Cinema Politica, Kara Crabb, Rap Battles for Social Justice, Anne-Audrey Remarais, Awa Banmana, Kamissa Ma Koïta
All events are free and take place at articule
Montreal Monochrome is an annual conference organized by articule’s Fabulous Committee (anti-oppression). It aims to address the mis- and under-representation and systemic oppression of marginalized groups in Montréal’s contemporary art milieu. The conference works toward imagining and nurturing new and existing bonds, solidarities and friendships between Indigenous artists, thinkers and cultural workers and their racialized allies.
This 7th edition seeks to explore the emotional, physical, mental and socio-political ramifications of what it means to shift focus and/or (re)gain control. How might we understand shifting focus, on which scale, and in which ways? Through which mediums and interventions? What is it to (re)gain control of one’s narrative, body and/or psychic space? Which new realities can be created or remade?
Thursday, October 17
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Cinema Politica: Documentary Futurism
Screening
Cinema Politica’s The Next 150: Documentary Futurism project seeks to usher in a new kind of filmmaking that brings actuality into conversation with speculation, realism with fantasy. Taking inspiration from Afro-futurism, Indigenous futurism, speculative fiction and non-fiction, Cinema Politica has commissioned 15 short films to inaugurate this new genre. Works created under the rubric of documentary futurism will deploy filmmaking approaches and contexts associated with documentary in order to imagine, speculate and represent a “Canada” of the future.
Friday, October 18
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM The Myth of Charitable Culture & Education in Kanata
Kara Crabb
Discussion - in English
An awkward space in the Canadian education system exists where education is recognized to be foundational in making reparations amongst Eurocentric and Indigenous cultures, while education is remembered as being a source of incredible harm amongst Indigenous peoples in recent history. The impact of the residential school system is still misunderstood amongst Canadians— for example ex-Senator Lynn Beyak championed the ignorance of well-intentioned oppressors in March 2017 and received hundreds of fan letters in support of her statement. The impact of ignorance inspires this discussion. Some points addressed will include: myth-making, influence of orthography on academia and education, and language conservation.
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Dépasser la représentation et penser comment construire des narrations des identités queer racisées
Awa Banmana & Kamissa Ma Koïta
Discussion - in French
A discussion on how to reconstruct one's own stories when they are linked to marginalized identities in the context of a predominantly white country. The concept of representation seems a superfluous tool, a smokescreen that diverts conversations around systemic oppression and renders them superficial. It is not enough to show a body that can be visually located at the margin or which adheres to a new "aesthetic of diversity”. Far from the white gaze what is happening? Who are we talking to and why? How is one constructed when one places oneself as the narrator of one's own stories, and what effects does this have on oneself and on others?
Saturday, October 19
10:00 AM - 1:00 PM My Voice as a Thread: Text Weaving
Anne-Audrey Remarais
Workshop - in English, bilingual instructor
Open to all, priority to BIPOC
Max. 15 participants - registration: outreach@articule.org
A text weaving workshop focused on process as a continuous action of reality-making. BIPOC’s narratives around our experience are often denied, erased, brushed off and countered with "data, records, documentation’’ upheld by white western narratives. This workshop aims to shift the focus by centring BIPOC voices, bringing the invisible (thoughts, healing, experience, feelings, ancestral knowledge) forward while highlighting its importance and power. A mix of writing, performance sharing and discussion.
3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Creative Writing & Hip Hop
Rap Battles for Social Justice
Workshop - bilingual instructors
Max. 30 participants - registration: outreach@articule.org
The first part of the workshop will welcome guest speaker Marlene Hale from Native Montreal. Following this, a creative writing workshop where we will learn together how to engage Hip Hop as a platform for social issues. Following our robust and accessible model, we will be introducing the Hip Hop basics for rhyme-making, creating our own new material, and participating in a group cypher at the end of it all! P.S. This is a workshop for all skill levels!
Tell your friends and family alike, Hip Hop is for the people.
Last but not least, we’d like to acknowledge that the work we do is on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territories, a historical meeting place for many nations. As we all come to celebrate, dance, create and stand together across difference, we send gratitude, love, and prayers to the land and to our First Nation and Indigenous relatives, who have sustained the path of healing and joy through storytelling and song.
Land acknowledgement by Dona La Luna.
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM Rap Battles for Social Justice
Performance
The Rap Battles for Social Justice has organized many events starting in the spring of 2015. With live hip hop music, veterans, aspiring rappers, as well as first-time performers, display their original lyrics aiming at systemic oppression wherever it may lurk. With our mission for popular education to a beat - we aim to forge community ties through consciousness-raising in the form of art and entertainment. This showcase will feature a line-up of our local artists.