Rita Leistner:
The Tree Planters at Kelowna Art Gallery

This winter, Rita Leistner: The Tree Planters begins its national tour with a presentation at the Kelowna Art Gallery. Featuring a powerful series of large-scale photographs by the artist Rita Leistner (b. 1964), the exhibition offers a rare glimpse into the demanding and little-seen world of professional tree planting in British Columbia. 

Each year, hundreds of people travel to remote camps across the province to take on the physically gruelling work of reforestation. For months at a time, they plant trees by hand across terrain that is uneven, rocky, and littered with debris from past logging. These landscapes are increasingly shaped by the visible impact of forest fires. Leistner’s photographs bring viewers into this world, capturing both the intensity of the labour and the striking landscapes in which it unfolds. 

Between 2016 and 2019, Leistner was embedded with planting crews, living off-grid for extended periods and immersing herself in the rhythms of camp life. Using dramatic lighting and dynamic compositions, she transforms scenes of physical toil into compelling portraits of endurance and resilience. The planters appear almost mythic—figures moving across vast, clear-cut terrain—yet their humanity remains unmistakable. 

Leistner brings a deeply personal perspective to the project. Before establishing her career as a photographer and filmmaker, she spent a decade working as a tree planter, planting more than half a million trees. This firsthand experience lends the series a rare authenticity, expressing deep respect for the people who undertake this demanding work. The photographs in The Tree Planters honour the generations of Canadians who have helped renew the nation’s forests—one sapling at a time—while reflecting on the evolving relationship between people, labour, and the land. 

Rita Leistner: The Tree Planters is organized and circulated by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and curated by John Geoghegan. The exhibition is on view at the Kelowna Art Gallery from January 24 to May 31, 2026. It will travel next to the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery (June 5–August 22, 2026), followed by presentations at the Yukon Arts Centre in Whitehorse (September–November 2026) and the Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery in Sarnia, Ontario (April–August 2027).