And it’s not just that we walk by them without noticing. Or that we don’t often think about their importance. There are also remarkable gaps in scientific knowledge around pollinators – including uncertainty about the ability of various species to survive diminishing habitat and the impacts of the climate crisis. Issues of environmental protection and food security have been a huge part of my life. I’ve had the privilege of working with Indigenous Peoples and small-scale farmers around the world. I even briefly, and unsuccessfully, co-owned an organic market garden. All of this informs my fascination with pollinators and why I want to share these photos. I work from home and mostly set my own hours. Throughout the summer, I will often take long breaks to simply sit and watch the insect life in our garden or in any of the city parks where our dog likes to visit. In selecting images for this show, I drew from favourites among the hundreds upon hundreds of pollinator photos I’ve taken over the last few years. These are the photos that I think are the most successful either in terms of colour and composition or that I think capture a good portrait of these garden visitors. I’ve also tried to represent some of the diversity of the region and to highlight some of the species that I personally find most interesting. When I first started planning for the exhibit, I imagined a smaller set of prints, each mounted and framed. But something didn’t sit right about the idea of the images being isolated from each by the hard black wall of the picture frames. What I have tried to create instead is an opportunity for viewers to immerse themselves in a larger than life representative of a green space full of the typical pollinators found in our region.