On the night of the Perseids meteor shower, in the shadow of a new moon under a miraculously smoke-free sky, we wandered into The Deep Dark. This forest surrounds Empire of Dirt, an artist residency halfway up Arrow Mountain overlooking Kootenay Valley on the traditional territory of the Yaqan Nuqiy within Ktunaxa Nation.

_{Above: previous exhibitions of The Deep Dark in North Bay, Ontario and Medicine Hat, Alberta}

Peering into the forest at night, the hair on the back of your neck prickles. These are not the woods at the edge of town or a manicured park in a city somewhere. These trees have seen some things, held some creatures you wouldn’t want to meet after sunset. Luckily, most of them want nothing to do with you – they just want to forage for grubs and eat bunny rabbits in peace.

We first created The Deep Dark in 2015, intended to illuminate the interspaces between our sacred (and natural) environments and cultural constructs of darkness. Why do we fear the dark? Is darkness a presence or an absence? What separates real fear from imaginary fear? What are the commonalities in our human relationship with the deep dark?

The Deep Dark has toured across Canada and visited Sweden, but this was the first time since its inception at the Banff Centre that it’s returned to the wilder-spaces of the forest. But even then, we were surrounded by cabins and residency buildings. In truth, Empire of Dirt was the deepest dark we’d ever walked – the fullest dark, most alive with other beings – hidden presences, just beyond the reach vision.

Friends and visitors wandered the 1 km route, guided by a series of bright and distant portals, gateways shining like blinding beacons in the darkness.

We stepped carefully and slowly; the ground was uneven with roots and growths, the normal stuff of forest pathways.

Changes in temperature, elevation, and smell were amplified and abstracted. In the black between gates, branches reached out to touch your arms and face. Time shifted, and eventually the edge of the woods gave way to a grass-filled field.

As we passed through the last illuminated gate, our eyes adjusted and the entire sky opened up, full of stars. If you were lucky, this was the moment when you’d notice the meteors streaking across the cosmos.

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Thanks to Empire of Dirt, Marnie & Jim, Bob, The Thunders Family, the visitors who joined us in The Deep Dark, the creaking forest and the glittering sky.

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