In light of the occupations/demonstrations happening around the world, we’re honoured to present a very special series of events this weekend featuring celebrated political artist Eric Drooker. Since I first started becoming interested in political art and design, Drooker has been a consistent reference, up there with the likes of Barbara Kruger, Jenny Holzer, and Gran Fury. His work draws on a long tradition of political illustration while expressing an aesthetic vision that is uniquely his own. From his many cover illustrations for the New Yorker to the iconic street graphics he has designed for countless social movements, Drooker’s body of work is infused with a sense of urgent humanism balanced by a healthy dose of celebratory menace.
The first event, Artists Against Apartheid XVII takes place this Friday at Sala Rossa, where Drooker will present a musical storytelling performance accompagnied by projections of his work. This event brings together so many great organisations; including Howl Arts!, the Mile End Poets Festival and Tadamon, in support of the Palestinian people’s continuing struggle for self-determination, and in solidarity with the popular uprisings happening across the globe.
As encouraging as the international momentum building around the Occupy Wall Street movement is, it also raises within me a fair amount of skepticism about its efficacy and sincerity. Ironically, the widespread popularity makes me intrinsically question it, as I guess I’m always more comfortable (or at least used to) working from the margins.
I have not attended any of the general assemblies here in Montreal, so my criticism is more instinctive than anything else. The term “Occupy” also rings false in this context, pointing to a history of colonialism that is embedded in our geography. On the flip side, this same instinct pushes me to at least do something in support of the initiative. I’m all for the creation of a critical dialogue around the systemic inequalities in our society, and in conversation with a friend who was at Occupy Wall Street in NY, I was very encouraged by his account of the maturity of the movement there. The cause is just, and the process-oriented consensus model laid down by the NY occupation is certainly inspiring if it can be carried through to other sites.
So, yes, I’m participating and I encourage others to come down on Oct. 15th to Square Victoria and demonstrate. We can’t build this if we don’t take part.
Though I’m in no way affiliated with the organising of the event, I created the above poster to lend my support and solidarity.
We’re very excited to announce the third edition of the Howl concert series, Thursday September 15th at Sala Rossa, featuring Kaie Kellough (spoken word), Matana Roberts (saxophone) and Matthew Shipp (piano). These unique, uncompromising artists will perform solo sets that will expand our understanding of contemporary music while paying tribute to the historic, spiritual, and liberation roots of American jazz.
The Howl concert series has gained a lot of momentum since our first performance at l’Envers last December. We aim to continually highlight fiercely independent art and culture, and draw strong links between it and the important social justice work being done in Montréal and beyond.
I’m a little late posting this one, but I finally got my hands on a copy of Kaie Kellough‘s latest album, Vox: Versus, which I designed back in May. Kaie is an amazing Montreal-based poet, whose work deconstructs and reconstructs language, blending word-games with sound poetry, dub and jazz. The collected works on this latest offering present a series of collaborations with a group of talented local musicians, exploring the roots of rhythm, language and the inherent politics within them (ArtThreat interview with Kaie here).
Monday July 18th 2011, 11:45 pm
Filed under: news,portfolio
Below, you’ll find a quick overview of some recent identity and web projects completed by the studio prior to my adventure in Europe. Quality clients and collaborators led to some great projects, and there’s many more coming down the pipeline.
Cinema Politica is an amazing international organisation run by Svetla Turnin and Ezra Winton out of Montreal that screens independent political documentaries. Over the years they’ve built the largest archive in the world of these films and created an expansive alternative distribution and exhibition network. In updating the site and visual identity, we’ve facilitated access to this archive and created a platform for participants in the network to have a strong, unified voice.
The Oddstream festival in Nijmegen brought together an eclectic mix of music, art and education under the loose theme of love and conflict. I’m honoured to have been invited to participate in the festival, helping out with the Memefest workshop and the International Media Training. I met many people during a very intensive week, and have made many new friends. So, first off, many thanks to all those that helped to bring me there, specifically Oliver Vodeb, Doeko Pinxt, and Carola Stahl.
Taking off the rose-tinted glasses for a bit (which is not an easy thing to do considering how much fun I had), it was very unfortunate that more people didn’t turn out. Over the course of the weekend, in front of the stages and on the festival grounds, there was a palpable sense of emptiness. In part this can be attributed to the massive scale of the site, or the electronic music festival that was happening at the same time in Arnhem. As a first festival, this is to be expected I suppose, but it also raises some critical questions, as Sandy Kaltenborn brought up during the Inspiration day. What does this area of “cultural transformation” mean to the city, and what is the festival’s relationship to city marketing and gentrification more generally. Who stays and who goes? It will be an interesting question to ask a few years down the line, if the bills get payed.
Produced by the international media crew here at Oddstream, including remixes of my work. I’m very honoured. Paulo and I pushed the idea of abstract documentary and holding the shot too long, and I think the end result works really well!
Thursday May 05th 2011, 10:18 pm
Filed under: portfolio
I recently completed the poster design and art direction of promotional materials for this beautiful documentary by local filmmaker Shannon Walsh. The film is a subtle and stunning montage of the neighbourhood of St-Henri and really captures the essential romantic/nostalgic quality of life in Montreal.
From the official synopsis:
On August 26th, 2010, 16 filmmakers followed multiple stories in the Montreal neighbourhood of St-Henri. The result is a touching, funny and fascinating day-in-the-life of this eclectic community (…) Inspired by the 1962 ONF film “À St-Henri le 5 septembre”, this unique collaborative film brings together some of the brightest talents in the contemporary Montreal documentary community to capture this story.
