Nature Girl

Wanna grow a Clam Garden?

Wanna grow a Clam Garden?

Two people sitting on a log by a lake, sharing a drink, surrounded by a cloudy sky and mountains in the background.

Wanna Grow a Clam Garden is an artistic research project that explores the layered relationships around Indigenous clam gardens, intertidal ecologies and the impacts of settler colonialism around the Salish Sea, specifically in the shíshálh swiya.

Led by shíshálh knowledge keeper, painter, poet and cultural educator Candace Campo (xets’emits’a), and   filmmaker, poet, and citizen scientist Trent Maynard, a Canadian settler of Celtic, Austrian and English ancestry, the project blends Indigenous science, embodied fieldwork, trail cam research, and poetic inquiry to build deeper relationships with these ancient aquaculture gardens.

Previous Work

Our previous collaboration, Nature Girl, is a short film supported by the Canada Council for the Arts. It combined motion-sensor camera footage, Candace's oratory and language lessons, and poetry to document multispecies relationships in a wetland within shíshálh territory. That work sparked further dialogue about place-based knowledge, Indigenous and settler land relationships, and the ecological intelligence of multispecies systems.

Three women on a beach with mountains in the background, with one woman showing something to the others.

Research Questions

This research will explore: What stories and responsibilities emerge in the act of listening, observing, and learning from intertidal places shaped by Indigenous stewardship? How might creative practices—like poetry, camera work, film and storytelling—support deeper relationship building?

A person practicing meditation on a paddleboard near a calm lake surrounded by mountains, with other paddleboarders and a sailboat in the background.

New Project Vision

This new project builds on that momentum, extending our collaboration to the shoreline, where stories of climate resilience, food sovereignty, and cultural sovereignty are emerging through practices like clam garden restoration.

Our goal is to uplift voices from the community and celebrate the passion and skills of our syiyaya (family/friends). 

Person kneeling on a pebbled beach, holding shells, with a body of water, mountains, and partly cloudy sky in the background.

Meet the Artists

  • Candace Campo, ancestral name xets’emits’a (to always be there), is a shíshálh (Sechelt) member from the Sunshine Coast, BC. As the co-founder of Talaysay Tours with her spouse Larry, and now co-owned with their daughter Talaysay Campo.

    Candace Campo

    Candace Campo, ancestral name xets’emits’a (to always be there), is a shíshálh (Sechelt) member from the Sunshine Coast, BC. As the co-founder of Talaysay Tours with her spouse Larry, and now co-owned with their daughter Talaysay Campo, Candace provides Indigenous cultural and outdoor experiences. Trained as an anthropologist and teacher, she shares the stories and history of her people, focusing on Indigenous language and cultural revitalization. Candace’s mission is to train younger Indigenous members to connect with the land while running a successful intergenerational tour and education business.

  • Trent Maynard is a writer, media artist, filmmaker, and citizen scientist, of mixed settler Canadian ancestry, including Austrian, Celtic & English. They were born and raised and live as a guest between Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation and shíshálh Nation lands.

    Trent Maynard

    Trent Maynard is a writer, media artist, filmmaker, and citizen scientist, of mixed settler Canadian ancestry, including Austrian, Celtic & English. They were born and raised and live as a guest between Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation and shíshálh Nation lands. Their art practice makes relationships with ecosystems and multispecies fellow citizens, using motion-sensor cameras, word art, filmmaking and storytelling collaborations.

Support Clam Garden Research

Help us continue this important work of cultural revitalization, community connection, and ecological research.

3% Cover the Fee

This is a community-driven research and art project. Donations directly support creative fieldwork, knowledge sharing, and cultural revitalization. Contributions are not tax-deductible.

A woman crouching on a pebble beach near the water, holding two foil-wrapped objects over her eyes, smiling with a mountain and cloudy sky in the background.
Two women on a beach, one holding a large shell and the other holding a rock, with mountains and a partly cloudy sky in the background.
Person holding a large, greenish, spiny shell, likely a clam or oyster, outdoors near water with a cloudy sky.
Three women standing on a sandy beach near a body of water, with mountains and trees in the background, examining a rock together.
Two people sit by a lake on a large fallen log, having a drink together. They are dressed warmly in jackets and beanies, with mountains and a cloudy sky in the background.
Person sitting on a sandy beach near the water, wearing a pink hoodie, gray beanie, and jeans, examining seashells with mountains and a cloudy sky in the background.
A smiling woman in a gray beanie and pink hoodie is playing with foiled seashells held over her eyes at a lakeside with mountains and a sailboat in the background.
Smiling woman at the water's edge holding silver-colored rocks near her eyes, wearing a gray beanie, pink hoodie, with a mountain and lake landscape in the background.
A woman with a gray beanie smiling and holding two small objects over her eyes, kneeling by a lakeshore with mountains in the background and a sailboat on the water.
A woman smiling and holding two foil-wrapped objects over her eyes, sitting by a lake with mountains and a cloudy sky in the background.
Woman squatting on a rocky beach near a lake, holding two foamy rocks in front of her eyes, smiling, with a mountain range and sailboat in the background.
A person crouching on a pebble beach by a lake, picking up a seashell. The person is wearing a pink hoodie, blue jeans, and a light gray beanie. In the background, there are mountains, a sailboat on the lake, and a partly cloudy sky.
Person wearing pink hoodie and gray beanie collecting shells on a rocky beach by the water with mountains in the background.
People preparing kayaks by a calm lake surrounded by mountains with dense greenery, under a clear blue sky.

  • Explore the land through an Indigenous lens.

  • Indigenous owned and operated since 2002.

  • Love the Land.