F.L.A.P Talk with Michael Mesure – Art Gallery of Mississauga

Michael Mesure, Executive Director of FLAP Canada & Cofounder BirdSafe® Building Consultant, will speak about bird-building collisions in the urban environment, bringing attention to the reflective light issue that impacts over 1 billion birds across North America every year.

This special program is produced in alignment with Sara Angelucci’s Undergrowth exhibition, on view at the Art Gallery of Mississauga from April 20 to July 7, 2024.

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The Art Gallery of Mississauga would like to thank RAMA Gaming House Mississauga and Charitable Gaming, Community Good for financially supporting, this program.

ABOUT MICHAEL MESURE
Michael Mesure is the Executive Director of Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) Canada, a registered Canadian charity. He has been with the organization since it began operations in 1993.
An author and speaker, Michael regularly delivers presentations on the topic of bird-building collisions. His work increasingly focuses on solutions to help mitigate and remediate the challenges of bird migrations in built environments, from having led the BirdSafe® Building Standards and risk assessments, to helping develop the Canadian Standards Association’s (CSA) Bird-Friendly Design standard as a technical committee member. Michael tirelessly advocates for bird protections at various levels of government, and consults with city planners across North America on developing bird-friendly guidelines and standards.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Sara Angelucci transforms found photographs and creates images exposing the cultural and historical conditions outside the image frame, bringing attention to the social forces that generate the language of photography.

In addition to his ongoing bird rescue and recovery patrols, Michael’s time is spent partnership-building and enabling collaboration to promote bird conservation programs and other renowned initiatives— including Global Bird Rescue and Bird-Safe Campus —and contributing content to ornithological-focused papers.

Undergrowth brings together several bodies of work produced over the last decade that examine the ways in which photographic practices have contributed to the divide between humans and nature. This direction finds its impetus in her series Aviary (2013), which morphs images of extinct or endangered birds with found Victorian cartes-de-visite portraits to form strange, hybrid creatures. These works, alongside series such as Arboretum (2016) and the sculptural installation Sightings (Ivory-Billed Woodpecker) (2015), consider the implications of the historical Western impulse to capture and classify nature.

Angelucci’s most recent works are grounded in environmental engagement, investigating local plant species and the vulnerable habitats we disturb. Nocturnal Botanical Ontario (2019–ongoing) highlights the intricate webs of native, introduced, and invasive plant species in our immediate proximity, while her video Ghost Orchard (2022) captures the overrun growth of an abandoned orchard just before impending plans for urban redevelopment will cause its disappearance.

Throughout these interconnected projects, Angelucci offers thoughtful and intimate acts of attention that evolve from a place of reverence and respect, as she seeks to examine and reconcile our relationship with the natural world.

Undergrowth is co-presented by the Art Gallery of Mississauga, the Art Gallery of Sudbury, the Varley Art Gallery of Markham, and the Tom Thomson Art Gallery.

The artist would like to thank the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts for their support of work included in this exhibition.

Funding for the Art Gallery of Mississauga is provided by the City of Mississauga, the Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, TD Bank Group, Rama Gaming House, and Charitable Gaming Community Good.

Undergrowth is part of the CONTACT Photography Festival.