Author: Maggie Hope

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The vibrant landscape of our political climate

A viewer observes Grenier’s piece, titled What We Want / What You Want. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

“If I was to … think about how to position myself within the current political landscape, which words or concepts would I use to start laying down the ground?” This was one of the questions artist Nicolas Grenier asked himself when creating the works for his most recent exhibition.

The multi-disciplinary artist and alumnus of Concordia’s fine arts program teamed up with Galerie Antoine Ertaskiran to present Precarious Geographies, a collection of paintings examining ideas of political and social structures. Grenier, who is interested in contemporary politics and news, wanted to create works that expressed concepts like personal beliefs and activism and what they mean within our current political climate. He then came up with the idea of representing them by using diagrams to, essentially, “map” them out.

According to the artist, Precarious Geographies is about the relationship between activism and philosophy. Grenier explained that, since the election of the current American president, people have become more outspoken and committed to their political views. The artist said he believes that by taking an activist stance, a person must “believe in something enough to fight for it.” This idea can present some problems, however, because it assumes a person’s view or belief is absolute. In his life and work, Grenier enjoys questioning the concept of absolute ideas, and so he decided to explore it further.

Upon coming up with this idea, Grenier then asked himself: “How do I, as a painter, visually display [it]?” The artist, who sometimes spends months developing his projects, admitted he liked the idea of land as a starting point for the pieces in Precarious Geographies. He used it to build upon the ideas and concepts in his paintings.

From there, the artist decided to include elements of text and diagrams, as a way to surprise the viewer since diagrams are not usually in conventional paintings. According to Grenier, the use of words in his paintings “restricts the range of interpretations [of a piece], but it also pushes the work in a specific direction. It has some openness, but also some closure.” The exhibition is Grenier’s attempt to physically map out “philosophical and political ambiguities” that exist in the current political climate of the Western world by painting them in an abstract but concrete way.

One of Grenier’s larger works, Going for it, occupies an entire wall of the gallery. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

A piece titled Going for it occupies an entire wall of the gallery. A warm, brick-coloured background gives way to what can only be described as a “stack” of different coloured squares. The bottoms of the squares fade into horizontal lines that stretch across the bottom third of the canvas. Sharp edges and perfect gradients showcase Grenier’s practiced technique and make it hard to believe the pieces are in fact paintings and not graphic art.

The colours Grenier uses are extremely saturated and somewhat unnatural. The artist explained that it sometimes takes him months to develop and mix colours, and although he admitted that nature does influence his work, he wanted to create colours not typically seen in the natural world.

On a wall adjacent to Going for it hangs What We Want / What You Want, one of the more vibrant pieces within the exhibition. A large block of colour sits in the middle of the canvas, and resembles a cross-section of a piece of earth. The top layer of the block is a deep blue with white flecks, emulating a night sky. Lines cut across this layer, diagonally dividing the block into four sections—much like axes on a grid. At the ends of each axis is written—in small, inconspicuous text—the words “what we want” or “what you want.” Since the two axes travel in opposite directions, the piece suggests the two phrases exist in separate spaces. Underneath the blanket of deep blue are layers of bright reds, greens and burgundies. The block is suspended against a background gradient of vibrant yellow and red.

Both Going for it and What We Want / What You Want were created this year. The entire collection of works in this exhibition came together over the past 12 to 18 months. A self-proclaimed thoughtful and meticulous artist, Grenier allows himself ample time to mull ideas over and carefully assemble every piece. The artist, who works out of Montreal and Los Angeles, is excited to share his first solo collaboration with Galerie Antoine Ertaskiran.

Precarious Geographies will be on display until Nov. 11. The gallery is located at 1892 Payette St. and is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, or by appointment. Admission is free.

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The war story of Standing Rock

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.
Article written by Maggie Hope and Olivia Deresti-Robinson

Michelle Latimer spoke about the importance of her new series with VICE at a recent screening

“It changed my life to be there. It’s very rare as a filmmaker that you actually get to revisit your heritage and what means the most to you,” said writer, producer and director Michelle Latimer at a recent screening of her films Sacred Water and Red Power. The films received a standing ovation from the crowd, which brought Latimer and several audience members to tears.

As part of their fall programming, Cinema Politica screened two films by Latimer on Oct. 2. Latimer, a graduate of Concordia’s film program, partnered with VICE Canada to make RISE, an eight-part series that showcases “Indigenous communities across the Americas […] protecting their homelands and rising up against colonization,” according to VICE’s website.

Cinema Politica screened the first two parts of the series, titled Sacred Water and Red Power, which document the events surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protests that took place at the Standing Rock reservation in North and South Dakota last year. The screening was followed by a discussion with the filmmaker, who is in Montreal to be part of Cinema Politica’s jury at the Festival du Nouveau Cinema.

Sacred Water introduces DAPL and what its installation means for the Indigenous communities that live in its path. Essentially, if built in its entirety, DAPL would destroy about 380 sacred sites that are home to a variety of Indigenous tribes in the central United States. Additionally, the pipeline would threaten the water supply of all Indigenous tribes living along the Missouri River and in the surrounding area. Red Power expands on the political dynamics that surround the pipeline and uses historical footage to show how the Indigenous population in the area have been treated throughout history.

Latimer, who is Algonquin Metis, spent nine months at the reserve getting to know the growing community there and documenting their struggle to hold onto their land. At the screening, Latimer admitted that, although she knew the Standing Rock protests would be important to record, she did not anticipate the duration and size to which they would grow. The filmmaker chose to partner with VICE Canada for her films to reach a larger audience than she would have had on her own.

While the concept of land ownership is a point of contention between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, the basic premise of the first two films is that the land the pipeline is set to cut through is extremely important to a large population of Indigenous people. They do not claim to “own” the land, but instead emphasize that generations of their people have lived off of it and it is not the U.S. government’s to take.

In addition to running through sacred land, the construction of DAPL began without a building permit that needed approval from the Sioux tribe, who live on the Standing Rock reserve. The Sioux people, who call themselves water protectors, denied DAPL access to their land. In August 2016, however, the pipeline began construction despite not being approved.

How dire this situation became is something Latimer emphasized after the films ended. “In my nine months there, I realized I’m willing to die for this. It gives a kind of power and personal journey to those films. I think you see the importance of what people are fighting for and why,” the filmmaker said.

Unfortunately, less than a month after the water protectors’ short-lived victory on Dec. 4 2016, President Trump’s administration made the decision to follow through with the construction of the pipeline and everything the Sioux fought against. Latimer mentioned that DAPL is fully functioning today, already with a spill within the first three months of its construction.

Although it may seem like the battle is completely lost, Latimer encouraged viewers to find the positives in the situation. She emphasized that what happened at Standing Rock can give us power and hope for the future. The DAPL protests were just the beginning of a bigger battle that we must continue to fight. Latimer noted that there are other pipeline projects that need to be stopped—such as the Kinder Morgan and Line 3—and action is already being taken to do so.

The impact of the Standing Rock protests has already taken effect. “[What’s] happening since Standing Rock is people are mobilizing, and they’re connecting, and they’re already looking at how to mobilize against these larger infrastructure projects,” Latimer explained.

In times as dark as these, Latimer added, light is what brings people together and encourages them to keep going. An influential form of light, she said, is creating art. “Due to the onset of surveillance and undercover informants at the camp, there was a level of paranoia that started that was really scary to be a part of […] and art was the thing that lifted people’s spirits.”

She explained that there were drum circles and concerts which took place almost every night at the Standing Rock reservation, as well as poster and banner-making tents which helped ignite participants’ spirits and gave them hope. Latimer found that her filmmaking allowed her to express her point of view as an Indigenous person and “channel” the stories of those around her.

Latimer and the other Indigenous protesters in the film highlighted that the installation of these pipelines is not just an Indigenous issue—it concerns all of us. This is an environmental issue, a social issue, a global issue. “We have this planet to protect, and it’s all we’ve got,” she concluded.

Sacred Water, Red Power and the rest of the RISE series can be found on VICE’s website. For upcoming Cinema Politica screenings at Concordia, visit www.cinemapolitica.org/concordia. Screenings are held in the Hall building in room H-110 every Monday at 7 p.m. Entry is by donation ($5 to $10 is suggested).

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Confronting trauma with humour

Professor Emer O’Toole, pictured here, is one of the founding members of Concordia’s Feminism and Controversial Humour Working Group. Photo by Alex Hutchins

Concordia hosted Rape is Real & Everywhere, a comedy show featuring survivors of sexual assault

“We have to engage. And what better way to engage with a discourse in which you are constantly being painted as the humourless snowflake […] than by getting up there and actually joking about the thing.” This was professor Emer O’Toole’s take on Rape is Real & Everywhere (RIR&E), a comedy show put on by survivors of sexual assault that was held at Concordia on Sept. 29.

O’Toole is a professor of performance studies at Concordia’s School of Irish Studies, as well as a founding member of the university’s Feminism and Controversial Humour Working Group. She formed the group alongside fellow professors Gada Mahrouse of the Simone de Beauvoir Institute and Danielle Bobker from the English department.

“I think we had shared interests in those intersections in feminism and comedy where the subjects are controversial—where stuff like sexual assault and race and gender and all of those things that, if you joke about them, create some tension,” O’Toole said.

At the working group’s symposium last year, the three professors got the chance to converse with like minded-individuals, such as the comedians from the RIR&E show. “We just had the most mind-blowing discussions,” O’Toole said earnestly. “I thought, ‘Wow, I want my students to see this.’”

When comedians Heather Jordan Ross and Emma Cooper, the creators of RIR&E, suggested bringing the show to Concordia, O’Toole and Mahrouse were immediately on board.

Ross and Cooper are two standup comedians based out of Vancouver. In 2015, they came up with the idea of hosting a comedy show about rape and sexual assault because Ross wanted to find a way to talk about her experience of sexual assault. According to O’Toole, by only featuring survivors of sexual assault in their show, Ross and Cooper wanted to steer the conversation towards something more up front and less shameful.

“There’s so much power in using comedy,” O’Toole said. “Your activism can do a lot of work under a subterfuge of performance.”

O’Toole, Ross and Cooper have come to be very familiar with the argument that “there are just some things that shouldn’t be joked about”, especially while promoting the RIR&E show. Although she understands that some people will not agree with what they are doing, O’Toole said: “I’m skeptical of anyone who tries to tell someone else how they can deal with their trauma.”

She explained that, as comedians, Ross and Cooper began the comedy show as a way for Ross to cope with the pain caused by her assault. According to a promotional email describing the show, while some people cope in a solemn way, “other people need to laugh. Making jokes about life—sour parts, sweet parts—is, for some, the best mode of communicating what they’re going through.”

In addition to using comedy as a coping mechanism, O’Toole said the show is meant to “reclaim the narrative of rape” on a cultural level. Instead of believing “rape myths,” which define sexual assault within a rigid framework, telling real-life stories to a crowd of people “completely changes that narrative,” the professor said.

“It’s the chance to take control of one’s own story, but also to take back that narrative of what rape is from a dominant culture that wants to make it something that only evil men do, and [make it] something that is so real and everywhere.”

According to the show’s description, “RIR&E has played across Canada, made national and international news and even been the subject of a CBC radio documentary.” Following a run of sold-out shows, RIR&E is now touring university campuses across Canada in hopes of offering an alternative way for students to confront and learn about sexual assault and consent.

Concordia was the first stop on RIR&E’s university tour. The event was in collaboration with the Concordia Student Union, the Fine Arts Student Alliance, the Graduate Students’ Association and the Feminism and Controversial Humour Working Group. During the show, Cooper told the sold-out audience that it was the largest crowd they had ever performed for.

To learn more about the Feminism and Controversial Humour Working Group, visit the group’s page on Concordia’s website. For information about upcoming RIR&E shows and events, visit their website.

Photo by Alex Hutchins

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Delving into queer experiences

The History of Sexuality will be playing at the MainLine Theatre from Sept. 21 to 30. Photo courtesy of Erika Rosenbaum Photography.

Dane Stewart debuts a self-written, directed and produced endeavour

While reflecting on the intent behind writing his newest theatrical piece, Dane Stewart expressed that he wanted “to combine Foucauldian, feminist, queer theorists and their texts with lived experiences of people in Montreal.”

As one of Concordia’s recent graduates of the individualized master’s program, Stewart is set to debut his play at the MainLine Theatre on Sept. 21. The production, titled The History of Sexuality, explores themes of power, sex and queerness in the context of student life in Montreal. The plot follows five graduate students who are enrolled in a seminar studying the philosophy of French intellectual Michel Foucault. Stewart said he had studied Foucault’s work at Concordia himself and became particularly inspired by the philosopher’s book, also titled The History of Sexuality.

Foucault’s philosophy, along with a number of theatrical pieces using a technique called verbatim theatre prompted Stewart to start writing his own play. Verbatim theatre involves the playwright conducting a series of interviews, transcribing the interviews and using the direct quotes to script the play. So, as Stewart explained, the actors in a verbatim theatre piece would speak the words of the interviewees.

Dane Stewart wrote the play as part of his thesis for his master’s degree. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Typically, this method is used in documentary-style plays so actors portray the real-life people whose words they are speaking. Stewart, however, decided to use the verbatim theatre technique in order to adapt real-life experiences into the lives of fictional characters. He conducted interviews with several people within Montreal’s queer community about their experiences. Then, Stewart extracted sections of these interviews to be spoken by the characters in his play. By doing so, the playwright added, he was able to include a variety of perspectives outside of his own without needing to speak for anyone.

Stewart called this technique “fictionalized verbatim theatre,” although he recognizes that he may not be the only playwright using it. He developed this method while working on his thesis for his master’s degree, and received a grant from CALQ (Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec) to further improve it himself. The grant allowed him and his team to hold workshops in order to explore and develop this writing technique. With this help, they were able to write several drafts and spend time perfecting Stewart’s work.

After finishing his thesis and graduating from the master’s program where he studied theatre, communications, and gender and sexuality studies through an interdisciplinary program, Stewart began working towards showing his play at the MainLine Theatre. He worked alongside Michelle Soicher, a fourth-year undergraduate theatre student who took on the role of assistant director and stage manager to gain experience as well as academic credits.

“Queerness, non-normative sexual identity and sexual practice have been a big part of my life. It’s also been a very challenging part at times,” Stewart said.

Although drawing upon his own experience as someone who identifies as queer was extremely useful, Stewart said he wanted to capture the realities of other people in Montreal’s queer community as well. Through conducting a number of interviews and refining his writing technique with the workshops funded by CALQ, Stewart is finally left with a piece that he said he believes tells the stories of the individuals featured “very well.”

The playwright also recognized that the stories explored in his play are just a small portion of the diverse experiences that make up the queer community as a whole. He added, “I also am a believer in intersectionality and striving—as someone who takes up a lot of space or has the capacity to take up a lot of space in life and in society—to subscribe to the mandate of ‘take space to make space.’”

According to Stewart, The History of Sexuality is very much based in reality. The setting is a replication of what attending graduate school in Montreal is like today. It was important to Stewart to not only acknowledge the diversity within the queer community in Montreal, but also to represent the characters in his play as real people living real lives.

“One of my goals with the piece,” he said, “is to present queerness—to present non-normative sexual practices, sexual identities and expressions of gender—as just intimate and honest and real.”

“A lot of media and a lot of art that’s surrounding queerness and queer sexualities and genders these days, I feel is quite sensational,” he added. “[The characters in the play] are just people going through their daily lives. I think it’s important for us to see that.”

The History of Sexuality will be playing at the MainLine Theatre, at 3997 Boul. St-Laurent, from Sept. 21 to 30. Showtime is at 8 p.m. with additional showings at 2 p.m. on Sept. 23 and 30. Tickets are available through the Facebook event and the MainLine Theatre’s website. Prices can vary depending on your financial situation.

Feature photo courtesy of Erika Rosenbaum Photography

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Student artists bring playful humour to life

Hea Kim's work is influenced by the "colourful and saturated city" of South Korea, where she spent her childhood and adolescence. Photo By Alex Hutchins.

What could be expected of an event that is the result of a collaboration between three well-established forces within Montreal’s art community? A visit to the VAV Gallery between Sept. 11 and 15 will provide the answer.

POP Montreal, the Art Matters Festival and the VAV Gallery have come together to create POP Matters at the VAV, a playful exhibition showcasing the work of seven Concordia artists. Pieces by Ben Compton, Mel Arsenault, Hea Kim, Ayse Gauthier, Paule Gilbert, Sabrina Maisonneuve and Lucas LaRochelle will fill the gallery to collectively create a fun and lively atmosphere.

Ben Compton, pictured here, will be performing his piece at the exhibition’s vernissage on Sept. 14. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

“POP Montreal is a big organization that’s really made a name for itself and has a reputation in the city,” said Mattia Zylak, the exhibitions coordinator of the Art Matters Festival. “It’s great to be able to get students and student work associated with that.”

At the beginning of the summer, the three organizations extended a call to artists who had previously shown their work in either last year’s Art Matters Festival or at the VAV Gallery during the 2016-17 school year. POP Montreal approached Art Matters and the VAV with the themes of DIY, neo-pop and humour, which elicited varying responses from the artists involved.

Compton, one of Concordia’s intermedia students, said he found that the exhibition’s themes were ideas he “worked with a lot in [his] own artistic practice.” By recontextualizing everyday objects and experiences through multimedia performances, Compton said he aims to give the audience a new perspective and bring forth new ideas. He identified the exhibition’s theme of humour as relating to his work quite specifically, because humour is often attached to experiences of everyday life. His live performance piece “explores the theme of waking up.” Compton explained that his piece includes him making live music and performing to the music, while filming his performance and projecting it onto a wall. He will be performing at the exhibition’s vernissage on Sept. 14.

Arsenault and her series of sculptural pieces were also selected by the small jury of the event. Constructed out of papier-mâché, Arsenault’s pieces are made to resemble rocks of different shapes and sizes. The painting and drawing student explained she has always been interested in geology and wanted to create a series that would give life to rocks, which are usually seen as passive, dormant objects. Each papier-mâché piece has been paired with sections of written dialogue, which are placed on the wall behind the sculptures. Arsenault explained that she wanted to convey the idea that the rocks are communicating with each other. “With this project, I’m [tapping] into relationships, social differences,” Arsenault said. “The fact that the protagonists are rocks and not people, I guess it’s easier to get into the dialogue and the story behind it. They’re neutral protagonists, and they can talk about anything.”

Kim, a part-time fibres and material practices student, contributed her whimsical, intricately constructed sculptures to the exhibition. Kim uses a variety of pastel-coloured craft materials, such as plastic drinking straws, to create intriguing and playful displays. The artist, who grew up in South Korea, described her pieces as “friendly and nostalgic.”

Mel Arsenault contributed her series of papier-mâché sculptures which are made to resemble various types of rocks. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

She explained that she wanted to create her own version of a shrine, much like the ones in Buddhist temples she visited as a child. Kim borrows traditional Asian symbols like the Buddha, and constructs them out of unconventional media, thereby presenting them in a new context. The result is a unique juxtaposition that lends itself perfectly to the exhibition’s themes of humour and DIY.

Gauthier, a studio arts student and print media major, interpreted the theme of playfulness and applied it to her work using grids. Gauthier’s piece is a series of printed images, which all together form one expansive grid. The artist explained that she has conducted extensive research on the topic of grids, and chose to explore their versatility by constructing her own, using thread. She found that the finished piece fit quite well with the DIY theme POP Montreal proposed, because her piece is accessible to everyone. “In theory, it’s endless and anyone could repeat it,” Gauthier said. “The grid is a very rigid form, but it’s [also] really flexible. You can be very playful in it.”

POP Matters at the VAV will be on display at the VAV Gallery from Sept. 11 to 15. The vernissage will take place on Sept. 14 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Entry is free. The gallery is located in the VA building, at 1395 Réné-Lévesque Blvd. W.

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Playing with reality and the human form in CARNATIONS

New exhibition at the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery showcases the digital surreality of Philippe Hamelin’s artwork. Photos by Kirubel Mehari.

Concordia alumnus uses organic forms and human shapes in new digital art display

When viewing a piece of art in a gallery space, the audience is immediately confronted with the need to interact and respond to it. This interaction occurs quite naturally and encourages the viewer to seek their ownconclusions and meanings about the piece.

“You are just in front of something, immersed in something,” said Michèle Thériault, the director of the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery and the curator of its current exhibition, CARNATIONS. She contrasted the gallery experience with that of watching a movie, which takes the viewer on a narrative journey. In a gallery space, on the other hand, the viewer is more removed from the artwork itself and is left to make sense of it on their own.

“Here, there is always that distance […] you are aware it’s an artwork, and there’s that strangeness because it doesn’t have that narrative of a film with a beginning and an end. So, it leaves it suspended […] it makes you reflect on what’s happening, what you feel or what you can’t pinpoint.”

CARNATIONS, which will be on display until Oct. 21, features the work of Concordia alumnus Philippe Hamelin. Hamelin, who holds an MFA in fine arts, creates intriguing and bizarre digital art pieces that place human and natural forms in a new context.

“The forms are kind of organic-like and suggest life,” Thériault said. “It creates this kind of emotion in you or sentiment or feeling. Something that is familiar, but at the same time, is really strange.”

As the viewer enters the gallery, they are immediately greeted by perhaps the most striking piece of the entire exhibition, Les Amis (à l’infiniti). It is projected onto the largest section of wall—its neon colours jumping out from the gallery’s darkened enclosure. A repetitive beat plays over the projection, echoing a classic dance rhythm but could also be described as an upbeat pulse. The looped animation depicts a group of people moving in a way that could best be described as a form of “dance.” They twitch, sway and convulse in ways that are unnatural for a human body, yet the bodies are unquestionably human.

Other pieces that evoke a similar feeling of strange surreality are those that make up the series called Vivariums. They are displayed in a small room off of the main space, demanding their own attention. The series consists of four pieces, each displayed on small screens about the size of a computer. One, Thériault explained, is reminiscent of the birthing process. A small white shape stretches and shifts, as if containing something living. The animation is about 45 minutes long, showing the shape as it gradually “gives birth” to a worm-like creature.

A second 45-minute animation loop mimics an animal moulting, a process during which they shed dead skin to reveal a new layer underneath. A white object resembling a large snail shell slowly gives way to show a smaller, shimmering seed-like shape sitting inside. The slow progression of this evolution requires the viewer to observe its phases with prolonged attention. Since most audience members don’t watch one piece for too long, they only end up glimpsing a section of this process. This is an example of the level of audience-to-piece interaction that is necessary to fully understand Hamelin’s work.

One of the pieces in Hamelin’s series titled Scène 2 (découpage). Photos by Kirubel Mehari.

A third room within the gallery hosts two pieces that, together, are titled Scène 2 (découpage). A gentle loop of classical music plays over the speaker system, setting a tranquil and relaxed mood. On one wall, an animation of what appears to be a pile of meat cubes sitting on top of a grass-like surface plays. The viewer watches as the camera pans around the pile, zooming closer and then farther away. The exhibition’s booklet, which contains an essay written by Thériault, once again mentions the strange allure Hamelin’s pieces evoke: “To experience Scène 2 is to be propelled into a series of spaces with no possible common ground.”

CARNATIONS includes eight pieces of Hamelin’s work, which are accompanied by various sound recordings that change as the viewer moves from room to room. Apart from the projections and animated screens, the gallery is darkened which, when paired with the musical accompaniments, creates a fully immersive experience.

The exhibition will be on display until Oct. 21 at the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery. Admission is free.

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Lost and found given new life in New Jazz

Artist Matthew Thomson explores the potential of objects found on the ground in his exhibition, New Jazz. Photo by Alex Hutchins

Established Concordia artist debuts exhibition in collaboration with alumni curators

Matthew Thomson refers to himself as “sort of a picker.” The artist gathers objects he finds on the street and converts them into intriguing works of art.

The well-established Concordia alumnus spent a number of years earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the fine arts program. Now, working toward an art education degree, Thomson teaches art at multiple high schools and the Visual Arts Centre in Westmount. While speaking about New Jazz, his current installation at the Ymuno Exhibitions gallery, Thomson described his university career as “never ending.” The same, it seems, could be said about the constant artistic inspiration he draws from his immediate environment. While walking the streets of Montreal, Thomson is inspired to tell the stories of the objects he finds.

Upon viewing his work, the audience is immediately drawn in, wanting to get a closer look at the intricacies of his craft. Thomson’s pieces, which often begin with an old door or picture frame, are then layered with delicate wirework and carefully hand-placed sequins.

New Jazz takes its name from one of Thomson’s pieces of the same title, which consists of various objects Thomson collected, including piano keys, a toy car and two sets of plastic teeth, sitting inside a picture frame.

When asked about the exhibition’s theme, Thomson explained, “[It’s] like if you had a song, and all the notes fell out of the song. You’re looking at them individually and then … repackaging it as something new. Actual artworks themselves become catalysts for other artworks.”

In a corner of the gallery Thomson called “the party section” sit his pieces Party Guests, Party Animals, The Fall and Birthday Boy. The first is a collage of the various personalities that would be found at a party. Some of the painted faces wear masks and others display joyful, stern or animated expressions.

Party Animals, another collage piece, displays two young girls in conversation with each other. Thomson cut out the faces of the girls to create an odd but intriguing image of youth. A third collage, The Fall, concludes the party journey from playfulness to despair. A small cutout of a person is suspended against a dark and textured backdrop.

The fourth and final piece of the section, Birthday Boy, is made entirely out of children’s toys Thomson found on the streets of Montreal. As a sort of contemporary ode to Arcimboldo’s 16th century fruit portraits, Thomson explained, he arranged the toys to form a head. The festive bust wears a golden crown, has a plastic carrot for a nose and holds a party horn in its mouth.

From the objects Thomson finds to the pieces he creates himself and continues to alter, the idea of deconstruction and reconstruction is a thread that runs throughout the exhibition. One example of this process can be seen in his piece titled Admit One. The mixed media framed piece depicts a piece of roadkill laying on top of a silver drain grate. The drain has been covered in shimmering silver leaf which catches the viewer’s eye. Upon further inspection, spots of reddish brown in the silver become visible. Thomson explained that he purposefully didn’t cover all the silver in varnish, allowing parts of it to oxidize and rust. He attributes this unconventional technique to his inner “mad scientist.” Playing with certain techniques and processes cultivates “a stronger connection between you and the things you’re working with,” Thomson said.

In New Jazz, Thomson also addresses the concept of inanimate objects having a history of their own. His piece, Untitled (which he also referred to as Survivor), is a chair he found and chiselled pieces off of to make it appear battered and worn out. The result is an object that looks as though it has been beaten and chewed but remains strong and autonomous. Thomson said he wanted to “create a character out of the chair itself.” By seeing the chair as its own character, the viewer is able to imagine its previous life, as well as its resilience and strength.

It’s because of this imaginative outlook that Thomson chooses to recycle and repurpose objects he finds. “There’s always a bit of … what the object was before that’s in the piece,” he said. “You can’t erase that. You’re not starting with a blank canvas. You’re starting with things that are things, that belonged to something before. The traces will always remain within the piece.”

Ymuno Exhibitions is run by Concordia alumni Madeline Richards and Ben Williamson. The duo met Thomson while they were completing their undergraduate degrees, and they recently reconnected to showcase Thomson’s work.

New Jazz will be displayed at Ymuno Exhibitions until Sept. 30. Admission is free.

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Studio arts department hosts INTERIM end-of-year exhibition

Hundreds of students have their works on display at INTERIM, the year-end exhibition for Concordia studio arts students. Photo by Ana Hernandez.

An extensive collection of works takes the viewer on an exciting visual journey

Held in the historical building formerly known as L’École des beaux-arts de Montréal (EBAM), this year’s Concordia studio arts department end-of-year exhibition is extensive and multifaceted.

The exhibition, known as INTERIM, is made up of over 100 contributions by Concordia studio arts students. The pieces range from paintings and sculptures to performances and multimedia installations. The exhibition spans a total of four floors, utilizing all the space available, taking the viewer on an exciting visual journey.

Immediately upon entering the building, the viewer is greeted by a variety of ceramic and textile pieces that line the foyer. The first floor branches off into two main areas—one of which is large and open, the other giving way to a few smaller rooms.

One of the smaller spaces on the first floor hosts an installation by Nix Burox. All four walls are lined with pieces of paper, fabric and other textile materials. Many have grids and what seems to be maps either printed or drawn on them. The installation, titled Mapping Failure, includes a desk against one wall, which is also covered in paper and grids. Scribbled on the walls and pieces of paper are phrases, including, “It would be naive to expect anything to turn out exactly how you planned it to.” In contrast to these pieces of the installation that appear to be works in progress, Burox also displays larger pieces which were undoubtedly labour intensive and thoughtfully planned out. One is comprised of hundreds of small, paper-like circles with various patterns and colours printed on them, arranged and stapled together to create an aesthetically pleasing mass. The entire collection illustrates the creative process of an idea, as opposed to a final product.

Photo by Ana Hernandez.

After climbing the staircase and passing through a few hallways, the viewer arrives at Rihab Essayh’s contribution, Jardin Automate. In a rather small room, Essayh created a synthetic garden out of mylar, coroplast and animated projections. Artificial material is cut into leaves and sheets which hang from the ceiling and cover the walls. A projection of a naked woman walks across them. The illuminated figure moves slowly, occasionally bending down to touch the ground or reach toward the sky. Soothing music plays over a sound system—it is serene and fabricates a feeling of being in nature. According to the artist’s statement, the installation “reflects an emphasis on technological digital obsession and consumption: an analog rendering on virtual space.”

The third floor is equally divided into large and small rooms. Marie-Pier Favreau-Chalifour’s piece lines an entire wall of one of the larger rooms, and commands the attention of everyone who enters. From a distance, the piece, titled Looking for Dust, appears to be a simple graphite drawing with sweeping shapes and yellow accents. Upon closer inspection, however, the viewer discovers intricate details. Clusters of tiny holes become visible, small numbers cover the piece and ascend into the thousands, and carefully placed layers of translucent paper create texture and dimension.

The fourth and final floor of the exhibition features a wide variety of pieces, some sculptural and some multimedia. The largest room is occupied by a collection of graphic art and video clips, which are projected onto one wall. A three-minute video clip by Ben Compton displays a snow-lined river carrying a white egg downstream. The video is made up of multiple scenes, each featuring the same section of the river, yet the egg travels through the water slightly differently each time. This subtle change entertains the viewer for the duration of the clip. The soft and tranquil scenery generates a feeling of calmness.

The INTERIM exhibition runs until April 16, and is open from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The event is located at 3450 Saint Urbain St. More information, including a full list of the artists involved, can be found on the event’s Facebook page. Admission is free.

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Concordia students uncover details of Montreal’s cultural identity

Graphic by Florence Yee

Students given opportunity to access archives from Montreal’s Negro Community Centre for class

Having access to historical archives as an undergraduate student is a rare opportunity. Being able to search through a large collection thoroughly and extensively usually takes months, if not years. The Concordia students taking the history course “Telling Stories” were able to readily access and study a wide variety of documents in a short period of about three months. Standing in the place where archives were created and kept for the better half of a century is something only a few can claim to have experienced. The students are now among those few.

The course aims to immerse students in the historical narrative of a particular topic and provide them with a hands-on learning experience. This semester, it was offered by history professor and founder of the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling, Steven High.

High, who partnered with Alexandra Mills from Concordia’s Libraries Special Collections and research assistant Desiree Rochat to create the class, based the content of it around archives from Montreal’s Negro Community Centre (NCC). The NCC held particular importance in the surrounding community for being the core of integral activities such as music festivals, sports tournaments, and communal meetings. The centre, which was active from the late 1920s to the early 1990s, operated on the basis of acknowledging and improving the status of Montreal’s Negro community. The archives hadn’t been touched since the centre’s closing, giving students the unique chance to have a blank slate and draw their own conclusions from what they found.

Teejay Bhalla, a second-year history student, admitted to being intimidated by the task of creating a historical profile of the NCC without access to any additional information. At the beginning of the term, each student was assigned a box of archival documents, which they had to study in order to draw some sort of conclusion about the NCC’s role within its community. Because the documents are from as early as the 1940s, the students were left to their own devices to come up with any inferences about what they could suggest. “It’s not something that any of us have really ever done,” Bhalla said.

Working with actual documents from a cultural hub such as the NCC presented the students with a surprising challenge. “This stuff isn’t on Google. [These are] internal documents from an organization, and we are representing them. Whatever we write has to be dead on, or at least—if we are expressing our opinion—it has to be based off of fact,” Bhalla said.

Despite being slightly intimidated, a number of the students in the “Telling Stories” course were excited for the rare opportunity to work with physical archives, which included photographs, letters to leaders of social movements of the time, and plans of events that were held at the centre. For Summit Ollivierre, a third-year psychology and German studies student, the motivation to take the class came from a personal connection to the area where the students were going to do their research. The NCC was located in Little Burgundy, a section of Montreal’s southwest that has a history of housing a large African-American population.

Photo by Alex Hutchins.

“I know a lot of people from Little Burgundy,” Ollivierre said. “My family is black, and we’ve been here for a while, so I thought maybe I’ll find something out about my family … and the opportunity to work with archives is not something that ever happens to undergrads.”

On March 20th, the students took a walk through Little Burgundy, which they said their professor planned as a way for them to contextualize what they had found in their research. “We are literally 10 minutes away from all this information,” said Audrey Medaino-Tardif, a second-year honours history student. “We got to actually visualize everything that we’ve been researching.”

The community aspect of their research is something High’s students emphasized often. Some were astounded by how much information they came across that seemed to be such a large part of Montreal’s history, but which they had not been exposed to prior to taking this course.

As Medaino-Tardif explained, “[in school], I learned this very washed-out history. I didn’t learn about African-Americans in Montreal. I didn’t learn that there were slaves in Montreal, that there were slaves in Canada. So there are all these things that I learned [during the course] that were absolutely surprising.”

Her classmate, Lauren Engel, a second-year studio arts student, had similar sentiments concerning the lack of education on this aspect of Montreal’s cultural background in school curriculums. “[This class] has really made me think a lot more about our education,” she said.

Both Medaino-Tardif and Engel expressed that although the NCC was such a central part of 20th century Montreal’s community, it seems strange that most people—whether they grew up in Montreal or not—are completely unaware of its existence.

The students all expressed their gratitude for High, Rochat and Mill’s passion for the subject and constant support throughout the duration of the course. “[High] is really open-minded, really the kind of teacher who makes you want to learn more and ask more questions,” Engel said.

Many students agreed that, the professor’s encouragement, as well as the structure of the class, created a rewarding learning experience. “I think that he wants us to actually create our own history, which is something that, you know, we don’t get to necessarily do in another class,” Bhalla said.

On April 11, the students will showcase their individual projects based on the research they did on the NCC. The event will be held at the Universal Negro Improvement Association’s Liberty Hall in Little Burgundy, and will display a variety of visual pieces, from slideshows to graphic novels.

According to Medaino-Tardif, the choice not to host the event at Concordia was deliberate and appropriate. The showcase will act as a way to display the students’ work, but also as an outreach effort to share the information they discovered with the community. “We don’t want to keep this information—we want it to go back to the community,” Medaino-Tardif said.

Following the presentations by the students, there will be a panel of speakers, including Mills, who will share stories and anecdotes about the NCC and its archives. The Liberty Hall is located at 2741 Notre Dame St. West. The event, which is open to the general public, will begin at 7 p.m. Admission is free.

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Intersectional feminist art exhibition puts spotlight on emerging artists

Area Codes art exhibition addresses multiculturalism, marginality, and identity

Right to Campus McGill hosted an intersectional feminist art exhibition at Studio XX on March 23. Area Codes was curated by Concordia students Madelyne Beckles and Leah Schulli.

The exhibition featured the work of Concordia and McGill students, as well as other up-and-coming artists. The contributors shared their personal experiences of marginality and social oppression, and boldly confronted the issues from a female-identifying perspective. Area Codes aimed to raise awareness about these emerging artists’ work, but also to publicly recognize International Women’s Day, Anti-Street Harassment Week and the Commission on the Status of Women, a UN intergovernmental body dedicated to empowering women and promoting gender equality.

Right to Campus McGill is a student-run organization that aims to promote social equality and facilitate the right to public space on the McGill campus. The organization is part of an initiative taken by Women in Cities International, a Montreal-based non-profit association that focuses on “the empowerment, safety and inclusion of women and girls in urban settings,” according to Right to Campus McGill’s Facebook page. Right to Campus McGill organizes a variety of events with this goal in mind, including documentary screenings, art exhibitions, discussions and panels. The curators collaborated with Women in Cities International for this exhibition.

The Area Codes exhibition featured 12 installations, one of which was a performance piece by Anika Ahuja. During her performance, which lasted about five minutes, everyone in the gallery gathered around the artist and watched attentively. It blended well with the other pieces, but also added another layer of intrigue and engagement with the audience.

The artist sat cross-legged in one corner of the room with a bowl of red dye, a bowl of water, a scrub brush and a towel. Ahuja applied the dye to the palms of her hands and the tips of her fingers. She repeated this motion a number of times before washing her hands, scrubbing the dye off and then beginning to apply the dye again.

According to the artist’s statement, the performance, titled In Attempt to be Definitive, “addresses the conflict of the intangible cross-cultural space, and considers ideas of inherent versus chosen identity, denial and shame.” It is described as a representation of the artist’s attempt to take ownership of her various cultural identities that conflict with one another. By repeatedly dying and washing her hands, Ahuja seemed to be torn between accepting and ridding herself of any cultural significance that could be attached to her identity.

Janina Anderson, a teaching assistant who works in the Fine Arts Department at Concordia, contributed her piece titled Cut Outs. The piece consisted of two large collage pieces that were mounted on Bristol board and hung from the ceiling of the studio. The collages commanded the attention of gallery viewers due to their size and conspicuous placement—they hung just above the heads of the crowd. One piece featured a photo of a young African-American girl sitting with what seemed to be an open box in her lap. The other  collage piece displayed a photo of an African-American man loosely floating in the fetal position with his arms tucked into his chest. The photos were taken from National Geographic magazines published in the mid-20th century. The artist explained that, by removing the surrounding environment from the photos, in other words, decontextualizing them, she wanted to highlight the “social, political and cultural values through which they are constructed and disseminated.” Her work provokes questions surrounding identity and multiculturalism through the medium of collage.

Liz Xu’s interactive piece was simply a tent emoji. Xu constructed a small tent out of synthetic material, and screen-printed grass, flowers, trees and mountains onto the inside of it. From the outside it appears to be a plain white tent, but upon entering, the viewer is encircled by mountains and a forest lit up by a lamp in the centre of the tent. In her artist statement, Xu explained that her piece “functions as a physical representation of the boundary between human and nature.” Though humans may attempt to break this boundary by immersing themselves in nature through activities like camping, the materials and supplies needed to do so are man-made and therefore maintain the division between man and nature. Xu’s piece may also be interpreted as a broader comment on Western society—the modern consumer and its relationship to the natural world—by presenting a blatant example of a man-made object combined with forms of the natural world. While sitting inside the tent, one feels relatively isolated from the everything outside the tent, which enforces a feeling of separation between oneself and the outdoors.

The exhibition also included the works of Sophia Borowska, Simone Blain, Molly Caldwell, Sara Graorac, Salina Ladha, Lindsey Lagemaat, Alicia Mersy, Hayley O’Byrne and Amery Sandford. Pieces ranged from sculptures and oil paintings to digital art and posters.

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Arts

When a compliment isn’t a compliment

Concordia alumna filmmaker tackles catcalling and street harassment

It was the Women’s March on Washington that inspired Concordia alumna Karina Lafayette to begin investigating individual cases of catcalling and street harassment. Currently working as a filmmaker in Toronto, she started a conversation with her friends about their personal experiences and began sharing their stories.

Lafayette said she felt compelled to make something out of the conversations she’d heard surrounding the march and in her circle, and decided to create an online survey. She asked women to describe their worst experiences with catcalling and street harassment.

What began as a few responses quickly grew into over 40 haunting confessions. Lafayette said she was not surprised by how many women responded, given the prevalence of catcalling in modern society. She was surprised, however, by how candidly and openly the participants told their stories.

“Sometimes we’re told it’s supposed to be a compliment,” Lafayette said. She said this could be a reason why street harassment isn’t discussed often or in much detail. To many who do not experience it and to the perpetrators themselves, street harassment is seen as flattery and is not perceived as offensive.  Because of this, explaining how an experience of catcalling can be taken negatively becomes difficult, and the subject itself becomes almost taboo.

Overwhelmed by the number of responses, Lafayette decided to convert the stories into a short film. She was careful not to censor anything—she wanted to accurately portray the reality of being catcalled. Lafayette explained that due to the extremely disrespectful language often used by catcallers, if she had chosen to censor the quotes, it would have taken away from the film’s meaning. “Most of them already contain some type of derogatory term or insult,” she said. “It would be like censoring pretty much the entire film.”

The film, Give Me A Smile, begins with a shot of a woman walking down the street, followed by an image of her doing her hair and makeup, and then one shot—from a bird’s eye view—of her walking down stairs and pausing at a door to go outside. Lafayette’s voice recites her own poem, Eve’s Apple, as the camera continues to follow the woman outside and down a dimly lit street. The poem describes the harmful consequences that catcalling and misogyny can have on a woman’s self esteem. The responses to her survey appear written on the screen: “slut,” “Here kitty kitty…” and “Damn baby girl! Come here, I got what you’re looking for.”

The camera follows the woman down the dark streets, as more catcalling quotes flash across the screen. The soundtrack of rock music gives particularly disturbing and graphic quotes even more of an unsettling air. The film concludes with a shot of the Toronto mural titled “The Awakening,” a simple image of two faces pressed up against each other. Their eyes are closed and their faces wear a solemn expression. The final shot evokes a feeling of intimacy, which provides a link to the vulnerable position that victims of street harassment are subjected to. The music then fades and the credits roll.

Lafayette said she hopes her film initiates a conversation about catcalling and common misconceptions about what it feels like to be on the receiving end. She said she wanted to shed a light on women’s experiences, and allow them to see they are not alone in what they have been subjected to.

“[I want] to show people that catcalling and street harassment in general shouldn’t be taken lightly, because it can relate to many other situations. At the same time, I kind of want to debunk this whole myth of it being a compliment,” she said. “I myself, every time I experienced it, I thought I was in the wrong. But by listening to other people, that’s when I realized that it’s actually a form of bullying.”

Give Me A Smile can be viewed on Lafayette’s YouTube channel, Carus Productions.

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Ovarian Psycos: channeling anger into progress

New documentary tackles issues of sexual violence and gender inequality

One in three women will experience physical and/or sexual abuse in their lifetime.

Ovarian Psycos, a documentary that will be shown at Cinema Politica on March 6, uses this fact to drive the entire film. The documentary follows a bicycle brigade of womxn of colour, female-identifying individuals and gender nonconforming people in East L.A.

The brigade serves as a refuge for individuals who identify as outcasts from society, and need a safe space and community to go to. They organize bike rides and demonstrations around L.A. as a way to raise awareness about gender inequality, sexual violence, and murdered and missing womxn of colour, to name a few.

The film follows several members of the Ovas—which is short for Ovarian Psycos—from the founder, Xena de la X, to a new member, Evie. It sheds light on the difficult reality of living as womxn of colour in L.A. and dealing with traditional, post-colonized Mexican family expectations.

Xena was subject to relentless abuse as a child, which motivated her to create a safe space for womxn of colour to heal and act together. She came up with the idea of the Ovas not only to support those in need, but also as a united force to protest against the social injustices she had faced. Evie, a 21-year-old second-generation Mexican womxn, said her mother did not understand why she joined a cycling group because she believed cycling was a sport for men, and only men. Yet Evie found comfort and confidence in the Ovas by defying gender stereotypes and defining her identity outside of traditional constructs.

The Ovarian Psycos found their name by reclaiming their biology and female bodies as powerful, strong, defiant vessels through which to spread awareness and acceptance. The members wear bandanas printed with symbols of ovaries over their mouths as a way to reclaim urban gang culture in an all-inclusive, coloured, female context. They ride through the dark streets of L.A. howling, chanting and laughing as they go. Xena explained that, by channeling their anger and frustration into a progressive, active movement, they are able to release their inner “psychos” and confront patriarchal oppression in a public space.

The Ovas vow to always have love for their “sisters” and to keep their “spirits always rebellious.” By maintaining a safe community, they are able to gather large numbers and act as a powerful collective unit.

There is also a strong history of civil rights movements in East L.A., which the Ovas recognize, and they acknowledge their responsibility to continue it. Drawing inspiration from the Chicano Movement of the 1960s, the Ovas aim to recognize the historical oppression of Mexican Americans and reclaim racial violence that they were and are still subject to.

Due to the specificity of their movement and their experience dealing with intersectional oppression, the Ovas have received backlash from some members of the surrounding society. This opposition only fuels their desire to spread awareness of societal oppression of womxn and womxn of colour, and the realities of living as a minority in American society.

Cinema Politica will be showing Ovarian Psycos on Monday, March 6 at 7 p.m. in room H-110. Entry is by donation.

Writer’s note: The term “womxn” is a feminist term to differentiate women from the “man/men” part of the word.

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