Amir Rahsaz – Mess is Beautiful: Small Dams, Big Futures

My drawings grow from tangled lines and chaotic layers. Up close they seem meaningless, but from a distance hidden forms emerge. The beaver, notorious as the god of disruption, creates habitats that appear messy. What seems broken is, in fact, vibrantly alive, a quiet resistance to humans’ need for order. That is where my friendship with the beaver began.

This exhibition marks the subtle return of an ancient bond between humans, beavers, and wetlands, a kinship long muted by ecological amnesia. Early hints of these future shared landscapes can already be seen in the quiet interactions between unhoused people sheltering in Kelowna’s overlooked wetlands and the beavers who share their habitat with them. These encounters offer a glimpse of the more-than-human worlds we may one day rely on, and a reason for hope for an uncertain climate future.