Right to Remain Workshop Presentations
Date: November 8th, 2014
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: Gallery Gachet, 88 E. Cordova St.
On November 8th, the artists team gathered at Gallery Gachet as part of the Heart of the City festival to talk about their experiences in the workshops that they facilitated, and to present some of the artwork that has been produced over the summer. Richard of AHA Media was on hand to capture the event on video and in photographs. See his media gallery from the event here! – http://ahamedia.ca/2014/11/08/right-to-remain-for-11th-annual-downtown-eastside-heart-of-the-city-festival-2014-in-vancouver-on-nov-8-2014/
Andy Mori MC’d the event and welcomed everyone to the space. Then, with a rotating slideshow of images from past workshops as a backdrop, Herb Varley acknowledged the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and the Tseil-Waututh peoples. Herb also talked at length about the historical displacements in the neighbourhood in light of the current displacement of low-income individuals. Beth Carter from the Nikkei National Museum spoke briefly about the Japanese Canadian history of the neighbourhood.
Then, using selected images from the slideshow, Herb, Quin Martins, Andy Mori, and Karen Ward spoke about their experiences with the project and described the workshops that they facilitated. Though there were a couple of AV cues that we missed, it was powerful to hear the artists make the connections and talk about the successes and difficulties from their workshops. After the artists presented, Diane Wood showed us an intricate quilt that she was working on which drew on the “Four Directions.” The piece demonstrated how people and places all around the world were interwoven into the Downtown Eastside, and it made a strong stand for resilience and community. Significantly, idea of the “right to remain” seemed to resonate with the audience, and many important dialogues emerged in the question and answer period that followed the presentations.
All in all, the event went really well. There was a good turnout and good response to the project! In addition, it was really valuable to have an event where the artists and participants could decompress and review what had happened over the summer.
Special thanks to the RRCF Arts Team, Cecily Nicholson and Kristin Lantz of Gallery Gachet for their administration of the event, and Teresa Vandertuin of the Heart of the City for her encouragement and material support.