In a time when most moving images are designed to be consumed quickly and forgotten just as fast, Evening Escapades asks something different of its audience. It invites viewers to slow down, to sit with the land, and to listen — not just to sound, but to story, memory and relationship.

That sense of invitation takes shape at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery through Evening Escapades, the debut exhibition by Starlight Sojourn Studios, a collaborative animation practice formed by artists Darcy Tara McDiarmid and Chantal Rousseau. Bringing together four films and, for the first time, McDiarmid’s paintings on birch panel, the exhibition creates an immersive environment in which animals move through dreamlike northern landscapes and the boundaries between the physical and spirit worlds begin to blur.

The partnership began almost by chance in the fall of 2022, when both artists were in residence at the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture in Dawson City. As artists rooted in the natural world, they quickly recognized a shared sensibility. McDiarmid had long hoped to meet an animator who could bring her images to life. Rousseau, an animator, arrived at exactly the right moment.

Their first collaboration, Starlight Sojourn, was completed in early 2023. Since then, the pair have created three additional animations, with a fifth currently in development. What emerged was a shared practice grounded in trust, listening and mutual respect.

Rousseau describes it as her dream collaboration — one in which ideas are spoken into being through conversation, storytelling and shared imagination before a single frame is made. McDiarmid brings long-held traditional knowledge and a dreaming practice to the work, while Rousseau translates those visions into movement. Together, they create something neither could make on their own. After more than 30 years as a practising artist, Rousseau says, “the work that I make with Darcy is the work that I am most proud of.”

The exhibition brings together four films — Starlight Sojourn (2023), Evening Escapades (2024), River Revelations (2024), and Midnight Migrations: Wëdzey Tąy (Caribou Trails) (2025). Though created over time, all are set on Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in territory, where the land functions not as backdrop but as presence.

Rivers flow throughout the films, reflecting both ecological importance and cultural meaning. As a Hän Gwich’in person, McDiarmid explains that her people are river people, and waterways naturally guide storytelling and ways of being. Certain landmarks, including Ddhäl Ch’èl Cha Nän — also known as Tombstone Territorial Park — recur across the works, recognized as ancient and sacred spaces layered with memory.

Animals appear throughout the exhibition not as symbols to be interpreted, but as beings with agency. Some return across multiple films, suggesting deeper stories still unfolding.

For McDiarmid, animals are teachers, guardians and protectors — the original caretakers of the earth. Long-ago stories, she explains, began “a long time ago when animals were people,” speaking the same language as humans and reminding us that we are never truly alone on the land.

Indigenous knowledge, ecological stewardship and traditional practices form the foundation of the work. McDiarmid says these teachings guide her both as an artist and as a person. Conservation, heritage and responsibility to future generations are inseparable from the act of making. For both artists, the work is legacy-driven — a way of honouring the land, animals and sustaining ways of life.

That commitment is evident in the materials and processes behind the films. Rousseau works extensively with analogue techniques, including Super 8 footage hand-processed using plants harvested from the land, alongside drawings and paintings. There is an intimacy in these methods — a physical connection to place that resists the distance digital tools can sometimes impose.

Field recordings captured on site shape the soundscapes, allowing the environments themselves to speak. McDiarmid adds that plant medicines, like animals, are living teachers directly connected to traditional law, making their presence in the work both intentional and essential.

For the first time, McDiarmid’s paintings on birch panel are presented alongside the moving images. The pairing offers insight into the collaborative process, with elements from the paintings woven directly into the animations. In the gallery, the paintings invite close, unhurried viewing, while the films surround audiences with motion and sound.

While many of the works have screened at film festivals across Canada and internationally, the gallery setting offers something distinct. With all four films presented simultaneously, the installation becomes fully immersive, inviting visitors to move through the space, linger and settle into its rhythms.

This exhibition also marks the first time Starlight Sojourn Studios is presenting work in Northern Ontario. Both artists say they are excited to share representations of Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in territory with another northern community. They see resonances in landscape, climate and lived experience, and hope Thunder Bay audiences will feel a connection to these places, even from afar.

Ultimately, Evening Escapades asks very little of its audience beyond presence. McDiarmid hopes visitors are swept up in the beauty of the natural world before they begin to analyze what they are seeing. In that moment of immersion — before explanation, before interpretation — the work does what it has always intended to do: remind us that the land is alive, that stories are still unfolding, and that we are part of a much larger world.

Starlight Sojourn Studios: Evening Escapades, an exhibition by Darcy Tara McDiarmid and Chantal Rousseau, is on view at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery until March 8, 2025. The gallery will host an artist talk with Rousseau on Thursday, Feb. 19, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.