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Reuniting pre-Concordia alumni artists

Jackie Rae Wloski, Don’t Worry - Pilot in Total Control - Mixed media photo etching.

Upcoming show will highlight the work of Sir George Williams University, Loyola College graduates

Jackie Rae Wloski graduated from Concordia in 1971 with a bachelor’s degree in two fields that don’t usually go hand-in-hand: fine arts and biology.

At the time, Concordia didn’t actually exist. Sir George Williams University (SGWU) and Loyola College only merged to form Concordia University in 1974. Today, the multi-media artist works from her home studio and creates art pieces, mainly portraits, landscapes and master copies by commission.

Ten years ago, Wloski decided she wanted to organize an alumni art show to exhibit the work of her former university peers. The process has been a long one, but it has finally fallen into place. Backed by the Concordia University Alumni Association, the art show will take place Nov. 1 and 2 and will feature the works of 64 artists, including Mark Prent, Ann McCall and Suraj Sadan. Wloski will also be presenting two of her own pieces: Myriam in the Backyard and Don’t Worry – Pilot in Total Control.

Prent is a Polish-born sculptor and performance artist who graduated from SGWU in 1970. Since then, he has received several awards and significant recognition for his work, including the 1978 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship. At the alumni art show, Prent will be showing War and Peace.

Jackie Rae Wloski will be showing her piece, Myriam in the Backyard at the event.
Convergence, a collograph by Ann McCall.
Suraj Sadan’s piece titled Trinity.

 

McCall received her BFA from Concordia in 1978. The artist has had 10 solo exhibitions and participated in over 20 group exhibitions since 2008. Most recently, McCall won the Rideau Prize award for printmaking in visual art. Much of her work is inspired by the environment, from her seasonal series C’est l’hiver, based on the winter forest and animals of rural Quebec, to the complex environmental issues in Arborescence, which focuses on deforestation.

McCall will be showing and selling two pieces, Convergence and Arbes Hivernaux, made using the printmaking process of collography.

Sadan graduated from Concordia in 1980 with a master’s degree in art education. In 2011, he received an India Empire NRI Award for promotion of peace through art in New Delhi. His work is greatly inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, whom he met at a refugee camp in 1947, according to Concordia University Magazine. Sadan is a portrait artist and has completed over 20 portraits of Gandhi, one of which was made into an international stamp and featured on the cover of UNESCO Courier in October 1969.

According to Wloski, the art show is an opportunity for alumni to gain exposure while reuniting with old peers. Wloski said she hopes the show will inspire young artists and students outside of the fine arts department to seek out opportunities post-graduation. “There is no need to study to practice,” she said. “We’re artists, and we’d like to show people what we do.”

The Pre-Concordia Alumni Art Show will be open for two days in the new conference centre on the ninth floor of John Molson School of Business. The vernissage will be on Nov. 1 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The show will be open until 9 p.m. on Wednesday, and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 2.

Photos courtesy of Jackie Rae Wloski

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Scaling down everything except fear

Goldman’s piece titled Hold Tight draws the viewer into a tiny scene of terror. Photo by Luca Caruso-Moro

Arms and legs outstretched, he felt the wind whipping through his hair and the blood rushing to his head. If he looked down the cliff edge, he would see a man splayed out, bloodied and dirty. Though he would give anything to be released, if the man holding him loosened his grip, he would surely fall from a fatal height.

Roughly six inches.

This scene is from Abigail Goldman’s miniature tableau Hold Tight, part of her highly original series Dieorama. The affectionately-titled solo show, Sweet Dreams, is Goldman’s newest installment to the series, showing at the Station 16 Gallery until Nov. 18.

Dieorama is a series of small-scale dioramas depicting murder scenes, often taking place in middle-class townhouses, open-concept office spaces or picturesque fields. The violence is cold-blooded and the figures are graphic and, of course, small.

Sweet Dreams plays with violence and humour, engaging the audience immediately. Photo by Luca Caruso Moro

Goldman creates her nightmare dioramas out of styrofoam, model train sets and dirt from Las Vegas—as she described to Atlas Obscura, “something about that fine, sun-baked dirt is the best.”

Goldman called Sweet Dreams “a push-pull relationship between the grotesque and the humorous. Ideally, this common thread runs through the show like a bit of delicate tension: Should I laugh or should I cringe?”

As gruesome as the dioramas are, they are also very funny. A grandmother wields a shotgun on postcard-perfect rolling hills, a man showers with a bloodied scrubber, and a woman eats a man’s head at a table set for two.

Goldman’s scenes are fictional, but her subject matter is well researched. Formerly a crime reporter for the Las Vegas Sun, Goldman now works as an investigator for the Federal Public Defender in the District of Nevada where she spends her time uncovering stories for criminal defence cases.

Goldman manages to find and beautifully exploit a delicate balance of dark subject matter and ironic humour with over-the-top scenarios and incredible attention to detail. The result is an unexpectedly compelling method of storytelling.

“My primary consideration is story—what can I do to pull someone in and make them wonder what happened here,” Goldman said. “[I’m] hoping to find a narrative that leaves the viewer with something, whether that means feeling disturbed or amused.”

The exhibition, which showcases a selection works from the artist’s Dieorama series, will be on display until Nov. 18. Photo by Mackenzie Lad

The small scale of Goldman’s work is critical to its impact. Blood-drenched garden shears, dogs eating their owners and cauldrons full of of limbs are especially poignant on a scale usually reserved for model trains and science fairs.

“The dichotomy is preposterous,” the artist remarked.

The tiny scenes resonated largely with audiences. Viewers at Station 16 Gallery leaned in and strained their eyes to fully absorb the obsessive detail in landscape, movement and gore.

The success of Goldman’s work is due not only to her whimsical storytelling and impressive dexterity, but to something much deeper. As Goldman explained to Juxtapoz Magazine, people hold back a lot of anger to be polite, and so the dioramas may scratch an unexpected itch.

“By condensing rage, miniaturizing it, making violence preposterous and humorous—maybe there’s some relief,” Goldman told Juxtapoz. Perhaps stress and anger are easier to handle when we can observe our most violent thoughts made comical by these tiny displays. In this case, however, we might have to squint.

Dieorama is a joyous example of commitment to craft, animated storytelling and garish humour.

Don’t sleep on this one. Sweet Dreams is not to be missed.

Sweet Dreams will be on display at Station 16 Gallery until Nov. 18. The gallery is located at 3523 St-Laurent Blvd, and open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and until 5 p.m. on Saturday. Admission is free.

Feature photo by Luca Caruso-Moro

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Finding fluidity in Canada’s Indigenous history

With her work in hochelaga rock, artist Hannah Claus hopes to provide a deeper understanding about the area’s Indigenous past. Photos by Alex Hutchins.

Concordia graduate Hannah Claus premieres her new work in hochelaga rock

Fluidity and change in connection with the history of Canada, specifically the Hochelaga Rock monument, are the focus of Hannah Claus’s exhibition, titled hochelaga rock, which opened at Articule Gallery on Oct. 20.

Hochelaga Rock is a commemorative stone located on the McGill campus, on Tiohtià:ke land Jacques Cartier visited in 1535. Claus’ use of this stone in her work broadens the conversation around its presence, meaning and significance, and of First Nations and settler worldviews in general. Claus is a graduate of Concordia’s fine arts master’s program. She created the exhibition this past summer during her time as an artist-in-residence with Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC) and Milieux, Concordia’s institute for arts, culture and technology.

Claus’ work consists of several large photographic prints of Hochelaga Rock, each modified differently and preventing a clear view of the statement written on the rock’s plaque. Small, circular forms create this obscuration, varying from piece to piece. Some are black, and in one case they are small images of running water and foliage. Paired with these prints are several hanging, coloured acrylic sheets in various colours, each with different words carved into them. “Karahkwa,” meaning ‘sun’ in Mohawk, is written on one. “Ohne:ka,” meaning ‘water,’ is on another.

There will be a discussion with the artist about her exhibition at Article on November 4. Photos by Alex Hutchins.

The inspiration for the installation came to Claus from a number of different places, including the 150th and 375th anniversary celebrations of Canada and Montreal, respectively. Focusing her work on the history of Canada and Montreal was significant to Claus because of the many inaccuracies often found within the country’s history and the glossing over of deeply rooted colonialism.

The lack of detail and misrepresentation of Hochelaga Rock’s history in a textbook’s description of the stone also motivated Claus to create this exhibition. She explained that the textbook devoted 10 lines to describing how Jacques Carter “found” the Iroquois village the monument now commemorates and that it was simply gone when Samuel de Champlain arrived decades later. The small amount of information—with a predominantly colonial focus—on this important part of Canada’s past left a space that Claus said she hopes hochelaga rock will fill with deeper understanding and consideration for this historical matter.

Another source of inspiration for hochelaga rock came from a visit to Edmonton, Alta., earlier this year when Claus was a contender for an art commission in the area. While there, Claus met with the First Nations elders of the Dene and Cree communities in Edmonton to talk about the area and its history. She also visited a site that was to be developed into an Aboriginal art park. Before European contact, the site was used as a gathering place where travelers would leave from to journey across North America. At this time, Claus explained, trade was a ceremony, a coming together of people. It was not simply about the exchange of goods, but about the communities and connections as well.

“When I heard the Dene elder talking about Hochelaga, it felt like I found a missing link that could explain the ‘mystery of the disappeared St-Lawrence Iroquoians’ discussed so briefly in history books,” Claus said. “Knowing about the connections between this place and others across the country—the fluid space of people traveling and gathering—inspired me.”

According to Claus, the physical form of the stone was also significant to her. “There is the solid nature of the rock, acting as a marker or monument for one version of history,” she explained. “To me, rocks hold memory. They are the land and the ancestors. In this project, I try to disrupt the solidity of the history that is placed on this particular rock.”

Through personal experiences and research, Claus was able to identify a common theme of fluidity in Indigenous history, which contrasts with the notions of stability brought on by colonization and settlement. Focusing on the rock as a subject—an object that is solid, strong and rarely changes—Claus plays with its meaning.

Along with the installation and photographs, hochelaga rock also includes a video component in the form of a film loop of different Facebook Live videos. The subjects of these social media films are the peaceful protests over First Nations lands and contested areas that have occurred since the Oka Crisis in 1990. By including footage of recent  events in the exhibition, the artist said she hoped to connect the history of Hochelaga to the contemporary issues occurring on Indigenous land. “It’s important to me to bring us out of a historical moment and into the present,” Claus said. “These issues of place and peoples are still pertinent and real.”

hochelaga rock will be on display at Articule until Nov. 19. The gallery is open Wednesday to Friday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on the weekends until 5 p.m. Admission is free. There will also be a discussion with Claus at the gallery on Nov. 4 at 3 p.m., as part of the exhibition.

Photos by Alex Hutchins

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Auteur directors deliver stunning feats

Call Me By Your Name and Wonderstruck make their bid for awards season at the Festival du nouveau cinéma

While major film festivals like the Sundance Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival have always welcomed the biggest names in the industry, the Festival du nouveau cinéma gathers a more modest crowd. However, that doesn’t mean the festival’s programming fails to match up with its competitors.

This year’s lineup included a range of high-profile films, including Quebec filmmaker Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 and Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer, starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell.

In addition, two of the most highly anticipated films, Call Me By Your Name and Wonderstruck, screened during the festival’s final weekend. Let’s see if they lived up to the hype.

Timothée Chalamet (left) and Armie Hammer star in Call Me By Your Name, a coming-of-age love story.

Call Me By Your Name

When a film receives so much praise across the board, it might be tempting to dismiss it as overrated. Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name is not such a film. Starring Armie Hammer and newcomer Timothée Chalamet, the film is a sexy coming-of-age tale that explores first love, self-discovery and heartbreak.

Set in northern Italy during the summer of 1983, the film follows Elio (Chalamet), a boyish and brooding 17-year-old who, while vacationing with his academic parents at their summer villa, becomes transfixed with 20-something Oliver (Hammer), an American grad student who arrives to work with Elio’s father for six weeks. Elio and his parents are intellectuals—they’re all perfectly trilingual and read Joseph Conrad while lounging by the pool—and so is Oliver, so he fits right in.

As Elio and Oliver get to know one another, they are simultaneously perplexed by and drawn to each other. This creates a push-pull relationship in which neither of them are entirely sure the other is interested. But the chemistry between them is palpable, and their desire for one another is beautifully exemplified against the sumptuous backdrop of the Italian vistas they explore together.

Elio experiences all of the typical highs and lows of first love. Yet his heartbreak is amplified to a new level, perhaps because their relationship is never fully realized and their romance is somewhat forbidden. The more entangled Elio and Oliver become, the more devastating their eventual goodbye feels.

Call Me By Your Name is a true masterpiece, and it’s hard to imagine Guadagnino ever topping it. It’s safe to say the film is a shoe-in for awards season, with both Hammer and Chalamet poised to receive tons of accolades for their crushingly honest and sensitive performances. This is absolutely not one to miss.

Call Me By Your Name hits theatres everywhere on Nov. 24.

Wonderstruck follows two young children on separate journeys of self-discovery.

Wonderstruck

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” This quote is oftentimes the only source of comfort for young Ben, the main character in Todd Haynes’ brilliant film, Wonderstruck. After Ben loses his mother in a car accident, and then loses his hearing when he is struck by lightning through a telephone, he decides to run away to New York City in search of his father, whom he has never met.

Ben’s story, set in 1977, is told simultaneously alongside that of Rose, a young deaf girl who lives in New Jersey in 1927. Rose, like Ben, is also trying to escape a reality she cannot fathom. Told in black-and-white, silent-film-style flashbacks, Rose travels to New York City to free herself of her strict father and reunite with her absentee mother. As Rose and Ben’s journeys unfold side-by-side, they happen upon the same places, but it’s unclear how the two are connected.

Haynes is known for invoking strong performances from his actors, and he does so beautifully here with lead actresses Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams. Williams gets little screen time, but she pulls off her wistful, loving character well, and you miss her when she’s not on screen. Moore, on the other hand, delivers yet another emotionally rich and mesmerizing performance without ever saying a word. The film’s young cast, comprised of Oakes Fegley as Ben, Jaden Michael as Jamie and Millicent Simmonds as Rose, provide a sweet purity and sense of excitement that only adds to the film’s magic. Wonderstruck isn’t Haynes’ best work, but it will certainly strike a chord with audiences—there won’t be a dry eye in the theatre once the film ends.

Wonderstruck is currently playing in Montreal theatres.

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Artfully showcasing unsettling stories

Marine Johnson plays Ali in La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes.

Highlights from the Festival du nouveau cinéma include striking films from two Canadian filmmakers

The Festival du nouveau cinéma wrapped up on Oct. 15, following two weeks of showcasing some of the best new films of the year. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights.

La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes

It’s difficult to describe this film as anything but disturbing and violent, but it’s not a bad film by any means. Directed by Québécois filmmaker Simon Lavoie, La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes will stay with you long after you’ve seen it due to its graphic depiction of family abuse, neglect and assault. Teenaged Ali (played formidably by Marine Johnson) was raised to believe she was a boy. The film shows her living in isolation with her brother and volatile father, who beats them senselessly any time they step out of line. Although the film is shot in black-and-white, Lavoie still manages to convey the gruesome details, which only elevate the film’s morbidity. Ali’s father seems haunted by a life-altering event, told only in flashbacks throughout the film. In present day, Ali is not only unaware she is a girl—she also doesn’t understand that her brother impregnated her when he raped her in the woods. When a sympathetic man from a nearby town explains who she is and what happened to her, Ali takes control of her life and fights for survival. But when the truth of her family’s secrets are finally revealed, it feels like a punch to the gut. Despite the heartbreaking revelation, the film ends with a glimmer of hope, making it worth all Ali had to endure.

Sweet Virginia

Jon Bernthal (right) and Christopher Abbott star in Sweet Virginia, a chilling and cinematic thriller.

There is nothing sweet about this film, and that’s what makes its title so effective. Set in a small town where three brutal murders have just taken place, Sweet Virginia tells the story of Sam (played by Jon Bernthal), a tortured ex-bull-rider who now manages a motel, and his friendship with Elwood (Christopher Abbott), a deranged hitman who inserts himself into Sam’s life. Rounding out the main cast are Rosemarie DeWitt and Imogen Poots as Bernadette and Lila—two disgruntled widows harbouring a few secrets of their own. Elwood books a room at Sam’s motel shortly after murdering three men in a local diner, two of whom are Bernadette and Lila’s husbands. Sam befriends Elwood, not knowing who he is, and the two strike up a rapport. The tension between them rapidly builds as Elwood’s motives—and Sam’s connection to one of the victims—becomes clear. Bernthal impresses as the quiet, kind-heart Sam, but Abbott is the true standout here. He showcases Elwood’s increasingly maniacal and sociopathic behaviour through subtle gestures—such as his ever-present and ever-creepy groan—along with an off-puttingly upbeat candor. While the ending is rather predictable, the audience is still jolted out of their seats when the film reaches its climax. Moreover, the film is visually stunning. Director Jamie M. Dagg managed to capture interesting features even in the most mundane settings, such as a motel room or the front seat of a car, through non-traditional camera placement. If you’re into crime thrillers set in moody small towns, then Sweet Virginia is for you.

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Urban artists meet to connect and create

A viewer stands in front of one of Jason Wasserman’s pieces. Photos by Anna Larovaia.

A street art exhibition that brought together Montreal and New York City artists will be on display for an extra month to allow more urban art lovers to admire the collection of works. Hosted by Station 16, a local contemporary art gallery, NYC meets MTL Street Art Pop-Up Gallery was intended to run from Sept. 8 until the end of the month. The exhibition will now be open until Oct. 31.

During the opening, over 20 artists were invited to participate in a live painting session. It was the New York artists who created a new mural for the Station 16 print shop. Andrea Cook, the creator of the Pussy Power series, contributed her design of a reimagined Chanel perfume bottle to the artistic process by inscribing the title of her series onto the bottle.

Andrea Cook’s contribution is part of her series of provocative pieces titled Pussy Power. Photos by Anna Larovaia.

The exhibition showcases a refreshing diversity of work and includes creations by Concordia’s own Laurence Vallières, Whatisadam (WIA) and Jason Wasserman. Wasserman, who graduated from Concordia in 2004 with a degree in fine arts, is now working as an independent illustrator. “Station 16 is involved in this big cross-section of different styles, and they chose the artists exposing at their gallery accordingly,” said Wasserman, who is also a partner of the Station 16 print shop.

A recurring theme that is present in the pieces by Montreal artists within the exhibition is Canadian, specifically Montreal, imagery. With Wasserman’s illustrations of both cliché and underground sectors of the city and Whatisadam’s iconic Maple Sizzurp Drum, Montreal is well represented.

“Montreal is such a big part of my identity,” Wasserman said about his source of inspiration. “I have so much attachment to this city so, for me, it’s not only a natural but also an authentic theme.”

Wasserman described ‘street art’ as an umbrella term used to describe a variety of art, including styles such as sculpting, stencil graffiti and murals, all which can be found at the NYC meets MTL Street Art Pop-Up Gallery.

By featuring the work of artists from two separate cities, the exhibition successfully merges inter-city street art communities. “Working with other artists is great for learning but also for networking,” Wasserman said, adding that he now follows some of the New York artists on Instagram. “It’s important for independent contractors to network and help one another.”

This is a lesson Wasserman was taught during his time at Concordia. “I spent a lot of time late at night in Concordia’s art studio. I was in my own bubble. The work I created there was sometimes unsatisfying, and I realized it was because I was self-exploring through work that was meant to be created for others to relate to and gain from,” he said.

The gallery is not only a chance for art enthusiasts to see creations that cross international borders, but according to Wasserman, it is also an opportunity for artists such as himself to share and learn from one another.

NYC meets MTL Street Art Pop-Up Gallery will be on display until Oct. 31 at Station 16 Gallery. The gallery is open Tuesday to Thursday from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. and on Friday until 5 p.m. Private viewings can also be arranged.

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A Nigerian artist’s perspective of life in Montreal

Akintade said he was inspired to paint women of colour because of the difference in how they are treated in Nigeria and in Montreal. Photo by Mackenzie Lad

Emmanuel Ayo Akintade explores vulnerability and femininity through stunning portraiture

Emmanuel Ayo Akintade, with his tall frame and arresting style peppered with vibrant colours like canary yellow, seems imposing at first. Underneath, however, is a genuine, humble and talented artist who just wants his “paintings to do the talking” about a message he holds close to his heart—respect for women.

The recent studio arts graduate from Dawson College has kept busy this past summer. Akintade had his first solo exhibition at Studio 303, where he was grateful to have an overwhelmingly positive response from the audience.

“It was blessed,” Akintade said. “Students from Concordia and McGill invited me to an event promoting young entrepreneurs afterwards. It gave me more experience about what it is to be an artist and someone who creates art that involves an audience.”

Akintade’s oil paintings are unique in that almost all of them feature black women. When asked about his choice of subject, Akintade replied that he would like to paint women of all ethnicities. He said the message he wants to transmit with his paintings is not just in support of black women, but rather all women, young and old alike.

The reason he hasn’t painted a more ethnically-diverse set of women: laziness.

“I call myself the lazy artist because I don’t like blending paint and making colours. I found my technique and I continued using it,” he said.

His reason for using oil paint also relates to his dislike of the preparatory work that must be done before painting. Acrylic paint, for example, dries too quickly for Akintade’s liking and renders the process of preparing paint on a palette much more difficult than it is with oil paint.

Although most of his practice has been focused on portraying women of colour, Akintade said that in the future, he hopes to paint people of all ethnicities. Photo by Mackenzie Lad

Akintade’s inspiration for his paintings stems from the dichotomy between attitudes towards women in Nigeria—where he lived as a young boy—and the attitudes he has witnessed in Montreal as a teenager and young adult.

“Where I come from, ladies are respected,” the artist said. “Here, there’s so much disrespect of the female character. They tend to be judged by what they do. Back home, there was so much respect.”

Akintade, who has been painting for about three years, said he is surprised by how much his art has evolved, and by how much attention and appreciation his paintings receive. He began painting for fun at home and initially never intended for his paintings to be displayed. After his first exhibition this summer, Akintade said he is still quite shocked by how much of a positive response he got.

“The first time I got my art out, people got really involved with the message right away,” he said. “People started talking about [elements in my work] I wasn’t even planning to paint intentionally.”

Though the so-called “artist gene” does not run in his family, Akintade said his parents are very supportive of his work. His mother often helps him advertise his paintings and occasionally purchases some of his artwork.

Akintade is trilingual, speaking French, English and Yoruba, a dialect spoken in Nigeria. He doesn’t always find it easy to express the thought process behind his paintings, especially in English, which is not his mother tongue.

“As an artist, my goal is to let my paintings do all the talking,” he said.

Though he is not one for many words, Akintade did share a bit of the creative process behind his work. He said he noticed that women in Montreal tend not to talk about the hurtful and disrespectful things they experience on a daily basis. They tend to keep these experiences to themselves, he said.

“That’s why in my paintings they seem so quiet,” Akintade said. “They have their eyes closed. They’re not engaging with their surroundings. They’re just in themselves. The idea is that through their quietness, they are speaking.”

The blossoming artist has a new project in mind for the future. He wants to paint a series of male portraits. He said he feels men are often put into a box and are constantly labeled based on their appearance.

“The new project is about guys,” Akintade said. “I don’t like this idea of labelling guys [by the] way they dress. They should be free.”

Photo by Mackenzie Lad

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From Dust to Zion, filmmakers are speaking up

A still from Dust when the character Sarah wakes up. Photo courtesy of Evangeline Kabuya.

At the Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF) last week, I had the opportunity to speak with Concordia graduates Evangeline Kabuya and Irene Angelico. Both are producers of amazing but entirely different films exploring aspects of black identity and culture.

After graduating from the communications program in 2016, Kabuya created Poussière (Dust), a short silent film inspired by her experience working in a library.

Q: Can you to talk me through the events that take place in the movie and why you directed it that way?

A: I was inspired by the works of Maya Deren, especially her piece At Land (1944). I think the similarities between my short and hers are obvious, like how the protagonist seemed to move seamlessly from location to location. I like the absurdity of it, how you cannot help but feel involved in the storyline.

Now, when people watch Dust, they label it as experimental even though [that] was not my intention. The way I see it, there is a strong narrative line, nothing is unsure about it. Dust came to me in fragments. I stitched [the ideas] together almost randomly.

Q: What do you hope people take away from your work?

A: My goal is to create narratives that include black women. I want people to see us. Once they do, I want them to develop their own understanding of it. I want them to make the meaning of the work their own.

I believe that as soon as someone sees my work, it’s taken from me. The meaning of it is not mine to decide anymore. When each one of us tries to understand a movie, we all come with our own baggage. It’s impossible to read a work the exact same way as another person, and I think that’s the beauty of art in general.

How does Dust reflect your learning experiences at Concordia? Is Dust an expressed product of your knowledge or an independent exploration?

Dust is an exploration of my creativity. Of course my studies at Concordia had a great impact on it. Thanks to my film teacher at the time, Emily Pelstring, who was more into experimental works, we got to study more unique and less tradition materials.

As my first film, Dust is a product of multiple mistakes. It was shot in 16 mm through an analog medium and, at the time, I didn’t know if it was going to be good or bad. I just followed my gut. And it was the most rewarding experience.

Evangeline Kabuya, a Concordia communications graduate and the director of the short silent film, Poussière (Dust). Photo courtesy of Evangeline Kabuya.

*****

Angelico’s film, Reaching for Zion follows Bob Marley’s granddaughter, Donisha Prendergast, as she traces the foundation of her grandfather’s legacy, exploring the “untold story of Rastas and Jews.”

Q: How did you come to make films with a BA in humanities of science, (now known as human relations)?

A: I co-directed my very first film with George Mihalka in a humanities of science class at Concordia. I was sick of writing papers, and I convinced George that this would be great. We had no idea if it would even be accepted. It wasn’t a sexy title—something about a young woman in a modern technological age—but it was an OK film. And we both got an A+.

Q: What was your creative process behind Reaching for Zion? How does it relate to the overall theme of MIBFF, “Speak Up!”?

A: Reaching for Zion, like all my films—in fact why I am a filmmaker at all—is all about speaking up.

Most of my films are about battling racism, poverty and religious hatred. These are my obsessions. I believe that everyone deserves a home where they can live in peace and harmony.

A photo taken in Israel of Donisha Prendergast as the Queen of Sheba in Reaching for Zion. Photo courtesy of Irene Angelico.

Like so many others, I am a huge fan of Marley’s music and of his dream of “One Love,” which embodies all these values. When I met Donisha Prendergast, Marley’s granddaughter, I was inspired by her efforts to realize that dream in our present day struggles.

In exploring all this, I became fascinated by Rastafari’s connection to Judaism. Rastas and Jews share beliefs about Yahweh/Jah, Old Testament redemption, the mystical properties of human hair, dietary practices and symbols like the Star of David and Lion of Judah. Both also share a history of slavery and persecution.

Donisha has dreamt of the African Queen Sheba since she was a girl. The Queen of Sheba’s intellectual and spiritual connection with King Solomon, son of King David, evolved into one of the most legendary romances in history. Donisha believes Haile Selassie, the former Emperor of Ethiopia (1930-1974), was a direct descendant of them.

Q: How would you describe your experience as a white producer/director of black culture?

A: We consider it a great honour for our whole team to be included in the Montreal International Black Film Festival. I am not sure I have the right to be a producer/director of black culture, and I’m not. I am looking at the commonalities of my culture as a white woman, a Jewish woman and a child of Holocaust survivors and what we have in common with Rastafari culture.

Like Donisha and all the Rastafari I have met, I believe that we can live in peace and harmony, and we don’t need to make distinctions based on colour, religion, class or anything else. There are differences, and that is wonderful. But we are also all one.

The Montreal International Black Film Festival ended on Oct. 1 with a screening of Woodpeckers at Concordia. For more information about the festival, visit the MIBFF website.

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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

Categories
Arts

Facilitating a better future through film

Nicole Abdul-Massih, second from the left, is pictured here with the LCF team at their annual fundraiser brunch in May. Courtesy of Liban-Canada Fonds.

Montreal screening of renowned Lebanese filmmaker’s flick to benefit children’s charities

All profits from the Montreal premiere of Franco-Lebanese director Philippe Aractingi’s Listen will go towards four Lebanese non-governmental organizations. The screening, at 7 p.m. on Oct. 1 at Guzzo’s Sphèrteque in St-Laurent, is part of the series Rendez-vous du Cinéma Libanais à Montréal put on by Liban-Canada Fonds (LCF).

Founded in 2000, LCF is a Montreal-based, volunteer-run organization that raises funds for Lebanese charities. Its proceeds go to NGOs such as Sesobel, which provides social services for children with disability; the Institut de Reeducation Audio-Phonetique (IRAP) which helps deaf children; and the Lebanese Child Home Association (AFEL) which advocates for abused children. In 2004, the Société St-Vincent de Paul, which helps underprivileged families, became the fourth NGO in the LCF family.

The Rendez-vous du Cinéma Libanais à Montréal series is a continuation of the LCF’s five-day Lebanese film festival organized last May. Listen (Esmaii in Arabic) tells the story of Joud, a sound engineer who enjoys recording wild, natural sounds. He falls in love with Rana, a beautiful, free-spirited woman from a different social class, but her parents forbid Joud from seeing her. This is when he begins sending Rana sound bites of his voice, and tells her to listen to them.

“It is a movie that must be heard, not just watched. It is a film about noise as much as it is about silence,” Aractingi said. A self-made filmmaker from a country where cinematic studies isn’t a career option, Aractingi is mostly known for a trilogy about Lebanon’s civil war.

Ideally, all of the profits from the LCF’s events are split equally between the organizations they work with to directly help children in need. The more money they raise, the more children they can sponsor, Abdul-Massih said. The treatment and care for a child provided by Sesobel, for example, costs about $1,200 USD a year, including doctor and therapist consultations.

Abdul-Massih said LCF’s events are a great way for Montreal’s Lebanese community to gather and unite in support of a great cause. Whether it’s through a cultural event, such as a movie screening, or a simple gathering, like the LCF’s annual brunch fundraiser, showing up to these events is a community effort, Abdul-Massih said.

According to Aractingi, Listen is set “in the war-ridden country of Lebanon in the midst of a socio-political turmoil, where the only form of resistance, the only form of survival is love.”

On a recent trip to Lebanon, Abdul-Massih said she experienced that same intense love—the volunteers and employees of the four organizations there seemed to emit love in every way possible. The love was so intense that she said she felt she was leaving a sort of paradise when she returned to Montreal.

According to Abdul-Massih, the work of these organizations has helped reduce the stigma faced by children in Lebanon born with disabilities. These organizations’ accommodations have helped change the Lebanese mentality regarding disabled people, she said. So what better way to continue making a change for the better than by enjoying a movie with a down-to-earth story produced by one of the most famous Lebanese filmmakers of our time?

Tickets to the screening are $25. All the proceeds from the event—except for the renting cost—will be donated to the four LCF-funded organizations. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 514-241-9858 or visit the foundation’s Facebook page.

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Opinions

How to approach an anti-materialistic lifestyle

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth.

Taking small steps to become less dependent on our belongings goes a long way

In a world where something newer and better is almost always available for purchase, society tends to value material objects. We often seek out the latest, trendiest gadgets we can find. As consumers, we tend to forget about the importance of the natural world which exists beyond material possessions.

The value we place on our material objects is a prominent characteristic of the western world. Some people might not even realize their own materialistic habits. For the purposes of this article, I will define materialism as: “A preoccupation with or stress upon material rather than spiritual or intellectual things.”

The fact is we are currently more attached to our belongings than people ever have been. Many of us cannot imagine life without our favourite possessions, let alone without any possessions.

The best, if not the only way to combat this epidemic is to start with yourself. We can’t change the mindset of millions of people living materialistically. So instead, I’ve listed some tips to help you become less materialistic, and a little more in tune with the natural world around you.

The first step to becoming a little less materialistic is being aware of your problem. It’s unrealistic to claim that you’re not a materialistic person, especially living in today’s western society.

Unless you are practicing an anti-materialistic lifestyle, living in the woods in a house you built yourself, there is no way you don’t place too much value on your material goods. For the most part, we all do. Begin your path to a less materialistic lifestyle by acknowledging your attachment to your belongings, and admit you want to work on that.

Since many of us value our technology, such as cellphones, laptops and tablets, more than most of our other belongings, limiting the time you spend on your devices can make a difference. Start by monitoring just how much time you spend on your electronic devices, and try to periodically knock off 10 per cent of that number until you reach a point where you are happy with your typical device usage.

Another basic tip is to just spend more time outside. The power of nature is stronger than you might think. Plan an afternoon, a day or even a weekend of walking, hiking, biking or any other activity that lets you enjoy the outdoors and get back to nature. Taking notice of the natural world can do wonders for your mental health, and can be a sharp reminder that belongings are not everything.

Most importantly, get to know yourself. Sometimes, life becomes chaotic and we get lost in the sea of our to-do list. We have so much on our plates, and we tend to reward ourselves with material things. But by submitting yourself to your belongings, you might forget who you are and what you truly enjoy. Look for those pockets of time, and spend that time on you.

Finally, I’m not saying you have to get rid of everything and live an entirely new life. I’m not asking you to throw away all possessions and meditate for eight hours a day. Instead, if you feel you are too glued to your belongings, take small steps to become less attached.

The best way to change your lifestyle is to start small and work your way up. The goal of implementing a less materialistic mindset in your everyday lifestyle is to make changes in moderation. Instead of feeling addicted to buying new things, you should hope to feel like there is more to life than just your belongings. Trying out one or two of these tips is a great way to get started.

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth

Categories
Arts

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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