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Toronto Pride art programming: Bambitchell

June 17, 2013 • Julia Horel

Toronto Pride is almost upon us! There are a huge number of events, programs, installations and shows throughout the city during late June and early July. One of these is That’s So Gay, an annual art exhibition at the Gladstone Hotel, curated this year by Elisha Lim. Stay tuned to Shameless for more coverage of this exhibition coming soon.

One of this year’s participants of That’s So Gay is Bambitchell, the name used by Sharlene Bamboat and Alexis Mitchell for their collaborative work. From their artist statement:

Bambitchell (Sharlene Bamboat and Alexis Mitchell) have been collaborating since 2008. In 2009, they created Inextricable, a 5-Channel film and video installation, which queered an imagining of diaspora and nationhood. In 2011, they co-created Border Sounds, examing figurative and territorial borders.

Bambitchell’s most recent collaboration is a trilogy of videos titled Citizen Kenney: A Love Letter in 3 Parts, which responds to the immigration and human rights policies of the Canadian government. Bamboat and Mitchell both have independent art practices and they are both members of the Pleasure Dome Experimental Film & Video Programming Collective.

(Bambitchell)

At That’s So Gay, Bambitchell will be screening two videos on loop: Citizen Kenney and Inextricable, a 2-part video installation that looks at queering notions of diaspora through a consideration of nation, gender, post-colonialism and affect.

(Bambitchell)

Expanding on the motivations behind these two films, Sharlene and Alexis explain:

We are interested in exposing some of the more nuanced aspects of colonialism and racism as they pertain to issues such as border patrol and immigration. It therefore becomes important for us to use camp and irony playfully, in order to allow those who engage with our work to relate these themes back to their own lives rather than scripting an experience for them. We tend towards critiques of state policies and the effects they have on actual bodies whether racialized, gendered, sexualized etc., but try to not talk about the specifics of what that looks like in hopes that those experiencing the work might draw their own conclusions based on who they are and the lives they lead.

The show will be up from June 27 to mid-August, but other parts of the That’s So Gay exhibition will have different timelines. Check out some amazing art at Pride!
- Event Listings
- Queeriosities
Rainbow Camp! July 14-19, 2013

June 12, 2013 • Julia Horel

A Camp for LGBTQ & Allied Youth ages 13-17 July 14th - 19th, 2013

Rainbow Camp is a one-week camp for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer questioning, and allied (LGBTQA) youth, their siblings and children in Queer families. Rainbow Camp is committed to developing a camp community which honours creativity, individual choice, and social justice while having fun!

Rainbow Camp provides opportunities for campers to make new friends and develop skills through traditional camp programming and innovative curriculum. More than anything, Rainbow Camp is a fun place to come OUT and be yourself!

Get info and register here.
- Film Reel
- Queeriosities
Film review: Peaches Does Herself

June 7, 2013 • Nish Israni

http://filmswelike.com/films/peachesdoesherself/

The first time I heard a Peaches song was when Masti Khor did a burlesque number to her song song “Fuck the Pain Away” at a show. I was immediately drawn to Peaches, then and there. I had heard folks raving about Peaches, but had never bothered to get into her music. I think it was my rebellious nature not wanting to follow the crowd, but I soon realized I had been missing out, big time.

When I saw that Peaches was debuting her movie, Peaches Does Herself, at TIFF, I thought it was the perfect way to get into this Peaches phenomenon. I was in for quite a treat. The feature is an epic journey of her exploration of gender and sexuality, illuminated with a musical score compiled of all her music. I was sitting in my seat doing kegels just to contain myself as I watched it all unfold.

The film starts off with a pastor-like professor explaining the brilliance behind some of her songs in German with the song titles peppered in English, and the riot grrrl band The Plasmatics playing an ode to the song “Rockshow.” This assured me from the start that this was going to be an amazingly subversive film.

http://filmswelike.com/films/peachesdoesherself/

I started listening to chick-music as young as 15, seeking out female identified musicians that I felt a connection with and that spoke to my identity. I had found my own musical niche. When people asked me what I listened to, I would promptly reply: “chick rock.” As I settled into my feminism, I went through quite a struggle to find riot grrrl bands and immerse myself in riot grrrl culture, a lovely kick-ass endeavour that I wish for all girls to experience. It started with the movie Ten Things I Hate About You, one of my favourites back in the day where I was suddenly learning about music I had never known existed. There is a giant well out there brimming with girl bands and feminist music that nourishes me.

I can definitely see how Peaches’s work would make great material for gender and sexuality studies, and for inspiration for girl rockers. She sits wearing pink bottoms, legs spread, in her room while making music and experimenting with beats and lyrics. I think this is really encouraging for girls to see, because we are often mocked or put down in rock and roll culture, as if there isn’t room for us or we aren’t good enough. I hate going to rock and roll or punk stores where they sell merchandise and other goodies; I can never find any shirts or buttons with grrrl bands on them.

Peaches’s music is empowering, edgy and catchy. There are subtle as well as bold undertones of female empowerment, gender bending and sex positivity. The movie follows Peaches’s path from being a strong brave and kick-ass grrrl to an all-encompassing, genderqueer, superstar warrior —a journey I think is important for many young feminists to learn from. The desire and need to feel pride in a girl identity is great, but to desconstruct gender norms, and show love for and to welcome masculinity and embrace gender as a whole, is something I especially admire about Peaches. Peaches’s music is brash and sassy and sprawling with hidden meanings and an idealogy that she so poignantly names “the teaches of Peaches.” This movie is the epitome of what a radical, queer, feminist, trans-positive haven would look like and a musical like no other: the bigger, better and bolder version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
- Body Politics
- Queeriosities
Queer Brown Girl Trying to Get Pregnant, Part 1: The Basics

June 3, 2013 • deb singh

Part 1 of 4

**This blog may have scenes that include coarse language, nudity, sexuality, and science jargon. Viewer Discretion is Advised.**

The last 3 months I have been trying to make a baby grow in my uterus. It’s really not as easy as the movies. Moreover, I have been trying to do this without a penis or person with a penis, as it were.

So, you guys all know I’m queer, right? And my partner and I are ready to be parents together. So I have been going to a sperm bank and buying sperm and injecting it in me. Or, at least, that’s how I like to frame it when people want to know.

To be more technical about it, I am engaging in donor intra-uterine insemination. That is when you go to a sperm bank and select a donor, get it shipped to a fertility clinic and have it inseminated directly into your uterus.

FYI – When hetero, cis people have sex, the ejaculate lands inside the vaginal canal (also known as birth canal) or the deeper part of the vagina. It has to swim up through the vaginal canal, through the cervix (the entrance of the uterus), up into the uterus and into the fallopian tubes where the egg or ovum is sitting, waiting to be fertilized by the sperm.

The great thing about being queer and thus going through this process are many!

For one, I don’t have to settle for the sperm of my husband or boyfriend – I can literally choose from hundreds of donors (possibly creating a super baby). See the Creating Canadian Families website for multiple sperm banks around the world.

Further, intra-uterine insemination (IUI) gets the buggers (sperms) much closer to the goal post, meaning the sperm don’t have to swim as far.

The one drawback about these procedures is that they are not cheap. Sperm can very from $450-$700 a unit, and many fertility procedures vary in price from $400-$12 000, depending on what your procedure is.

Although I am queer, I am now relating a lot more to straight women trying to have a biological child, because wanting to be a mom is a very deep emotional feeling. It’s exciting to be on this journey but, they don’t call it a rollercoaster for nothing (i.e. there’s only one book for lesbians on pregnancy, and author Rachel Pepper calls preconception a roller coaster)!

My monthly process has been, in part, like this: on Day 1 (first day of my blood red period), I call the doctor to have my sperm delivered to the clinic. Then on Day 11, I start monitoring my cycle; getting blood work done to see how “ripe” my follicle is (the egg or ovum) and if I am surging with the lutenizing hormone (LH). Then for the next 2-3 days, I pee on a stick from a drug store, an Ovulation Predictor Kit, to see if I am surging with the LH. Then when I am, I go in to get inseminated. Insemination takes about 1-10 minutes. Quickest $400 I ever spent!

Getting inseminated is nothing like any experience I’ve had before - I imagine it’s mostly because I have never been ready to have a child until now!

Resources:

The Ultimate Guide To Pregnancy for Lesbians – Google Books

Youtube video on IUI, Reproductive drugs and multiple births

Check out the next blog on The Preconception Roller Coaster next month!
Queers Who Pray: An Elisha Lim endeavour

May 21, 2013 • Nish Israni

I have had the pleasure of many run-ins with Elisha Lim at various community events, and have been totally blown away by their work. Thus, I feel compelled to promote their recent endeavour, a film called Queers Who Pray.

Elisha is a brilliant and multi-talented artist who has illustrated comics, books and anthologies, as well as exhibited portraits in international galleries and screened short films all over the world. They have also self-published beautiful and endearing pin-up calendars that celebrate the queer and trans communities that they are a part of. These calendars have revolved around butches, sissies and femmes and have been a testament to the wisdom that queer and trans bodies hold inside them.

Elisha is also passionate about making art that features people of colour, which I think is important. I feel that the stories of queer and trans people of colour are so often under-represented or misunderstood, and it’s heart-warming to see Elisha pay homage to these lives and bring them to our attention.

Their most recent endeavour is to make a film about queer folks who pray. There was a time when the words queer and religious would have been an oxymoron, and even though there have been some faiths that have opened their doors to queer and trans folks, this is still a very touchy issue. Elisha enlightens us about this paradox as a queer who loves to praise God and wants to give us a glimpse into the lives of other queers who believe in God or are religious or spiritual believers.

I think this is quite an undertaking, and much-needed for community healing and awareness, as well as to shed light on this particular aspect of queer/trans identity — but Elisha needs our help. As someone who gives so much to their community, I hope that folks can also come together and help Elisha raise funds to get this film off the ground. Elisha has a campaign on indiegogo that explains this project and where all the money will go. Please consider donating or sharing the link!
- Event Listings
- Queeriosities
love takes the worry out of being close: public assemblies in bed with queers

March 22, 2013 • Julia Horel

Reena Katz’s love takes the worry out of being close: public assemblies in bed with queers converts Harbourfront’s Studio Theatre into a free, public hotel suite.

Bed-Ins: April 9 – 12, 9am – 9pm - FREE

Final Presentation and Discussion: April 13, 8pm – 10pm - $10/$12
Harbourfront Studio Theatre, York Quay Centre, Main Floor

HATCH opens its 2013 Season with sound and performance artist Reena Katz’s fabulous reimagining of Yoko Ono and John Lennon’s iconic Bed-in for Peace. From 9am – 9pm, April 9 - 12, Katz transforms the Studio Theatre into a Public Commons and Master Suite with a motley crew of LGBTQ folks in bed. Audiences are invited to come and go as they please, participating in conversations, game sessions, cuddles and crafting parties for free. Each day is hosted by different lovers: artists, academics, cultural workers and musicians. They address and explore a range of political issues affecting LGBTQ communities, from intimacy and decolonization to pop culture and civic engagement. Expect flowers, respectful debate, radical facilitation and queen-sized love.

With: Trish Salah and Ilona Molnar; R3 Collective; Troy Jackson and El-Farouk Khaki; 2Spirit Skillshare; Eugenio Salas and Basil AlZeri

Katz explains: “Though they were officially straight, Yoko and John’s infamous gesture of non-violent protest against the US-led war in Vietnam queered the idea of protest in the minds of the public. During a period of massive civil disobedience across the Western world, the Bed-Ins shifted the site of dissent from raging bodies demonstrating in the street, to a bustling hotel room, packed with everyday folks, various long-haired celebrities and a pair of strong lovers who saw their honeymoon as an opportunity to model peace.”

Ono and Lennon understood how to capitalize on the potential of the late 60s, utilizing technologies such as live television and radio broadcast. Katz reciprocates with texts, Tweets and livestreams from the bed, highlighting the interactivity of our current global village. Focusing on intimacy, Katz and her crew explore the cultural resistance evident in contemporary movements such as Idle No More and LGBTQ Solidarity.

FREE DAILY Bed-Ins

Tuesday, April 9:
Homonational Intimacies and Resistances
Hosted by Trish Salah and Ilona Molnar

Wednesday, April 10:
Bedtime Stories of Resistance: An Open R3 Retreat–
A day of dialogue, storytelling and sharing space
Hosted by R3 Collective

Thursday, April 11:
Pop Culture and Social Justice
Hosted by Troy Jackson and El-Farouk KhakiFriday, April 12: what we think we know
Hosted by 2Spirit Skillshare

A final presentation and Q & A with all the queers present will take place on:
Saturday, April 13 at 8pm

Tickets for the Saturday presentation are $15.00, $12.00 for Students/Seniors/Arts Workers or $40.00 for a HATCHpass for all four projects in the HATCH 2013 season, available by phone at 416-973-4000 or through www.harbourfrontcentre.com/hatch

Contact the artist for special Group, Un/deremployed and Street Involved ticket rates.

ABOUT REENA KATZ: Reena Katz works with the transmission and reception of sonic information present in the human voice. She uses live and recorded talking, whispering, yelling and listening to consider bodies as sites of knowledge, and communication as a social and political practice. Through audience participation in public space, Katz highlights the relationship between collective voice, the body politic and the empathic act of listening. Her installations, recordings and live performances have been performed, broadcast and exhibited throughout Canada and the U.S. as well as in Germany, Poland, Mexico, Hong Kong and Japan.

HATCH: emerging performance projects at Harbourfront Centre
Entering its tenth year, HATCH is a key initiative in Harbourfront Centre’s mission to develop local artists and their unique practices. Curated by Trevor Schwellnus, the 2013 HATCH residency and mentorship programme provides resources and professional assistance to a new generation of engaging and innovative contemporary artists.

For more information please visit www.harbourfrontcentre.com/hatch
The Contemporary Urgencies of Audre Lorde’s Legacy

March 3, 2013 • Ronak Ghorbani

This coming Thursday will launch a two-week long celebration of poet and activist Audre Lorde. There are free events happening across Toronto and at both York University and The University of Toronto. Check out the list of events below.

Community Arts Practice, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University in association with Women and Gender Studies, University of Toronto Invite you to

THE CONTEMPORARY URGENCIES OF AUDRE LORDE’S LEGACY, MARCH 7-21, 2013

1) Medicines for Survival: Indigenous Knowledge and the Sacred: a lecture by M. Jacqui Alexander

DATE: Thursday March 7th

PLACE: HNES (Health, Nursing, and Environmental Studies)building room 140, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University

TIME: 6 p.m.

http://www.utoronto.ca/ethnicstudies/fac_wgsi.html

2) Litanies for our Survival: Visual and Performative Conversations with Audre Lorde and inaugural exhibition in new Community Arts Practice Space

DATE: Thursday March 7th

PLACE: HNES (Health, Nursing, and Environmental Studies)building room 283 and throughout the building, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University

TIME: 7:30 p.m.

3) Film screening, Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years 1984-1992 (directed by Dagmar Schultz)

Followed by panel discussion with Dagmar Schultz, Marion Kraft, Gloria Wekker, M. Jacqui Alexander, Carol Allain, Farrah Khan, Bonita Lawrence

DATE: Friday March 15th

PLACE: William Doo Auditorium, University of Toronto, 45 Willcocks Street

TIME: 6:30 p.m.

http://www.audrelorde-theberlinyears.com/emails/orgs_english_short.html

4) What’s (Homo)Sexuality got to do with it? Lecture by Gloria Wekker, with responses from Anna Agathangelou and Jin Haritaworn, chaired by Ena Dua

DATE: Tuesday March 19th,

PLACE: HNES (Health, Nursing, and Environmental Studies)building room 140, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University

TIME: 1 p.m.

5) “After the 9-5 in Audre’s Livingroom”

(An intimate, collaborative poetry marathon recite &r espond multidisciplinary hangout!)

presented by backforward collective

DATE: Thursday March 21st

PLACE: Whippersnapper Gallery, 594b Dundas St. West

TIME: 6 - 11 pm

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. PLEASE ADVERTISE WIDELY.

CHECK OUT: https://www.facebook.com/events/563445090342037/

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: #audrelordeslegacy2013

YORK UNIVERSITY SPONSORS: Community Arts Practice, Office of the Dean; ACE and the Seminar Series in Equity and Diversity at FES; Faculty of Health; Centre for Feminist Research at York University and Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies

YORK UNIVERSITY DIGITAL MAP: http://www.yorku.ca/yorkweb/maps/KeeleMap.pdf

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SPONSORS: Women and Gender Studies; Principal’s Initiatives Fund at New College; Equity Studies; Caribbean Studies; Humanities, Social Sciences and Social Justice Education, OISE; Centre for the Study of the United States; Sexual Diversity Studies; Anti-Racism and Diversity; Status of Women; Cinema Studies; Canadian Studies

CONTACT:
anique.j.jordan@gmail.com
or
Honor Ford-Smith, PhD.
Associate Professor
Community and Environmental Arts
Faculty of Environmental Studies
280, HNES Bldg
York University
4700 Keele St,
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3

phone: 416-736-2100 X22629
fax: 416-736-5679
Call for Volunteers: Dyke March Toronto 2013

February 20, 2013 • Julia Horel

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS
TORONTO DYKE MARCH

The Toronto Dyke March is ramping up for 2013 and we need your help!

We are seeking a diversity of lesbian, bi and queer women as well as dyke-identified trans and 2-Spirit people who would like to help organise this year’s Dyke March and affiliated events, including parties, panels, political actions, and community art projects.

We need both experienced members and those seeking to develop new skills. We need help with event coordination, fundraising and budgeting, graphic and web design, social media, marketing, blogging, community outreach, volunteer coordination, and political action.

Join the team! DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 27, 2013
To apply, send us brief explanations of 1) why you would like to be involved, 2) your qualities and experience as well as 3) the skills you would like to develop and your overall areas of interest.

Feel free to submit your answers by filling out this form: Dyke March 2013 Application

Applicants may include a resume (optional). You are encouraged to self identity. Queer people of colour, Indigenous dykes and 2-Spirit people, and trans folks strongly encouraged to apply.

Questions? Email us or come by our VOLUNTEER INFO SESSION
Saturday, February 23, 2013
1:00-3:00pm - drop-in
The 519 - room 303

The 2013 Dyke March Team Leads

Email: dykemarchto@gmail.com
Facebook: DykeMarch Toronto
Twitter: @dykemarchTO
Calling all trans, gender queer, two spirit, gender variant, and questioning youth!

February 11, 2013 • Sheila Sampath

Tired of how poorly we are represented in the media?
Fed up with being measured against beauty standards that don’t celebrate you?
Tired of comic books that fail to represent you?
Tired of stories about trans people written by cis folks?
Want to read stories you can relate to?

……..well……

Why not write those stories and make that media?

Super Trans Powers is an upcoming workshop series offered by Supporting Our Youth and ArtReach Toronto at the Sherbourne Health Centre, for trans, two spirit, genderqueer, gender variant and questioning youth (up to 29 yrs).
Our workshops are going to focus on the creation of an anthology of writing, comic art, illustrations and visual art that represents us as trans, genderqueer, two spirit, gender variant and questioning youth in a respectful, fun, exciting and empowering way! We’ll have writing, visual art, and layout workshops. Come join us and find story telling skills you never new you had! Explore new ways to express your unique experience! Learn some tricks to layout your work in a book or zine! See your work in print!

Yeah that’s right, we’re gonna make a book!

It’s gonna be awesome. And FREE!

STARTING THIS COMING TUESDAY FEB. 12!

Visual art workshops with SYRUS MARCUS WARE!

This is gonna rule!

At the Sherbourne Health Centre on Tuesday evenings 7-9.
Snacks, TTC tokens and ASL-English Interpretation will be provided. The Sherbourne Health Centre is a wheelchair accessible space.
Please contact us with any access needs or concerns.

ASL:
http://youtu.be/uJ_7n7-VtgY

For updates and more info visit
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Super-Trans-Powers/145175488918168#

or e-mail kit wilson-yang at
supertranspowers@gmail.com
Proposed Russian Law Will Ban “Gay Propaganda”

January 30, 2013 • Anne Thériault

On January 25th, Russia’s parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of drafting a law that would ban “gay propaganda.” In fact, of the 389 members of the State Duma (Russia’s lower parliament chamber), 388 supported the law.

The proposed ban would have far-reaching consequences that range from removing queer characters from movies and television shows to making gay pride parades, and any other demonstrations supporting or celebrating gay rights, illegal. The law would also make it illegal to provide any “propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality and transgenderism” to minors. This means that something as innocent as a public kiss between two members of the same sex could lead to heavy fines.

Although homosexuality, which was punishable by up to five years of jail time in the Soviet Union, has been decriminalized in Russia since 1993, much of the Russian population remains deeply homophobic.

(Mikhail Metzel/AP)

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