ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Indebted to the words and thinking of disability justice educator Mia Mingus, wherever you are is where i want to be offers access intimacy as the un-structuring logic for our collective queer and trans crip futures. Refusing the loudly eugenicist mapping of isolation and disposability upon our disabled queer-trans-crip bodyminds, the multi-disciplinary practices platformed here speak with a loved urgency to the ways in which embodied experiences of access intimacy have the capacity to reconfigure time, space, and relation. Spanning installation to textile to video, the work of these artists proposes the act, experience, and feeling of crip kinship as a means and model of radical future-making.

ABOUT THE CURATOR

Sarah–Tai Black (they/them) is an arts curator and critic born and (mostly) raised in Treaty 13 Territory/Toronto whose work aims to center Black, queer, trans, and crip futurities and freedom work. Their curatorial work has been staged at Cambridge Art Galleries (Cambridge, ON), Dunlop Art Gallery (Regina, SK), MOCA (Toronto ON), PAVED Arts (Saskatoon, SK), and A Space Gallery (Toronto, ON).

Please join us—and bring your friends—for a free workshop exploring the process of creating an autobiographical film with Liz Roberts. Roberts is our spotlight artist this year, her remarkable short film Midwaste is available for streaming across Canada during Rendezvous With Madness. (see page 37 for film synopsis and schedule)

Liz Roberts makes work that is often collaborative and rooted in moving image and sound. She has held teaching positions in the Cinema Department at Denison University, Film & Video,  Graduate Studies at Columbus College of Art & Design and the Art and Film Studies departments at The Ohio State University. Her her early 16mm films have screened with Ann Arbor Film Festival (Michigan), Microscope Gallery (Brooklyn), Filmmakers’ Coop (New York) and were awarded at the New York Exposition of Short Film & Video and Chicago International Film Festivals. From 2015 to 2018 Roberts was a core participant in MINT—a collective, gallery, and multidisciplinary warehouse space in Columbus, Ohio. In 2019 she received a fellowship in sculpture for Vermont Studio Center, volunteered as staff at ACRE (Artists’ Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions) and was in residence at The Growlery in San Francisco. Currently she has a monthly show on Columbus, Ohio based Verge.FM and KCHUNG Radio in Los Angeles. Her most recent film, Midwaste screened at Hot Docs in 2022. She is a 2022 BAVC (Bay Area Video Coalition) MediaMaker fellow.

Accessibility:

Live auto-captioning will be provided. ASL interpretation by request. For all accessibility inquiries please contact Raine Laurent-Eugene at raine_laurenteugene@workmanarts.com.

According to numerous self-advocates, Autism and ADHD representation in film leaves much to be desired. The host, multimedia artist and neurodiversity*-affirming therapist Kat Singer brings together fellow neurodivergent** artists to share their work, explore their relationships with diagnosis and speak to the representation they would like to see on screens.

We will be sharing a virtual “living room” and drinking non-alcoholic beverages of our choice – join us for 90 minutes of insightful and authentic conversation in a relaxed, gently facilitated space. *\

Individual human brains naturally differ in how they are built and how they function; this biological fact is referred to as “neurodiversity.” Autism and ADHD are examples of diagnostic labels for people whose brains look and function differently from what is considered typical or “normal”. These individuals sometimes choose to self-identify as neurodivergent. Self-advocates have begun to reclaim these medical terms that have been used to oppress them, transforming stigma into pride and creating communities of like-minded people. To learn more about key terms, see  Nick Walker’s seminal essay:

https://neuroqueer.com/neurodiversity-terms-and-definitions/

Our special guests at Neurodivergent Creator Cozy Tea Time will be announced soon

Accessibility:

ASL and live captioning will be provided. For all accessibility inquiries please contact Raine Laurent-Eugene at raine_laurenteugene@workmanarts.com.

CHAINS & CROWNS
Stéphane Alexis

Chains & Crowns, is a photo-based series of artworks inspired and dedicated to the artist’s mother. This large-scale print depicts the history, politics, science and psychology of Black Hairstyles. The typological series displayed in a grid format encourages the viewer to cross-reference hairstyles and allows the Black and broader communities the opportunity to draw from their personal experiences, whether that be through their own stories or through their community members. The work also comes with information on styles that derive from an array of time periods, cultures and movements ranging from Ancient Egypt (2700 BC – 343 BC) to The Natural Hair Movement (1960 – present). This gives way for the audience to further solidify their understanding through historical text and to question the multi-faceted ways these styles have been utilized and evolved in impact over time.

Stéphane Alexis is an artist based in Ottawa, Canada. His work stems from personal experiences, research, community collaborations and visual expression, all fostering a strong desire to bring a level of understanding to the often overlooked communities. Stéphane’s work seeks to give insight into these communities in which he belongs to.

Artist website:  stephanealexis.com

Keywords: Activism | Community | Depression | Resilience | Trauma

#RWMFest #MoreThanRebellion

THE THINGS WE CARRY WITH US
Twinkle Banerjee

The things we carry with us is a mixed media installation that explores the life of the artist’s grandmother, who experienced displacement as a child when India was partitioned as the British exited India. What the artist’s grandmother saw or experienced was never discussed but the signs of her trauma remained. The family went through much emotional upheaval as a result and shaped the artist’s anxieties as her grandmother remained the artist’s caregiver for most of her childhood.

The things we carry with us explores coping mechanisms we pick up as children to survive. And, in practice, it can take a very long time to come to terms with our realities and sometimes we never do; we live behind a net seeing and experiencing the world differently, and that becomes the only world we know.

Twinkle Banerjee (she/her) is an Indian-Canadian visual artist, who explores work that deals with social issues such as generational trauma, globalization and human rights. Understanding the pressure put on BIPOC artists for creating trauma-related work, she also tries balancing her work with introspective experiments with a focus on poetic imagery.

Twinkle has exhibited in the USA, Canada, the UK and Armenia, been published in Berlin and featured on CBC. In 2021 her artwork “Characters of Memorial Park” was part of an exhibition and publication at the ICP-New York.

Artist website:  twinklebanerjee.com

Keywords: Activism | BIPOC Experience | Bipolar Disorder(s) | Trauma | CPTSD Generational Trauma

#RWMFest #MoreThanRebellion

LOSING IT
Boozie

Inspired by the helplessness of being stuck on a hamster wheel, this series chronicles one’s inner dialogue. Losing It explores the journey of trying to confront your demons after listening to them tell you lies all day long. For the artist, this includes trying out all the self-help tricks in the book with the hope that a light can someday be found at the end of the tunnel. This series was created to find an outlet and a means of articulating the artist’s mental health struggles with room for some humor in the despair.

Boozie is an independent, self-taught artist based in Toronto. She finds inspiration in everyday moments. Her artwork primarily focuses on her experiences as a woman. Being drawn to portraits, many of her works reflect everyday women in different personas. 

Artist website:  instagram.com/artbyboozie

Keywords: Anxiety | BIPOC Experience | Family | OCD

#RWMFest #MoreThanRebellion

CINNAMON
Wen Tong

Cinnamon is a series of paintings which, like the spice, is mundane yet leaves an experience that invigorates the senses and has a magical quality. Ideas for the paintings came from everyday experiences in a suburban setting yet, a fantastical theme is constructed throughout the series.

This reflects the artist’s own sensitivity and yearning for what is beyond daily life, where she experiences flashes of inspiration through living her life. These may be the unexpected consequences of meditative practices of a state of mind that carries over to everyday experiences. Regardless of origin, these visions are triggered by the world around her and they reshape moments into a fresh perspective. The artist’s work aims to share the knowledge gained from these experiences.

Wen Tong was born in Jinan, China, before immigrating to Canada at the age of 2. She received her HBsc from the University of Toronto in 2021, studying Biotechnology and Computer Science, but also took studio art classes at Sheridan College in both painting and printmaking. Wen is an award-winning contemporary artist that creates cinematic oil paintings in the style of magical realism. She has shown in a number of exhibitions across Ontario and has artwork in multiple private and public collections. Wen works from her studio in Oakville, Ontario.

Artist Website:  wentongart.com

Keywords: BIPOC Experience | Youth, Teens and/or Children

#RWMFest #MoreThanRebellion