This week, I’m talking to Anna Soper, a Canadian artist, writer, podcaster and master of too many things to mention really about Kate Crooks, a largely forgotten Canadian botanist whose work Anna uncovered for a project she undertook in 2018. Anna’s research into Kate Crooks has unearthed pieces of a historical jigsaw puzzle which leave us wondering how many other botanists and specimens are out there just waiting to be discovered and how many of these important pieces of the botanical record have been lost forever.
Dr Ian Bedford’s Bug of the Week: Fleas
About Anna Soper
“Anna Soper has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from OCAD University, where she won the OCAD University Medal in 2011. She has studied abroad at the Glasgow School of Art, and has a Master of Library and Information Science degree from Western University.
Soper has exhibited her work in Toronto, New York, and London, UK. She lives and works in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, where she has created two public art works for the City of Kingston.” https://www.annasoper.ca/about
Links
Anna Soper’s Article on Kate Crooks in Atlas Obscura
Teen People Podcast on Twitter
Teen People Podcast on Instagram
Botanical Society of Canada - Biodiversity Library
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/kate-crooks-botany-collection-lost-1.5249427
https://news.westernu.ca/2019/08/alumna-searches-for-botanists-trailblazing-work/