International Women's Day: 9 artists who are making a difference

When it comes to art intersecting with activism and politics, a lot happened last month.Beyoncdropped the music video for her most politically charged song yetand accompanied it with a Super Bowl performance that had tongues wagging and police unions protesting. KendrickLamarelectrified theGrammysstage with a performance that touched on everything from the prison industrial complex to repatriation.Butgiven today isInternational Women's Day, I wantto recognize a few lesser knownartists here at homewho are using their work to challenge, to protest, to educate, to inspire, to remix and to imagine.

Alison Duke

An award-winning African-Canadiandocumentarian, Alison Duke'swork has covered a range of topical issues, from the Canadian hip hop scene (Raisin' Kane: ARapumentary) toblack women in film (Sisters in Cinema) toHIV/AIDS in Toronto's Caribbean and African communities (The Woman I Have Become). Duke most recently executive produced a ground-breaking series of short films that accompanied the 2016RyersonUniversityAkuaBenjamin Inaugural Lecture,which focused on 50 years of black activism and resistance in Toronto. The films transported the audience back to a time when leaders of political movements were deported to the Caribbean andbookstores were the primary safe hub for debate and mentorship.The people next to me were wiping tears, laughing over memories and sighing over the intimate documentation on a chapter of activism that's rarely explored. Each film was directed by a black female filmmaker (NgardyContehGeorge, LaurieTownsend, Ella Cooper, SoniaGoddingTogoboand Sarah Michelle Brown) and explored the lives of various black activists (DudleyLaws, Charles Roach,RosieDouglas,MarleneGreen andGwenandLennyJohnston). Thosefilms will soon be available on theRyersonUniversitywebsite, but you can watch some of Duke's other work here.

Iranian-Canadian Tahere Falahati advocates for women's rights through her music

9 years ago

Duration 3:54

Tahere Falahati was forbidden to sing in her native Iran. But after moving to Vancouver, she has found an audience for her music by sharing it through social media in the hopes it will change the lives of women who are still censored.

TahereFalahati

Persian classical music has a rich traditionrelying on improvisation and composition, with lyrics drawn from renowned medieval poets such asRumi,Hafezor Sa'adi.TahereFalahatiis a classical Persian singer whose voice can move from a vibratory yodel to the powerfully stretched crescendo necessary in the genre.But in her home country of Iran, the law has created strict artistic limitations for women since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and prevented her from pursuing her passion. Although she holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry, Falahati's heart was in music. In 2001 she and her family moved to North Vancouver and in 2013 she released her debut album On a Moment with You. The album has found an eager and hungry audience through theinternetand in the Persian Diaspora. Learn more about Falahati here.

TiffanyHsiung

During World War II, an estimated 200,000 women from Korea, China and the Philippineswere interned in military brothels. Also known as "comfort stations," the brothels were organizedthrough a violent system of massinstitutionalizedsex slavery throughout Japanese-occupied Asia. For the past five years, filmmaker TiffanyHsiunghas been working tirelesslyon a National Film Board feature documentary about these women and their stories entitledThe Apology. We met when she was in the early stages of this work, before she had successfully completed aKickstartercampaign or found backing fromthe NFB, and before she pulled together an incredible production team made up of primarily Asian women. At that time, she was trying to determine how to embark on this incredibly painful and heavy journeywith integrity. Unlike other documentary filmmakers who parachute in and out of communities,Hsiungfelt strongly that she had to build relationships with these women that would create a space of trust for them to share their stories. In doing so, these bonds that transcended the film inadvertently inspiredHsiungto courageously break her own silence of childhood sexual abuse and while filming her case went to court. The Apology is slated for release later this year.

Mriga Kapadiya and Amrit Kumar

At a time when couture designers are being called out for their appropriative practices, the work of fashion line NORBLACK NORWHITE (NBNW) is a lesson in ethical partnership building. NBNWdescribed as part anthropological experiment, part art and part fashion is inspiredby everything fromancient Indian textile design to Michael Jackson. Itwas createdby Toronto-raised designers Mriga Kapadiya and Amrit Kumar after they decided to leavetheir jobs in corporate advertising and move to India. Hungry to feed their artistic cravings, they travelled the country and became fascinated with the rapidly disappearing ancientpractices of artisan communities. They began studyingtraditional textile design and creation, and emerged with an aesthetic of bold colours and patterns.Their work has been featured in Wallpaper, Fader, I-D Magazine andVogueand they were named by Frida Gianinni (former creative director of Gucci) as her favourite young designers from India.

RosinaKazi

The first time I heard the voice ofRosinaKaziwas back in 2006. I had just finished marching acrossBloorStreet with No One is Illegal and found myselfatDufferinGrove Park, immediately mesmerized by the voice on stage singing one of the most beautifully affirming protest songs I had ever heard: "Brown Eyed Warrior." Lead singer of the electronic group LAL (alongside Nicholas Murray),Kazihas been making music for almost 15 years. Raised on Bengali folk music,Kazihas always recognized the intersection between politics and art, and this understanding has led her to extend her skills to help support artist development. She has alsobeen a prominent voice in recent discussions around issues of racism in the Canadian music industry. Recognizing the dearth of queer-positive artistic spaces for people of colour,Kazico-created Unit 2, a radical arts-invested community space in Toronto that hosts parties, performances and panels for individuals interested in building progressive communities dedicated to transformative change. If you're in Toronto, you can seeKazion stage tonight in celebration of International Women's Day at the MOD Club.

KamaLa Mackerel

KamaLa Mackerel is a powerhouse of creative energy and purposeful activism. Since arrivingin Montreal by way of Mauritius via India, they have been creating, performing andcuratingnon-stop: co-founding arts festivals (QouleurFestival), creating and hosting monthly openmics(Gender B(L)ender) andcuratingcaberets(Self-Love Cabaret: l'amour seconjugue lapremirepersonne). La Mackerel's current projectFrom Thick Skin to Femme Armouruses sculptures, outfits, photography, films, performance, articles and workshops to explore the lives oftransfemmesof colour bothtoday and throughout history. Rather than being a 101 education project fornon-transpeople, this work is an affirmation of existence for atransfemmecommunity who continue tocreate, care, love and thrive in the midst of tangible and intersecting realities of oppression. Resistance is a key theme in this work and is defined through the everyday fact of existence and resilience. La Mackerel states: "I base this project on recognizing that just the fact of leaving one's house everyday, the act of putting oneself in the public sphere is an act of resistance." Get to know La Mackerel here.

Dainty Smith and Les Femmes Fatales

Les Femmes Fatales is the only burlesque troupe for women of colour in Canada and founder Dainty Smith has described them as "fierce, flawed, fabulous women with red lipstick." Through Les Femmes Fatales, Smith hascurateda series of events that bring bodies, narratives and soundtracks to the stage in a mannerrarely seen in the world of burlesque. Utilizing her background in acting and storytelling, Smith is a powerhouse of humour, wit and theatricality to witness on-stage. Her performance alter ego, Dainty Box, is a powerful, demanding, charismatic and dangerous hostess and dancer whoskillfullyholds her audience in the palm of her hand with each arched eyebrow and sly hip rotation. During an interview with Vintage Vixen, she reminisced on how she would often root for the Hollywood film noir femmes fatales character inevitably destined for either tragedy or repentance. "I saw them as women who hadarmourand who were dangerous because they weren't sorry and they knew what they wanted out of life," she said."They wanted to survive, they wanted to thrive and they would do that by any means necessary."

Meet the "Amlie of Montreal"

9 years ago

Duration 3:59

In the same way the fictional movie character Amlie unwittingly involved her neighbours in a whimsical project that brought them all together, so does this artist in Montreal's Mile End.

Patsy Van Roost

In a world where our eyes are more often fastened to our electronic devices rather than making realcontact with the humansaround us, the work of Patsy Van Roost also known as "The Mile End Fairy" seems almost magical. In 2013, she began clandestinely orchestrating small artistic participative actions with the hope that each one would get her neighbours to look up, begin to talk and build a community as they wondered about the art and the person behind it. Using simple materials from her studio, Van Roost inspired community members through devices that were not made withwires orchips but rather silk screens, stitching and stencils. Shecuratedshared experiences. For more on her story, click here.