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.
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).
This year, the exhibition in the Rendezvous With Madness Festival will be presented in-person from October 5 to 31, 2023.
No reservation is necessary. Free and open to all.
October 7, 6 PM
After the opening reception, engage with the artists of wherever you are is where i want to be as they delve into their work and practice.
Workman Arts Offsite Gallery, Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw Street, Unit 302, Toronto
October 5 to October 31st, 1 – 6 PM
If in-person access is a barrier, please contact Raine Laurent-Eugene at raine_laurenteugene@workmanarts.com
Visit the Accessibility page for further festival information and wayfinding.
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.
Kindness is not an act of weakness. It is an act that resists societal expectations of doing and saying nothing. This form of rebellion is evident in this year’s Rendezvous With Madness visual art exhibition whereby the six exhibiting artists address within their work personal experiences that challenge what mental health and wellness looks like. Action is apparent through frameworks of compassion, thought-provoking imagery and considerate storytelling.
This year, the exhibition in the Rendezvous With Madness Festival will be presented in-person throughout the festival from October 27 to November 6.
VENUE
Workman Arts Offsite Gallery, Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw Street, Unit 302, Toronto
GALLERY HOURS
October 27 to November 6, 12 – 6 PM
EXHIBITION OPENING & ARTISTS TALK
October 29, 1-4 PM, Talk at 2:30 PM
After the opening reception, engage with the artists of kind renderings as they delve into their work and practice.
TOURS
Please join us for a guided tour on Thursday, November 3 at 5 PM
ACCESSIBILITY
If in-person access is a barrier, please contact Raine Laurent-Eugene at raine_laurenteugene@workmanarts.com
Visit the Accessibility page for further festival information and wayfinding.
Sylvia Frey, Visual Artist, Toronto
Sylvia Frey is a Mad, Queer, BIPOC Visual Artist based in Toronto. Her artwork explores the intersection of Madness, Healing, and Art. She is an interdisciplinary artist, working in the mediums of painting, drawing, writing, and performance. Most currently, she has started to explore film and photography. Her artwork can be found in various private collections in North America and Europe.
Esmond Lee, Visual Artist, Researcher, and Architect, Toronto
Esmond Lee is an artist, researcher, and architect based in Scarborough. Lee explores long-term, intergenerational experiences of migration in peripheral spaces. He holds a Master of Architecture and is pursuing a Doctorate in Critical Human Geography. Lee draws from these seemingly diverging backgrounds to examine identity, belonging, and nuanced cultural and political borders in the built environment. Recent works include installations for Nuit Blanche Toronto, developed during his time as the Doris McCarthy Artist-in-Residence, and at Malvern Town Centre for CONTACT Photography Festival. Lee’s current projects include two photobooks: ‘Below the City’, recognized by the Burtynsky Grant, and one for Woodside Square Library as the TPL Artist-in-Residence.
Laura Shintani, Visual Artist, Toronto
Laura Shintani is a multimedia multidisciplinary artist who’s curiosity leans into learning, leadership and making friends with the interior monologue of the mind. Having a Japanese-Canadian ancestry, she directs themselves to create work that re-connects a disconnected past to the present. She lives with and embraces neurodiversity.
Her work has been shown at the Royal Ontario Museum, Campbell House Museum, Tangled Arts + Disability and Workman Arts. She helps to facilitate CAMH’s client “Art Cart” through Workman Arts and has received grants from and has been on juries for the Ontario Arts Council. Her most recent skill is trying her hand at taiko drumming!
Workman Arts is pleased to co-host an afternoon of talking all things publishing, process & craft with author Shannon Quin on February 9th from 2:00 – 3:00 PM EST on Zoom. Shannon will be reading from her new collection, Mouthful of Bees, which is an exploration of Quinn’s own experience as someone who both uses and provides mental health and addiction services. The collection moves between personal, communal and mythical experiences of madness to obliterate the idea that recovery is a tidy or linear event and challenges us to welcome resilience in all of its’ messy and awkward iterations.
Mouthful of Bees (Mansfield Press) is Quinn’s third collection of poetry. Her second collection, Nightlight for Children of Insomniacs, was shortlisted for the Relit Award. Quinn lives in Dish with One Spoon Territory (Toronto).
WATCH ONLINE
Oct 29 – Nov 7 available across Canada
VIRTUAL PANEL DISCUSSION
Tues, Nov 2, 8 PM ET
ASL and Open Captions
Haiena / 2020 / Japanese with English subtitles / Japan / 63 mins / North American Premiere
Winner of the Cinema Fan Award at the 2020 PIA Film Festival at the National Film Archive of Japan, Luginsky is an incredibly unique animated film replete with early and modern computer graphics, still photography and a collage of cut-outs, which are dizzyingly utilized to maximum effect to tell a story which seems as delirious as the protagonist. The main character of the film is named Deerman, whose head is a deer and who recently endured an accident resulting in chronic hallucinations. Deerman has recently lost his job, and in a series of events that led him to become reliant on alcohol, frequently is beaten up as a result of his drunken behaviours. His addiction takes an even worse turn when he stumbles upon a panther-barmanpriest who creates a forbidden cocktail for Deerman designed by an ex-boxer named Luginsky that alters his life even further with so-called reality and fantasy dancing in unprecedented ways. A most unique film of fantastical visions you won’t soon forget.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: Q&A WITH DIRECTOR HAIENA
Please join film artist Haiena for a virtual Q&A to discuss his experience creating the unique
animated reality of Luginsky. The discussion will be moderated by animator animator Jeff Chiba
Stearns with Japanese to English interpretation, ASL interpretation and captioning.
Jenny Chen
Jenny is a visual artist living in Toronto. She makes art to process information about the world around her while raising questions about existentialism and spirituality. Her work uses symbols to create mystical environments inspiring viewers to wonder about life beyond the material world. She graduated from OCAD University in 2016 with a major in Drawing and Painting and a minor in Illustration. Since then, Jenny has worked mainly in watercolour, pen and clay.
Artist Jenny Chen talks about the work she has made in the past three years. She covers her inspiration and creative processes across multiple mediums. She emphasizes pattern making in her work. At the end of the talk, she demonstrates that you can create your own pattern drawing at home.
Websites;
https://www.jennychen.me/
https://www.instagram.com/jennychen.me/
Apanaki Temitayo
Apanaki Temitayo M is a Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist. Born in Toronto and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Apanaki Temitayo M is a bi-sexual, single mother of three. She is an author, spoken word poet, actor, multimedia artist and teacher. Her canvas compositions are an expression of her Trinidadian heritage and spirituality. Apanaki is currently the CAMH 1st Artist in Wellness, and she is featured in the Kuumba Exhibit, Where She Went, She Thrived at Harbourfront Centre, presented by Nia Centre for the Arts.
Journey As A Canadian Artist: A Critique of the AGO” is an in-depth exploration and discussion led by author, spoken word poet, actor, multimedia artist and teacher Apanaki Temitayo M on the issues related to the lack of representation of Black, Indigenous and People of Color at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the impact on the Canadian art landscape as a whole.
Website: apanaki-temitayo-m.pixels.com
Social Media: @ShopApanaki
Nicholas Ridiculous
Raised by Fiction | Nicholas Ridiculous
Welcome to my menagerie; a thrifted and twisted dreamscape of lost tapes. Join me on this retrospective of creative youth, an appreciation of process and showcase of how far you can follow your artistic desires. If you let yourself deserve it, if you allow yourself to feel the worth that everyone else knows is there. This is an ode to the beauty born of mad radicals and fad chasers, this is my reflections. A shattered world raised by fiction, now we are picking up the pieces. I was put into a dark box a long, long time ago by the foster care industry. I am finally starting to make my way out. And with me come the worlds I’ve made to survive the trials.
Please enjoy this sampling of original craft, poetry, music, fashion and movement. Thanks for stopping by.
Social Media Links:
www.nicholasridiculous.ca
@Nicholasridiculous / ARTIST INSTAGRAM
@thelastcandybandit / PAINTING INSTAGRAM
@ridic.rugz / RUG INSTAGRAM
nicridicTV / YOUTUBE
www.underbellysociety.com
@underbellysociety / CLOTHING LINE INSTAGRAM
www.dimebagcrew.com
@dimebagcrew / MUSICAL GROUP INSTAGRAM
Hanan Hazime
Hanan Hazime is a multidisciplinary artist, creative writer, community arts educator, and writing instructor living in Tkaranto/Toronto. She also identifies as a Neurodivergent Lebanese-Canadian Shi’a Muslimah Feminist and Mad Pride Activist. Hanan has Master of Arts degree in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Windsor. When not writing or creating art, Hanan enjoys reading fantasy and science fiction novels, overanalyzing things, photo-blogging, dancing with faeries in the woods and drinking copious amounts of tea.
In this video, Hanan Hazime explores the intersectionality of race, gender, and culture with neurodiversity through artistic expression. In Red, a multimedia series of self portraits, invites viewers to look at cultural binaries from a different perspective. Poems from Aorta, a chapbook published by Zed press, explore the multifaceted nature of the heart and all it contains. Throughout this colourful visual showcase, Hanan presents a snapshot of her visual and literary artwork in hope of carving out much needed space for the representation of diverse voices such as hers in the Canadian arts world.
Website: https://hananhazime.com
INSTAGRAM: @the.mad.muslimah