centre d'artistes.artist run centre
Exhibition, workshops and events : August 10 - 19th, 2012
Curator’s tour and welcome to art show : Friday August 10th, 7pm
Opening reception : August 16th, 7pm
Montreal has a reputation for creative resistance. This year, 2-qtpocmontréal proposes to push this legacy further. Proudly dedicated to 2-spirited, queer and trans people of colour, 2-qtpocmontréal is an art show, a lecture series and a revelation, looking at the history of 2-qtpoc in Montréal. 2-qtpocmontréal pays tribute to its predecessors like AGIR, African Rainbow, Ste Emilie Skillshare, and GLAM, and bring these different communities together into a powerful and inspiring racialized pride week. 2-qtpoc will be part of pervers/cité, a flamboyant annual festival of queer and trans politics in Montréal.
Nothing is as strange and terrible as reality, and nothing is as mighty and persistent as love. The six artists that make up 2-qtpocmontréal make art about the absurdity, hate, alienation, and murder that they encounter in their lives, and always triumph and thrive with beauty. Ange Loft presents a line of Aboriginal Armour and Accessories inspired by the Cult of Kateri, which venerates a 17th century Mohawk woman who was canonized as a saint by the otherwise genocidal Catholic Church. Leroi Newbold’s drawn-and-stitched autobiography is a precocious childhood narration of racial and sexual assault. Kesso Saulnier hand embroiders the lyrics to blues anthems, one being Ball and Chain, which was written and popularized by Big Mama Thornton on alternative R&B charts, and also sung by Janis Joplin. Adee Roberson dedicates rich textured neon portrait collages to a queer Black family who would otherwise be forgotten. Walter K. Scott makes vivacious and grotesque screenprints and queer zines about the corrupted lives of aspiring art stars. TextaQueen collaborates with Australian Indigenous and other people of colour to explore their experiences of colonialism as fictional movie posters.
Nothing makes sense and everything is gorgeous. These six queer artists show the nimble, dextrous, outrageous, ingenious and visually magnificent meaning of survival.
Elisha Lim’s first curated show is part of a career of heartfelt spectacles dedicated to queer and trans people of colour like Fresh to Def, POCstars and Les Blues. Elisha also created cult comics like 100 Butches, the Illustrated Gentleman and Sissy, which have gained wide acclaim while maintaining a quota of racialized models.
PROGRAM :
FRIDAY AUGUST 10TH
Guided tour with Elisha Lim, 7pm
articule, 262 Fairmount W.
Free. Accessible gallery, except for the WC.
Disqchromatique, 10pm
The hottest and queerest dance party organized by black and brown queers!Djs Cassenoire, Tarn Ika, Nina Brown (Yes Yes Ya'll)
Il Motore, 179 rue Jean Talon W
5$. Accessible.
SATURDAY AUGUST 11TH
Self-lust, 9pm
2-qtpoc performance and art show
Studio XX, 4001 rue Berri, #201
Free. Non accessible.
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15TH
QTPOC reading, 6.30pm
Cagibi, 5490 Bl St. Laurent
Free. Accessible.
THURSDAY AUGUST 16TH
Vernissage of the exhibition, 7pm
articule, 262 Fairmount W.
Free. Accessible gallery, except for the WC.
Presentations, 7.30pm
Kesso Saulnier will give an artist talk about her textile embroidery work, in the intersecting contexts of her identity: as a queer Francophone Guinean Quebecer. (Presented by 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy)
African Rainbow + Massimadi : Created in 2004, African Rainbow is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote health and well-being of LGBT Quebecers of African and Caribbean origins, their friends and families. Massimadi is an LGBT Afro-Caribbean film festival organized in February by African Rainbow as part of the Black History Month. arcencieldafrique.org
FRIDAY AUGUST 17TH
Presentations, 7pm
articule, 262 Fairmount W.
Gratuit. Accessible gallery, except for the WC.
Leroi Newbold recollects the woes, triumphs and true tale of the origins of Ste Emilie Skillshare, a community art space devoted to empowerment, self-determination and collective liberation, run by and for people who are trans, 2-spirit, queer, Indigenous and/or people of colour and their friends. The presentation will be accompanied by music, videos and a slide show.
Diane Labelle speaks about Two-Spirited issues and the effect of colonization on gender and sexuality in First Nations people.
Soirée Black & White, 10pm
Arc-en-Ciel d'Afrique fundraising party
Hôtel des Gouverneurs
30$. Accessible.
SATURDAY QUGUST 18TH
The Other Tongue: a 2-qtpoc writing workshop, 1pm
With Prathna
Workshop for People of colour only
Centre St. Pierre, 1212 rue Panet #1205
Free. Accessible.
Presentations, 7pm
articule, 262 Fairmount W.
Gratuit. Accessible gallery, except for the WC.
TextaQueen : TextaQueen’s live performances include narrated slide shows of their portraits, engaging the audience with anecdotes related to their drawing process and the talents of their subjects. (Presented by Venus Envy Ottawa) textaqueen.com
AGIR is an association whose main purpose is to develop and provide services, resources and advocacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) refugee claimants, refugees, immigrants and newcomers with no status within the Montreal-area.
agir-qc.info
GLAM is a not-for-profit, volunteer-run group founded in 1993 as a support/social/activist group for self-identified queer, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, gender queer, and intersex Asians living in Montréal. Our mission is to help such individuals in Montréal understand and deal with their sexuality by providing them with a safe, comfortable, and empathetic environment in which they can make new friends, share personal experiences, and feel that they are part of a community.
SUNDAY AUGUST 19TH
Food Flow and Fades, 5pm
BBQ and dance party with Berlin Reed
Café l'Artère, 7000 Ave du Parc
5$ Accessible, but small washrooms.
Image: TextaQueen, You didn't love me when I lived there (Fem Appeal as Josephine Baker), 2011
This wouldn’t have been possible without the faith love and money of all of our crowd sourcers. Thank you!
Union for Gender Empowerment, Le Centre 2110, Venus Envy, Salon Il Motore, Créations Li, Midnight's Kitchen, Students' Society of McGill University, QPIRG McGill, Aids Community Care of Montreal et ARTSIDA, tous nos donateurs en ligne
2-qtpoc organizing committee:
Elisha Lim, Li Wai Yant, Marseau Malik, Prathna Lor, Tami Bernard, Kama Maureemootoo, Ryan Thom , Colleen Young
