay Animals (Podcast): Strap on your binoculars and lace up your boots: A Field Guide to Gay Animals explores sexuality, gender, and joy in the animal world. Hosts Owen Ever and Laine Kaplan-Levenson take you on a quest to see beyond the natural world as we know it and into the natural world as it is: queer as f*ck.
An Introduction to Queer Ecology (Podcast): Interview with Catriona Sandilands
Nature is Gay (Podcast): A biweekly podcast exploring gender and sexuality in animals, plants, and fungi.
Queer Planet (film): In this CBC Gem documentary, explore the rich diversity of animal sexuality and meet the scientists who are questioning the traditional concept of what’s natural.
“I think that drawing on LGBTQIA+ histories of resistance and thinking seriously about the ways in which our intimate relationships can be other than tied to petrocapitalism, I think that’s why queer ecology is actually pretty important at this moment. And that in current conditions, we see a flourishing of queer forms of land and property ownership. There’s a number of queer networks and also more specifically QTBIPOC, queer trans BIPOC, networks of farmers who are grappling with these multiple forms of relationship and multiple forms of creatively providing mutual aid in times of economic crisis and that mutual aid extending to include better relationships with our more than human kin, either through organic agriculture, for example, or forms of thoughtful ecological restoration.”
Thank you to the Town of Canmore Micro Grant Program, Rozsa Foundation and Pursuit Community Fund for funding this project.
