The Looms We Resemble accentuates the similarities and intersections between different cultures and histories. Over the span of one month, the artists in this exhibition gathered to learn more about weaving and sit with the patience it offers.
Curatorial Tour with Fatma Hendawy
Each artist manifested their very unique and intimate connections with their heritage, ancestors, and identity. Through this guided tour, we will delve deep into these connections and explore how each artist found solace in being together, weaving, telling stories, sharing time and space and producing new artworks that capture the essence of this togetherness.
The tour will end with an informal open discussion between the curator and attendees.
ABOUT FATMA HENDAWY
Fatma Hendawy is a curator based in Toronto. She graduated in 2020 from the MVS Curatorial program, University of Toronto. She participated in curatorial workshops and residencies including Tate Intensive 2017, ProHelvetia and ZKU/Berlin. She curated “Overt: Militarization as Ideology”, 2020 at the Art Museum, “Blind Ambition” by Hassan Khan film screening at Images Festival 2022, “Garden of Broken Shadows”, 2023 at Critical Distance Center for Curators, “Art Nest” 2023 at TOAF 62, and “As we move away from the sun”, 2024 Apexart international exhibition at Allan Gardens.
Currently she is working on independent curatorial research “Harvesting Roots, Cultivating Hope” funded by OAC to document conversations with immigrant artists from the SWANA and East Africa in Ontario.
Saturday, November 30, 2024
Time: 2 – 4 PM (ET)
Youngplace Hallway Galleries (180 Shaw Street, Third Floor, Toronto)
No Registration Required
Rendezvous Spoken Word and Open Mic
Please join us at our first Rendezvous spoken word and open mic event as part of our Shine ; Together year!
We are excited to feature esteemed writers Ghadeer Elghafri and Kelly Rose Pflug-Back – see their biography and contact details below! The event will also feature open mic from Workman Arts writers each sharing 5 minutes of writing with our audience – sign up for the open mic begins at 1:30 PM and continues until the 12 slots are filled. Tickets are available at the door or in advance – pay what you can and no one turned away!
This event follows the Workman Arts short film program.
Any questions please contact info@workmanarts.com.
ABOUT GHADEER ELGHAFRI
Ghadeer Elghafri is a Palestinian-Canadian poet from Gaza, born and raised in Dubai, UAE, living in Toronto. She immigrated to Canada 10 years ago from Dubai without her family. She is a Palestinian activist, a feminist, and an advocate of women, children, human rights and social justice.
Since she was 10 years old child, she was writing poetry in her mother language Arabic. What inspired Ghadeer to write is nature, her father, love, longing, nostalgia, diaspora, her homeland Palestine, difficult emotions, hard feelings, trauma, feminism, freedom, liberation, human rights and justice.
Ghadeer is the founder of Toronto Poetry Club. She has organized inclusive and diverse multicultural multilingual open mic poetry nights in Toronto for 8 years. She has published her Arabic and English poetry in newspapers, magazines, exhibitions, including the anthology “Poetry ReRooted: Decolonizing Our Tongues” and in the anthology “To Hear The Birds”
Ghadeer’s poem “Alhuwiyya (The Identity)” had been published in English in an anthology of “Muslim American Writers at Home” in San Francisco by Freedom Voices Publisher. It was about her 3 different identities contained within her while being in diaspora, relocating in different countries and her nostalgia to her homeland Palestine. She received a grant from The Toronto Arts Council to start a Multilingual Poetry Collective.
Ghadeer is an Ontario Ambassador, Outreach to Arab speaking community of National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse (NAASCA). She completed her BSc. in Computer Science and MBA at the American University of Sharjah in UAE. Her dream is to have her own house and host her poetry nights, under the name Qahwa Art Café, in its back or front yard in the Summer and in the basement in the Winter. “Qahwa” means coffee in Arabic.
YouTube: Ghadeer Elghafri
Instagram: gghafri
ABOUT KELLY ROSE PFLUG-BACK
Kelly Rose Pflug-Back is a writer and creative writing workshop facilitator. Her fiction, poetry, and journalism has appeared recently in publications like The Briarpatch, The Deadlands, and This Magazine, as well as anthologies such as Queer Little Nightmares (Arsenal Pulp, 2022) and Imaginarium: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing (ChiZine, 2012) . Their debut collection of poems, The Hammer of Witches (Caitlin Press/Dagger Editions, 2020), recently placed as a finalist in the upcoming Bisexual Book Awards.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
Tranzac Club | 292 Brunswick Avenue, Toronto
Box office: 1 PM | Open Mic signup opens at 1:30 PM
Spoken Word event starts at 4 PM sharp and runs until 5:30
CO-PRESENTED BY
Storytelling Circle with Sarah Abusarar
Storyteller, Sarah Abusarar will be accenting the exhibit by weaving Palestinian stories of long ago. The Palestinian traditional stories were told by women in the villages. It is a tradition that was passed down from generation to generation. Often the women would tell these stories while engaging in other folk art such as embroidery and weaving. Sometimes they would tell traditional stories and other times the women would share stories from their own lives as they wove. Sarah comes from one such family. She will be sharing stories that would have been told around the fire in her village Dura by her grandmothers and that she continues to tell in diaspora in order to preserve this ancient tradition.
ABOUT SARAH ABUSARAR
Sarah Abusarar comes from a long line of storytellers on her paternal side. She tells stories to both adults and children. Sarah has told stories both nationally and internationally at festivals in Canada, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Tunisia, Morocco and United Arab Emirates. Because Sarah grew up in several countries, she tells stories from all over the world with the focus on Palestinian and Croatian stories where her roots lie. Her favourite stories are ones that promote social change. Sarah has also used stories in a therapeutic way with children in refugee camps and refugee children in Toronto, as part of their therapy. She works at the Parent Child Mother Goose Program using traditional storytelling to encourage parent child bonding. Sarah belongs to a collective called “Musical Story Studio” where stories and music are combined. Sarah tells stories so that she may go deep inside of the tales and find herself in far away magical places that she remembers, from long, long ago.
Saturday, November 23, 2024
Time: 12 – 3 PM (ET)
WA OFFSITE Gallery, 180 Shaw St. Unit 302
Registration Required
Maximum Capacity: 14
COME HAVE TEA with HELEN KONG
Tea is beyond a beverage. In a tea gathering we engage in a mindful and meditative journey of making, drinking, appreciating, and reflecting with tea.
In this tea gathering, Helen will demonstrate a Chinese tea ritual and serve teas to the participants and attendees. This will serve as context to her piece “Tea by the Apricot Tree” made during the “Way of Weaving” course facilitated by Jana Ghalayini. The tea mat, woven and created into a carry case for a traveling tea set expresses the significance of tea gatherings as a circle of learning and healing through engagement. More information about the piece can be found at the exhibition “The Looms We Resemble”.
ABOUT HELEN KONG
Helen Kong is a second generation Chinese Canadian living and working in Tkaronto (Toronto). She studied her first ritualized tea while living in Japan. Chado (the Way of Tea) is a meditative life journey through tea and hospitality. It is the gateway into art, culture, and philosophy. After returning to Canada, she studied ceramics as a way to better understand tea vessels. She established Secret Teatime, a clay studio where people play with clay and sip tea. She has expanded from making tea wares for Japanese teas to also studying and making wares for her own heritage of Chinese tea.
Saturday, December 7, 2024
Time: 1 – 3 PM (ET)
Open to all – no registration required
Location: Hallway Galleries, Youngplace, Third floor, 180 Shaw St.
Free Entry
THE INFERNAL GROVE User Group
The Infernal Grove is an unsystematic structural analysis of drug use, addiction and recovery (and not necessarily in that order). This free online user group is an unstructured meeting where people are encouraged to talk about their relationships with drugs/alcohol and sobriety.
All are welcome. No particular topic, except the ones participants wish to bring to the virtual table.
User Groups are informal meetings where participants share their experiences and perspectives on drugs/alcohol, addiction/sobriety and everything in between. All are welcome to join the conversation. This month, we’ll open with a short presentation on the sensibilities and principles that have animated our work so far, and how we hope the project will unfold going forward.
Join us for this special edition of User Group as part of the Rendezvous with Madness Festival!
For more information about The Infernal Grove please visit www.theinfernalgrove.com
ABOUT THE INFERNAL GROVE
The Infernal Grove is an unsystematic structural analysis of drug use, addiction and recovery (not necessarily in that order). It is anti-carceral, anti-prohibition and seeks to amplify the voices of radical harm-reductionists and their coalitions. It recognizes the value of the sacred while rejecting all forms of piety. It posits wonder and the land as spaces of enchantment, as not an antidote to but an extension of the space opened up by drugs.
It’s based on the artists’ lived experience of drug use and the consequent interventions of state and medical establishments, which included both involuntary hospitalization and outpatient rehabilitation.
Friday, November 1, 2024
Time: 6 – 7:30 PM (ET)
Workshop Length: 1.5 hrs
ONLINE – Free and open to all
Rendezvous with Madness & The Gathering
SHINE ; TOGETHER
This interactive, 2-hour virtual workshop offers a space to share what has been arising for us during the festival and explore how this year’s festival theme, Shine ; Together, shows up in our lives.
Shine ; Together as a theme invites us to shine a light on our narratives surrounding mental health, addictions and recovery. Through creative expression we shine a light making room for complexities and nuances; in gathering as a community, we hope to create an alliance by healing together.
The hosts and co-creators of The Gathering, Katt Topolniski, Ellen Snowball Alys McLeod and Petra Dolman will hold the space and gently guide the conversation.
They will open and close the event with simple somatic embodiment practices to support our presence in the shared space and grounding as we depart.
ABOUT THE GATHERING
The Gathering explores healing within community through lightly structured and gently guided conversations in a community-led, virtual space.
Recognizing our relational nature, The Gathering nurtures individual growth and collective healing through connection and sharing, weaving together participants’ experiences, stories, and wisdom.
Somatic embodiment practices are integrated into The Gathering, ensuring emotional safety while fostering an environment for sharing, reflecting, deep listening, and meaningful connections.
Co-creators and hosts of The Gathering: Katt Topolniski, Ellen Snowball, Alys McLeod, and Petra Dolman.
OTHER LINKS
Monday, October 28, 2024
Time: 7 – 9 PM (ET) / 5 – 7 PM (MT) / 4 – 6 PM (PT)
Workshop Length: 2 hrs
ONLINE – Free and open to all
PRESENTED BY
Bionico's Bachata (La Bachata de Bionico)
Yoel Morales | 2024 | Dominican Republic | Experimental Fiction | 80 minutes | Spanish with English subtitles
GENRE: Experimental Fiction (feature)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: Rehabilitation, Addiction, Recovery, Hybrid film
Bionico (Manuel Raposo) and his closest pal Calvita (El Napo) live their lives on the wild side, driven by their insatiable desire to get high, no matter the cost. Early on in the film, Bionico decides to turn his life around. He’s a romantic at heart, and he wants to clean up his act before the love of his life La Flaca (Ana Minier) completes rehab. To begin this new phase of life, he must find a job, buy an engagement ring, and find a nicer place to live. But making life-changing plans is easier said than done, as Bionico struggles to detox while facing an endless parade of temptations.
WITH SHORT FILM ——— CHRYSTALLID —— Esteban Powell | 2023 | Canada, Mexico | Experimental documentary | 7 minutes | Spanish with English subtitles
ACCESSIBILITY
CO-PRESENTED BY
PREVIOUSLY SCREENED AT
MORE EVENTS
Peter Doherty: Stranger in My Own Skin
Katia de Vidas | 2023 | France, United Kingdom | Documentary | 95 minutes | English
GENRE: Documentary (feature)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: Addiction, Recovery, Music, Documentary
Opening Performance: Contemporary Dance | We Lost You A Long Time Ago | Nicole Decsey Dance Projects | 2023 | 25 minutes
“‘As the lead singer of The Libertines and Babyshambles, Pete Doherty became the most iconic singer and rock n’ roll poet of his generation. First came the music, then came the success, but then came the drugs. At the peak of his career Doherty was best known for his dual relationship with Kate Moss and the tabloid press and for the turbulent episodes that followed in the wake of his very explicit heroin use. And it is this abuse that Peter Doherty: Stranger in My Own Skin finally faces. Over a ten-year period, director Katia DeVidas – now Doherty’s wife – follows the musician as he attempts to overcome his addiction and relapses. Her unique access to Doherty provides a relentless insight into an addict’s struggle to overcome his demons without losing himself and his undeniable artistic genius in the process."
– CPH:DOX
ACCESSIBILITY
CO-PRESENTED BY
Aziz
Majid Tavakoli | 2023 | Iran | Fiction | 90 minutes | Farsi with English subtitles
GENRE: Fiction (feature)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: Alzheimer’s, Aging, Caregiving, Family
Aziz, an 80-year-old matriarch lives with progressive dementia and requires constant caregiving by her children. Anoush, her youngest son, who is about to get married, loves and takes care of his mother more than his siblings. Aziz lost her husband years ago and is suddenly professing her love to someone while her family engages in a search for this mysterious man. They eventually discover Aziz is in love with her younger son.
مجید توکلی | 2023 | ایران | داستان | 90 دقیقه | فارسی با زیرنویس انگلیسی
ژانرا: داستان بلند
نوع برنامه: اکران حضوری
کلمات کلیدی: الزایمر ، کهولت ، مراقبت ، خانواده
عزیز، زنی هشتاد ساله و با سمت بزرگ خانواده دچار بیماری رو به پیشرفت فراموشی شده است و نیاز به مراقبت دائمی فرزندانش دارد.
انوش، جوانترین پسرش که در آستانه ازدواج میباشد، بیش از سایر خواهران و برادرانش مسئول نگهداری از مادر است. عزیز که همسر خودرا سالیان پیش از دست داده عشق خود را نسبت به فرد دیگری با خانواده مطرح میکند. فرزندان عزیز کنجکاوانه در پی یافتن این شخص هستند. در پایان همگی متوجه میشوند که عزیز عاشق جوانترین پسر خود شده است.
Sunday, November 3, 2024
CAMH Auditorium | 1025 Queen Street West, Toronto
Reception at 3:30 PM with art, snacks and refreshments
Box office: 4 PM | Film: 5 PM
RECEPTION
To reserve your reception tickets ($20, includes food, art, socializing & film) please contact I2CRC at 416-388-9314 or info@i2crc.org.
ACCESSIBILITY
CO-PRESENTED BY
We Lost You A Long Time Ago
Opening for Feature Film | Peter Doherty: Stranger in My Own Skin | Katia de Vidas | 2023 | France, United Kingdom | Documentary | 95 minutes | English
This Performance Opens for Film Program: Peter Doherty: Stranger In My Own Skin.
Dance Synopsis
We Lost You A Long Time Ago is a poignant contemporary dance piece by Nicole Descey Dance Projects, running 20-30 minutes, that delves into the emotional turmoil of losing a close friendship. This work explores the unraveling of a bond that once felt familial but disintegrates seemingly without warning or closure, reflecting on the deep, often unspoken grief that accompanies the loss of a friendship. Choreographer Nicole Descey draws from her personal experience of watching a friend struggle with mental health, leading to an inevitable and painful separation. Through intricate, expressive movements, dancers Nicole Decsey, and Melissa MacTavish bring to life the stages of emotional turmoil – such as grief, anger, confusion, and sorrow, offering a raw portrayal of the longing for answers and closure that never comes.
Accompanied by a live musical track composed and performed by Luc Gaylie, the choreography takes audiences through memories and moments of connection and the chaotic aftermath of a friendship slowly fading, highlighting the complexity of coping with the absence of resolution. In this powerful exploration of mental health, friendship, and the enduring pain of relationships that cannot be mended, We Lost You A Long Time Ago resonates as a moving portrayal of loss, acceptance, and the memories of a bond that can now only be mourned and remembered.
Keywords: Grief, Trauma, Loss
Accessibility: Active Listener on-site
ABOUT NICOLE DECSEY DANCE PROJECTS
Nicole Decsey (Choreographer & Dancer)
Nicole Decsey is an emerging artist with a BFA in Performance Dance from Toronto Metropolitan University. She works as a performer, choreographer, and rehearsal director with multiple Toronto and Mississauga based companies such as Frog in Hand, Create Dangerously, Dance : Corps Company, and Human Body Expression. Nicole has trained in Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto and Mississauga with companies such as Transformation Danse, Addo Platform, The Toronto Community Love In, and Toes for Dance. Nicole struggles with body dysmorphia, anxiety and depression and uses her personal experiences to create her work.
Melissa MacTavish (Performer)
Melissa MacTavish is a Toronto based dance artist who graduated from George Brown Dance with a Certificate and Diploma in 2019. Melissa has a deep appreciation for contemporary dance and acrobatics. She has performed with Beats and Intentions for Nuit Blanche and worked for Legends of Horror in 2019, performed works by Hanna Kiel and Syreeta Hector for The Fifths Summer Intensive in 2022, and most recently performed “We Lost You A Long Time Ago” with Nicole Decsey’s Dance Projects in August 2023 and performed “Listen, this will be fun” by Teagan Ariss for The Garage’s 2023 Showing.
Luc Gaylie (Musician)
As a professional composer and instrumentalist with over 20 years of experience, Luc Gaylie has honed their craft through international tours with St. Michael’s Choir, performances as a member of award-winning band Jammers Waffle House, and a long history of music directing for theatre and dance shows. With a deep passion for creating music that elevates the art of dance, Luc Gaylie is grateful for the opportunity to work with talented choreographer Nicole Decsey and her talented dancers
Friday, November 1, 2024
Tranzac Club | 292 Brunswick Avenue, Toronto
8PM
Ticket Link Redirects to Peter Doherty: Stranger In My Own Skin
PERFORMED BY
CO-PRESENTED BY
PREVIOUSLY PERFORMED AT
