https://yiaramagazine.com Yiara Magazine Mon, 03 Nov 2025 20:17:26 +0000 https://yiaramagazine.com en https://yiaramagazine.com/La-Santa-Muerte-A-Conversation-and-Historical-Overview-by-Alina-Gannon Mon, 03 Nov 2025 20:17:26 +0000 Yiara Magazine https://yiaramagazine.com/La-Santa-Muerte-A-Conversation-and-Historical-Overview-by-Alina-Gannon La Santa Muerte: A Conversation and Historical Overview&nbsp;by Alina Gannon November 3rd 2025 <img width="994" height="1500" width_o="994" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/52187ebb3992e5aa94ae1cce2ba566c1a571891cbf34a18ce1234c9576264010/download.jpg" data-mid="240203539" border="0" data-scale="45" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/994/i/52187ebb3992e5aa94ae1cce2ba566c1a571891cbf34a18ce1234c9576264010/download.jpg" /> Altar to Santa Muerte founded by Doña Quetta, Tepito, Mexico City, photo by Erin Lee In the midst of Tepito, Mexico City stand some of the most visited shrines of La Santa Muerte. I've heard stories about her for years now. I see her in markets, inked on people's skin, in street altars and on pendants hanging from the beautiful witches of Mexico City. Even though socially controversial and misunderstood, the cult that praises this Mexican Saint of Death grows every day. This may appear strange at first, given the fact that Mexico is predominantly Catholic and the religion already has countless Saints one could choose to venerate. Yet still, people are drawn to a figure deemed “dark” and “evil”. But why exactly has she been so demonized by both society and the church? The devotion to the saint reflects a deeply socially unjust country. Amidst these classist, racist, sexist and homophobic realities, La Santa Muerte opens her arms and welcomes all marginalized minorities excluded from the norm of Mexican society. <img width="219" height="300" width_o="219" height_o="300" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c5942d170bd9fae3b315b9dcf7a5035bdeb16168fb2c2fb28b0390b043c372ec/Picture1.jpg" data-mid="240204841" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/219/i/c5942d170bd9fae3b315b9dcf7a5035bdeb16168fb2c2fb28b0390b043c372ec/Picture1.jpg" /> Mictlantecuhtli, seated stone figure, c. 900 CE, Museo de Antropología de Xalapa, Mexico During the Spanish conquest starting in 1519, the inquisition prioritized an extensive annihilation and replacement of pre-hispanic spirituality with Catholicism. In fear of losing their gods to this new religion, Mexicas took attributes of Catholic saints and found ways to combine them with their own divine figures. In pre-hispanic traditions, believing in a god of death is common. For instance, Mexicas believe in Mictlantecuhtli, a central god whose name means “the lord of the mansion of the dead.” He was created by Quetzalcóatl – a primary God to Mexicas – who sought to make humans grateful for life. The lord and his wife Mictacaicihuatl reign over Mictlán, the underworld. It might be tempting to compare this place to Hell, but it is far from it. It's not dark nor used as a torturous chamber for punishment, but rather another realm of existence. The lady of the dead, Mictacaicihuatl, shares her husband's attributes and duties, although she is known to be more flexible and embodies stereotypical feminine characteristics. She is more caring and responsible for the dead, keeping an eye over Mictlán and granting the souls of the dead the privilege of visiting the living on occasions such as&nbsp; El Día de los Muertos. Within Mexica cosmology, these deities were not conceived as morbid emblems of death, but as vital affirmations of life itself. They embody the duality between both states. In Christianity, the possibility of losing eternal life makes death a taboo. If you aren't a faithful, sinless Christian, you end up in Hell and not Heaven. This makes a lot of Mexico’s population susceptible to “eternal damnation” since it's hard to remain “sinless”&nbsp; within their context. Mictlantecuhtli however, offers humanity a different afterlife. Hell, like Mictlán, is considered the underworld, and Satan, like Mictlantecuhtli, is the Lord of this realm. Although their stories couldn't be further apart, these few similarities – and moreover the general corpse-like depiction of Mictlantecuhtli – sparked rejection of their god from the Catholic colonizers. This made it difficult to associate the Mexica god to any Catholic Saint approved by the church.&nbsp; Which is why, from Mexico to Medieval Europe, the modern day iconography of the Saint is borrowed from a mix of different cultures. During the 16th century, Europe was struck with the black plague, responsible for mass deaths which would wipe out most of the continent’s population. Christian Europeans thought of the plague as a universal punishment caused by the sinful nature of humanity. The allegorical animation of death was on the rise in the arts. Eventually making its way from Spain to Mexico during the inquisition. The iconography of Saint Death is the consequence of religious repression: the macabre skeleton figure cloaked in dark robes, with which we associate death throughout the West, was re-appropriated by Mexicas to disguise their worship of Mictlantecuhtli. <img width="128" height="179" width_o="128" height_o="179" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9ceb696708cdf40dd3ffa3a7f6be1ee4a69d898118fbf761e2162d2290522412/Picture2.jpg" data-mid="240204683" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/128/i/9ceb696708cdf40dd3ffa3a7f6be1ee4a69d898118fbf761e2162d2290522412/Picture2.jpg" /> From Jean Colombe’s Book of Hours, Death Personified, 1473 <img width="290" height="97" width_o="290" height_o="97" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1bc48c8a13dbbef7b969c9e659c64c3c3fd48fad5610cc5924575f21a416cb15/Picture3.jpg" data-mid="240204682" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/290/i/1bc48c8a13dbbef7b969c9e659c64c3c3fd48fad5610cc5924575f21a416cb15/Picture3.jpg" /> Danse Macabre, fresco in Holy Trinity Church, Slovenia, 1490 La Santa is represented by a female skeleton. She wears a monk-like cloak which covers her head to toe. It's often black, but the colors can differ depending on what you want her to bring to your life: red for love, white for purity and protection, purple for health, and so on. Her devotees give her different names to make their relationship with the Saint even more personal and intimate. They also adorn her with trinkets of their own to further personalize her, clad her in different clothing, Mexican embroidery or jewelry, such as a rosary. She's almost always standing upright, holding a scale in her right hand – symbolizing the balance between life and death – or at times a globe to represent the universality of dying. In her left hand she firmly grips a scythe, which represents the split of life and death. However, as is the case with most oral based traditions, iconography and mythology can vary slightly depending on who you ask. Some say she is the daughter of Christ, who gave her a burdensome responsibility: collecting the souls of the dead. Worried about the pain it would cause her to take away the souls, she begged Christ to at least relieve her of the pain of her senses. Without sight, scent nor vision her job would hopefully be easier, relegating her to a skeletal physical state. Contrary to popular bias, she is believed to do God’s work, not the Devil’s. She is known to be on the jealous side, to be overprotective and highly emotional. She is quick to act, fast and efficient in answering prayers. Yet she is mostly kind and caring, associated by many to a "comforting mother figure" and treated as such by her cult The way Mexicans honor their Saints is most notably recognized during the Day of the Dead. We make altars for the people we've lost, topped with offerings designated to each one, as we do with our deities. On a day to day, La Santa Muerte likes to be spoiled with flowers, tobacco, notes and letters, even tequila. But she isn't necessarily extravagant: she will appreciate anything big or small as long as your intentions are pure and genuine. She doesn't discriminate; there are no requirements to be a part of her cult. She has no strict expectations for her followers and no reasons to condemn them, different to the Christian Church.&nbsp; <img width="240" height="362" width_o="240" height_o="362" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/48e803f0cb31129b6b5134948dda06fd02aa124d5b49c6535fac92e3f97687c5/Picture4.jpg" data-mid="240204692" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/240/i/48e803f0cb31129b6b5134948dda06fd02aa124d5b49c6535fac92e3f97687c5/Picture4.jpg" /> Photo by Erin Lee, La Santa Muerte, Mexico, 2014, Mexico, Vice News Tepito is located in the historical center of Mexico City. It's a lively, busy, tumultuous neighborhood. Historically, Tepito was one of the last sites of resistance against Spanish colonialism. Once it was finally defeated, Hernan Cortez made sure to place extensive security around it since the area was used to expel and segregate countless Mexicas. This segregation has had persistent effects up to this day in Mexican society. The reality is, Spanish colonialism never left Mexico and its effects on Tepito are as noticeable as ever. The neighborhood (barrio) is home to the lower working class of Mexico City, for those who can’t afford the expenses and rates of the wealthier neighbourhoods. Those who can't afford an education. Those who have a hard time getting medical assistance. Those marginalized by prejudices of their skin color and denied “respectable” employment. Those born into businesses outside the law. Tepito houses working mothers who struggle to feed their kids, who can’t get legal protection against their abusive husbands, trans women who are fetishized in sex work but rejected in their day to day, and children who are forced to labour before they can even speak. Tepito's reputation is tainted on many levels: it's considered to be dirty, uncared for, dangerous and incredibly busy. It’s hard to walk through, loud, and uncomfortable. The streets are even lined with plastic awnings that block out the sky, creating&nbsp;a claustrophobic sentiment. It's an infinite outdoor market where everything and nothing is possible. You can find cheap clothing, blocks and blocks of blenders, jewelry, stuffed animals, cleaning products, shoes, washing machines, pirated movies. Blocks and blocks and blocks of books and perfumes, fabrics, furs and so much more. Mexico City is the most enchanting place in the world. But like any country, it has more problems than one could count. Poverty is intoxicating. Women are raped. Murdered. Everyday. Families are torn apart by systemic organized crime. This way of life&nbsp; makes it incredibly difficult to stay unconditionally faithful to a supposedly omnibenevolent God whose institution forbids your culture and traditions, who is often depicted with white skin and blue eyes, dressed in Roman drapery surrounded by gold – far from most of Mexico's reality. A God who has historically been used to outlaw homosexuality, or as a pretext to confine women into hysteria, vessels for sexual reproduction, wives, property – stripped of their full humanity. La Santa Muerte is often associated with crime because most of her followers are victims of this perpetual systematic poverty which constricts possibility. Yet, she's a glimmer of freedom veiled by the institutional marginalization of the Catholic Church. She represents a new hope, one that hasn't been corrupted by western men, politics and binaries. She is a refreshing figure because she’s a manifestation of our ancestry overlapping with modern folklore. Despite her devotees' requests to canonize her, the Vatican declared the cult to be “blasphemous” in 2013. She was deemed a temptation of the devil to trick people into falling in love with death. On the contrary, La Santa Muerte shows the resilience and determination of the Mexican people to resist the neocolonial attempts of the Catholic Church who, like the Spanish, want to stomp out Indigenous and Mexican spiritual practices. The cult invites us to question why it is that we deem death so negatively. We all live our lives with an expiration date. Natural death in some cultures is a great achievement. In Mexica mythology, death is just as precious as life is, it is a blessing even. There’s no fear nor resentment. But through history we've been made afraid of the one thing we can never avoid. The Saint welcomes us to reconsider our relationship with death in a way that might grant us some comfort. Especially in cases where one is exposed to systematic risks and hardships. If the Catholic Church isn't welcoming for minorities and if your government won’t protect you in the face of death, where should your faith stand? Interview:&nbsp;A conversation with Estela Estela is a family friend from Mexico City that I've grown up with. For the past 15 years she has worked as a housekeeper in my best friend's home, but really she’s part of the family. I remembered she used to have a boyfriend that was devoted to La Santa.&nbsp; Although Este didn't used to like speaking about the cult, her feelings for the faith have changed. After a short call, this is what I learned from her: Estela: Well, you can ask her for favors and stuff. Supposedly she doesn't “charge” for the favors she grants you because, well, at the end of the day, we are just a living image of her. Your flesh is your flesh but what are we underneath that? Obviously. We are the same. We are the same because when your flesh leaves you, well, you end up just like her, calaquita Alina: Yes, of course. Estela: So, it's logical. Look, if you go online right now and do some research you'll find good things and bad things. Because of course, there's people that still can't accept the reality that she's good. The same way that you see people talk bad about the Catholic Church, so. That's my… my… but I don't know. What else would you like to know? Tell me. You tell me what you want to know. Alina: Mmmm. Well. Like, how did your ex boyfriend end up being part of the cult? Like, was it his family or… Estela: He, well, they had this woman that did these things and she obviously was a devotee to the saint you know? That woman would have been given the gift to cure you.&nbsp; Like, she… Well once she told him "I don't do harm. My saint doesn't allow me to”.&nbsp; Like if you go and you tell her “I feel bad” such and such, it would be like the doctor. He'll tell you “oh well you're alright” then you'll know you're good. But then if you go and the doctor tells you “no you're sick” and so on then you know something is off. If you go with this woman the first thing&nbsp;she'll tell you is if there's something wrong with you. And you'll be like, “Why?”. And she'll tell you…“Oh well because there's this person in your home that wishes you harm, or the neighbor or friend, whatever whatever. So she takes care of that. She keeps you safe from that. Just like a doctor, she'll diagnose you. But remember that it's the Saint that works through her. Alina: Right, right. So she’s like a medium. Estela: Aha. Exactly. Alina: So, did your ex go to this woman for health reasons? Estela: Exactly. And that's where they started to believe in the Saint, because they saw that she was… mmmm how can I say this. Like, Alina, everything this woman would tell them was true. Alina: So she would literally just know what was wrong with them and she would be right? Estela: Exactly. Alina: Have you ever asked her for anything? Estela: Well, remember when I lived with him that I would go there&nbsp; a lot? Mhm well, I was very honest with this woman, I said… I don't know if I ever told you this, I don't think so. But I told her “I’ll do my thing, you'll do your thing cause I don't believe in that”. Like whatever. I mean it's not like I'm pretending like I don't know anything about that. Because obviously, people tell you about their faith and stuff which is why now I know more. But like I said, it's not that I think she's bad like other people do but I also am not super into it. Alina: And do you think the cult has been growing more and more? Estela: Of course, because now there's more churches that allow her to be venerated. Like once I went to this Basilica with a friend and there was the market and everything, obviously the market of the Basilica. And there were a lot of devotees you know? If you go by some place that sells santitos the first thing you'll see is her. Because it's not like… it's not like before, you don't have to hide your faith anymore. Sources Lacunza, Michel A. Olguín, “Te presento a Mictlantecuhtli, el dios mexica de la muerte”, octubre 29, 2020, UNAM Global Revista: https://unamglobal.unam.mx/global_revista/te-presento-a-mictlantecuhtli-el-dios-mexica-de-la-muerte/ XIU, “La historia de 5 deidades prehispánicas que fueron sincretizadas con figuras católicas” Matador Network, 24 Abril 2020, Mexico: https://matadornetwork.com/es/santos-catolicos-sincretizados-con-deidades-antiguas/ Silleras-Fernandez, N. (2024). Performing death in medieval Iberia: an introduction to the end of life. Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, 16(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/17546559.2023.2296993 “Region at the corner of Bliss and Nirvana, Politics, Identity and Faith in New Migrant Communities”, Lorentzen, Lois Ann “Devotional Crossings: Transgender sex workers, Santísima Muerte, and Spiritual Solidarity in Guadalajara and San Francisco”, Duke University Press, 2009, Durham and London. A. Calvo-Quiros, William, “Undocumented Saints: The Politics of Migrating Devotions. La Santa Muerte: the&nbsp; patrona&nbsp; of the Death-Worlds”, 2022, Oxford University Press, New York, United States of America Osegueda, Rodrigo, “Tepito, historia del barrio bravo más icónico de México”, Mexico Desconocido, Ciudad de Mexico: https://www.mexicodesconocido.com.mx/tepito.html “El Vaticano considera “blasfemia” la Santa Muerte”, BBC News Mundo, 9 mayo 2013 https://www.bbc.com/mundo/ultimas_noticias/2013/05/130507_ultnot_vaticano_santa_muerte_mexico_cch#:~:text=El%20cardenal%20Gianfranco%20Ravasi%2C%20secretario,a%20venerar%20la%20figura%20esquel%C3%A9tica. https://yiaramagazine.com/Interview-with-Somaye-Farhan-by-Nadia-Trudel Tue, 23 May 2023 22:13:55 +0000 Yiara Magazine https://yiaramagazine.com/Interview-with-Somaye-Farhan-by-Nadia-Trudel Interview with Somaye Farhan - by Nadia TrudelMay 23rd, 2023<img width="936" height="682" width_o="936" height_o="682" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dfb3e908c166af84c4b6427c3a5ec56d9f98c684452bcfb4b74df0744eb9ec69/somaye-1.jpeg" data-mid="179804152" border="0" data-scale="50" alt="&quot;ThisConnection&quot;" data-caption="&quot;ThisConnection&quot;" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/936/i/dfb3e908c166af84c4b6427c3a5ec56d9f98c684452bcfb4b74df0744eb9ec69/somaye-1.jpeg" /> Somaye Farhan&nbsp;is a Montreal based multi-disciplinary artist from Tehran who is currently completing her undergraduate studies at Concordia in Studio Arts. Through performance, video, and sculpture, Farhan explores feminism, identity, and connection, particularly as they pertain to Iranian women.&nbsp; She has exhibited her works in Kathmandu, Nepal at&nbsp;Siddhartha Art Gallery and at VAV gallery in Montreal, Quebec. NT:What were you up to before studying at Concordia University? SF: I emigrated to Canada in 2016. I didn't have any experience in art. I had a Bachelor in French language, like French and Persian translation. So I didn't have any portfolio. I went to college. And so for two years. I did one year of graphic designing and I found out that it's not my thing. I changed it to visual arts. And here I am. NT: Did you grow up creative? SF: Now you know the situation in Iran,&nbsp; a woman doing art is not something that the government likes. It's very difficult. Actually, I didn't see the possibility. We had a lot of censorship. I didn't see the possibility to study arts&nbsp; in Iran. But I have friends that stayed and they tried but finally they also emigrated, it's not an easy medium in Iran. So in 2012 I met my partner when we traveled by bicycle in Asia for two-three years. We were traveling by bicycle, and after that journey immigrating to Canada, I found that the only thing that I can do is art because of that journey. You're on a bicycle, you become like a bird. Art was the only medium that I found that could satisfy me. I also found that we can make a difference with art. NT: How has meditation impacted your art? SF:&nbsp; Meditation was my first motivation to study Fine Arts. After my journey on the bicycle and meditating in Buddhist monasteries in Nepal, Myanmar and Thailand, my life transformed. When I immigrated to Canada, I found out that being an artist is the closest job to being a meditator. Creating, observing the world with attention, being curious, present and patient are some of the qualities that artists and meditators share. Therefore, making art for me is meditation and meditating is art. Meditating, practicing being present and opening my awareness to the world around me allow me to create a space for creating art. I can say meditation is the foundation for artmaking for me. NT: What are the main themes in your work? SF: My works engage with subjects relating to women. In my recent projects, I concentrate on exploring the world from the perspective of Iranian women whose rights have been overlooked. Social and gender inequality, feminism, ontological approaches, and identity are the themes I have researched and worked on. In the process of my work, I use sculpture, performance, and video as my main mediums to raise questions on social, political and cultural issues. <img width="502" height="282" width_o="502" height_o="282" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9698be70c67027a0f3ee23aba2a5bae2bc665ec0faad30a55243331a644c18c6/image-3.jpeg" data-mid="179804457" border="0" alt="This is Not a Scarf by Somaye Farhan, performed 2022" data-caption="This is Not a Scarf by Somaye Farhan, performed 2022" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/502/i/9698be70c67027a0f3ee23aba2a5bae2bc665ec0faad30a55243331a644c18c6/image-3.jpeg" /> <img width="502" height="334" width_o="502" height_o="334" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a1ed6b4598a9cd32ab7e716f42bf30952c4891c69fab229bb48668fc12c5a71f/image-2.jpeg" data-mid="179804456" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/502/i/a1ed6b4598a9cd32ab7e716f42bf30952c4891c69fab229bb48668fc12c5a71f/image-2.jpeg" /> NT: Have you been able to connect with the Iranian community in Montreal? SF: Yes, and this connection got deeper after the “Women-Life-Freedom” movement. NT: How did it feel to perform “This is not a scarf”? What kind of feedback did you get? SF: The experience of me as the performer was being able to present my feelings, my thoughts, what I am experiencing and being a space for the participants to be present with their experience. This performance aims to create the space for the audience to connect with objects on the level of experience and emotion which is a level deeper than thoughts. When the participants tie us with a scarf, how do they feel? What is their experience? That was very important for me. Some of the participants were tying the scarf around my mouth which made me feel suffocated: this was a reminder to myself and the women of my country and how it feels not to be allowed to self-express. Some of the participants were tying the scarf around my neck; I felt a barrier to breathing properly. Feeling suffocated again. Some of them were tying the scarf around my wrists and ankles: which prevented me from moving. Some of them were tying the scarf around my head covering all my hair: it made me feel ugly. When the audience participates in the performance, they experienced having power over someone, the experience of objectifying another person, and the experience of ownership and domination. And the vulnerability of the performer created the space for the participant to get present and authentic with their feelings. The participant has the opportunity to contemplate this object “the scarf” from a new perspective, they may start to feel what a scarf can do to the other person who is not willingly wearing it. <img width="504" height="284" width_o="504" height_o="284" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a51bcc924bf28d43c67aada293a47842eda8ae315c359e0ddea83f11a29943d6/image-1.jpeg" data-mid="179804455" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/504/i/a51bcc924bf28d43c67aada293a47842eda8ae315c359e0ddea83f11a29943d6/image-1.jpeg" /> <img width="502" height="282" width_o="502" height_o="282" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1bb8e2c23c0b9c306109e3260c74f1e5eebeed19300253bfa69926a7bf6a8562/image-4.jpeg" data-mid="179804459" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/502/i/1bb8e2c23c0b9c306109e3260c74f1e5eebeed19300253bfa69926a7bf6a8562/image-4.jpeg" /> NT: Do you ever feel nervous about performing in public? SF: It depends. Public interventions are unpredictable and anything can happen. I feel nervous since everything is out of my control and I need to surrender to what is happening at the moment. NT: Are you a collaborative artist? SF: I am. I enjoy making art in the community with other artists. It’s so rewarding when we complete one artwork altogether in a group. I had this experience in February 2019 when our team of three artists won the Snow Sculpture competition after 45 hours of snow sculpting in -35 Celsius in Rivière du Loup, Quebec. I believe without teamwork it was impossible to complete the sculpture in that time frame. It was such an unforgettable experience. NT: Can you walk me through the step-by-step process of putting together a project like ThisConnection? SF: For this video installation, the emigration from nature is represented by a long take of a performance in a desert in Iran. The first step was to film my sister walking in a desert in Iran, which my partner (Soha Ebrahimzandi) filmed on his journey to Iran and brought the sand of that desert to Canada. I did perform with the sand in front of a green screen and overlaid my performance on the video of Neda walking in the desert. In the final installation, this landscape is projected onto a 10 by-5.6-meter wall. In the foreground, there are two LED screens 43” positioned vertically. Each of the artists (Soha Ebrahimzandi and me) is displayed on one of the LED screens. For the images of LED screens, we first filmed the background image in Montreal, then we filmed ourselves in front of the green screen and overlayed our film looking at each other on the background image of Montreal. For the sound, we recorded our audio in the recording room and play it from two speakers “left” and “right” in the installation. The LED screens are placed with a gap between them in the installation, so one can easily walk through them. The individual LED sets symbolize the separation of the two although they are seemingly facing and gazing at each other. Finally, the two small analogue TVs in the middle ground are showing an extreme closeup of a pair of eyes gazing straight back at the spectator. Each of the eyes is filmed separately. <img width="936" height="682" width_o="936" height_o="682" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dfb3e908c166af84c4b6427c3a5ec56d9f98c684452bcfb4b74df0744eb9ec69/somaye-1.jpeg" data-mid="179804152" border="0" alt="ThisConnection by Somaye Farhan" data-caption="ThisConnection by Somaye Farhan" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/936/i/dfb3e908c166af84c4b6427c3a5ec56d9f98c684452bcfb4b74df0744eb9ec69/somaye-1.jpeg" /> NT: Are you interested in music? I saw your performance for Twirling into Nothingness where you used a Daff and Setar. SF: Yes, “Twirling into Nothingness” was a performance about ancestral memory. I emigrated from memories, ancestral myths and stories of my country to Canada in the hope of liberating myself from the chain of the predicaments of my culture.&nbsp; The act of avoiding my past came at the cost of disassociating myself completely from not only the sufferings of an imposed culture but also the possible gifts.&nbsp; I gradually opened up to a new possibility of creating a future without carrying my past into it. As a gift from my ancestors, for this performance, I used Daff /daf/, ( A Persian percussion instrument) as the main object, and the sound of Setar /səˈtär/(a string musical instrument from Iran). NT: As a multidisciplinary artist, are there any other mediums and talents that you're interested in exploring and adding to your skill set? SF: Comic books are something that…because of that journey that I did by bicycle, I really want to create something and share what I experienced in that journey. You can communicate very profound subjects through comics. My goal is to make a difference. Creating a more balanced and just world. Find out more about Somaye’s work and projects on her website:&nbsp;https://somayefarhan.net/ https://yiaramagazine.com/En-conversation-avec-Jade-Simard-par-Maurane-Dubois Wed, 29 Mar 2023 11:34:38 +0000 Yiara Magazine https://yiaramagazine.com/En-conversation-avec-Jade-Simard-par-Maurane-Dubois En conversation avec Jade Simard - par Maurane Dubois Le 29 mars 2023<img width="1500" height="2263" width_o="1500" height_o="2263" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/032b3898c2c87a40ed90c08937f49030f0a346f9520dba0296eedae9995c08da/jade-1.jpg" data-mid="173497098" border="0" data-scale="22" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/032b3898c2c87a40ed90c08937f49030f0a346f9520dba0296eedae9995c08da/jade-1.jpg" /> Jade est une designer de mode et artiste textile qui travaille actuellement en tant que pigiste. En 2017, après avoir obtenu son diplôme de l'Université UQAM en design et gestion de la mode, elle a déménagé aux Pays-Bas où elle a travaillé comme assistante-designer tout en affinant l’approche de son propre travail. Maintenant basée à Montréal, elle explore la créativité en travaillant principalement avec des matériaux trouvés, tout en valorisant la texture et la transformation.1 Dans cette entrevue, Jade discute de l’origine de sa passion pour la couture, de la manière dont les détails, la musique et les films l’inspirent, ainsi que de son expérience aux Pays-Bas. Q: Qu’est-ce qui a déclenché ta passion pour le textile et pourquoi t’es-tu tournée vers l'industrie de la mode? R: Ça a toujours un peu été une évidence. J'ai toujours aimé m'exprimer avec les vêtements. Je fais de la couture depuis que j'ai dix ans. Mon père est un artiste. On dirait qu'il me fallait un échappatoire créatif. Quand j'étais jeune, j'ai choisi la couture et c'est resté. Q: Pourquoi avoir choisi la couture? Est-ce qu'il y a quelqu'un dans ta famille qui était dans ce domaine? R: C’est drôle, mais c'était dans les magazines Fille et Cool, il y avait plusieurs tutoriels. J’ai toujours aimé faire des bricolages et il y avait un bricolage pour faire un sac à main avec un vieux t-shirt. Je l’ai fait à la main. C’est mon père qui m’a montré à coudre à la main. La société nous dit que c'est les femmes qui cousent donc quand j'étais petite et que mes toutous brisaient, je les donnais à ma mère. Ma mère ne les réparait pas et après trois semaines, mon père finissait par le faire. J’ai donc appris que c’est mon père qui coud. Puis quand j'ai gradué du primaire, mes parents m'ont acheté une machine à coudre domestique. C'est devenu une tradition. Quand j'ai gradué du cégep en design de mode, ils m'ont acheté une machine industrielle. “C’est mon père qui m’a montré à coudre à la main. La société nous dit que c'est les femmes qui cousent donc quand j'étais petite et que mes toutous brisaient, je les donnais à ma mère. Ma mère ne les réparait pas et après trois semaines, mon père finissait par le faire.” <img width="2814" height="3752" width_o="2814" height_o="3752" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b467060676abb44f8747b8aeacb0593978612329d52774f1145debe9bfbedb95/jade-2.jpg" data-mid="173497134" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b467060676abb44f8747b8aeacb0593978612329d52774f1145debe9bfbedb95/jade-2.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="2250" width_o="1500" height_o="2250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/51fe8dad32e3789d869d34f891b5d139a78e36f6b80b5dd95aeceff6d26e6f82/jade-4.jpg" data-mid="173497139" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/51fe8dad32e3789d869d34f891b5d139a78e36f6b80b5dd95aeceff6d26e6f82/jade-4.jpg" /> Q: Je serais intéressée d’en apprendre davantage sur tes influences. Je serais aussi curieuse de savoir si tu as des inspirations qui ne sont pas reliées à la mode directement (film, décor, musique...). R: Je peux trouver certains détails et coupes de vêtements intéressants. J’ai un réel plaisir à comprendre comment quelque chose a été fait, regarder des vêtements haut de gamme, voir leurs finitions, etc. Il faut être ingénieux pour trouver une façon simple et avec de belles finitions de faire un design innovateur. Ce qui m’inspire le plus c’est les artistes visuels/conceptuels, les artistes qui créent leurs propres univers. Je pense qu’en tant qu’artiste, il faut raffiner notre idée du beau. C’est ce qui crée notre esthétique, notre univers. Puis lorsque je crée, je suis en recherche du beau. J’aime les contrastes. Je pense que mes créations me ressemblent. La douceur me vient naturellement, mais plus je mature, plus j’ajoute un edge, une durceur pour venir balancer et soutenir cette douceur. Je trouve la dualité vraiment intéressante. “Je pense que mes créations me ressemblent. La douceur me vient naturellement, mais plus je mature, plus j’ajoute un edge, une durceur pour venir balancer et soutenir cette douceur. Je trouve la dualité vraiment intéressante.” J’aime beaucoup les films, j’ai toujours consommé beaucoup ce média. Encore une fois, j’aime l'idée de concevoir un univers. Je peux être vraiment moved et inspirée par la photographie et juste l’ambiance d’un film ou d’une série. Bien sûr, c’est un plus quand les costumes sont épiques et tu vois clairement que beaucoup d’effort a été mis dans la conceptualisation. J’aimerais mener un tel projet un jour. Et la musique of course! Je suis entourée par beaucoup de musiciens. J’aime la culture de band, de créer quelque chose ensemble, l’idée d’un groupe, on amène tous quelque chose de différent, notre spécialité et on crée de quoi de plus grand que nous, qu'on n’aurait pas pu faire seul. En musique, il est aussi très important pour les artistes de montrer leur univers au public. Les vêtements et costumes aident beaucoup avec ça. C’est pourquoi j’aime vraiment collaborer avec des musiciens. <img width="909" height="1212" width_o="909" height_o="1212" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d8d195449ed59fe0f479f4efebfaf2eed56eb396a51e2b07855768b2145e5a79/jade-3.jpg" data-mid="173497135" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/909/i/d8d195449ed59fe0f479f4efebfaf2eed56eb396a51e2b07855768b2145e5a79/jade-3.jpg" /> Q: Tu as déménagé aux Pays-Bas, où tu as travaillé comme assistante-designer. De quelle façon cette expérience a-t-elle affectée ton travail? R: Je suis allé aux Pays-Bas, car pendant mes études j'avais fait un stage à Berlin où j'ai rencontré un Allemand. Quand j'ai fini mes études, j'ai déménagé aux Pays-Bas avec cet homme en question. Je venais de finir l'école et je voulais vivre une aventure. J'étais tanné de work my ass off. J'avais besoin d'un break. En même temps, je trouve que dès qu'on finit l'école, on veut se prouver et prouver aux autres qu'on mérite notre place dans l’industrie. Je ne voulais pas être quelqu'un qui gradue, mais qui se ne trouve jamais de travail dans le domaine. J'étais tellement concentrée à me trouver un travail dans le domaine. En plus, j'étais dans un pays où je ne parlais pas la langue donc je n’y arrivais pas. Je voulais quand même me faire un nom et avoir de l'expérience donc j'ai commencé à assister une designer. Au début, c'était un stage pas payé. J’y allais deux fois par semaine. C’était le fun. J’ai appris de cette expérience. Je suis resté là-bas deux ans. Après, j’ai commencé à faire des petits contrats à la pige, un peu comme ce que je fais maintenant. Je commençais. Mais on dirait que comme j’étais tellement focus sur vouloir un emploi dans le domaine, je ne voyais pas que c'était cool qu’est-ce que je faisais à la pige. Il fallait que je le vive. Je suis retourné à Montréal. Je me suis trouvé un travail dans l’industrie et j’ai réalisé que je n’aimais pas ça donc je suis retourné à la pige. Le 9 à 5 ça ne me convient pas vraiment. J’avais une créativité que j’avais besoin d'extérioriser. Jade Simard sur Instagram: @textilehustler1. Jade Simard, https://jadesimard.com/about. Photos avec l’autorisation de l’artiste. https://yiaramagazine.com/Interview-with-Oonagh-Moon-By-Spencer-Jean-Allder Tue, 21 Feb 2023 17:34:56 +0000 Yiara Magazine https://yiaramagazine.com/Interview-with-Oonagh-Moon-By-Spencer-Jean-Allder Interview with Oonagh Moon - By Spencer Jean Allder February 20, 2023<img width="736" height="1333" width_o="736" height_o="1333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/36eb513c1f94f341ee51b58ceb24c0391551f4d7c7e2184755c81cab7a1d00f9/spencer-4.JPG" data-mid="169919019" border="0" data-scale="14" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/736/i/36eb513c1f94f341ee51b58ceb24c0391551f4d7c7e2184755c81cab7a1d00f9/spencer-4.JPG" /> Oonagh Moon, an autistic, lesbian tattooer currently working at Studio l’Arrosoir and Grey Market Montreal, is an emerging artist and activist. Employing a linear, etched style, their work centres 2SLGBTQIA+ beauty, occult spirituality, and sexy mythical creatures. Committed to providing a “safe space for all bodies,” Oonagh is only a small part of the queer, trans, and fem inclusion revolution of the modern tattoo industry. In this interview, Oonagh discusses art as a form of queer self expression, how the colonialist view of tattoos in Western society is rooted in racism, and their dedication to celebrating the ceremonious nature of tattoos within cultures around the world. <img width="2152" height="2633" width_o="2152" height_o="2633" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/89fef25cc904a743b33a606a60b7f736c32f5467c5dc1b9dfb1418a8cb01a2af/spencer-6.jpg" data-mid="169919195" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/89fef25cc904a743b33a606a60b7f736c32f5467c5dc1b9dfb1418a8cb01a2af/spencer-6.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/53882700965bcd828af9e1abc4bbffea385310f17183104acb5aa5b55e8c15e2/spencer-8.jpg" data-mid="169921136" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/53882700965bcd828af9e1abc4bbffea385310f17183104acb5aa5b55e8c15e2/spencer-8.jpg" /> <img width="2556" height="4032" width_o="2556" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/705f4737a82924c6621dcee21e3562b622a82fa0d5bff743f759d1134b97765f/spencer-9.jpg" data-mid="169921386" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/705f4737a82924c6621dcee21e3562b622a82fa0d5bff743f759d1134b97765f/spencer-9.jpg" /> Q: What jump-started your passion for art, and why did you gravitate towards the tattoo industry? A:&nbsp; Well, I grew up around art. Both of my parents are “hippie artists,” I guess you could say, so in my home there was always the space for freedom of self and freedom of expression. I was able to explore art from a young age and of course developed an adoration for expressing myself through art. I’ve always loved to draw, and I also really enjoy pyrography (wood burning) and painting. Tattooing seemed like a natural progression in my career as an artist, and I fell in love with the permanence of tattoos. As I’ve grown and developed into my own queerness and gender exploration, my art also developed into an expression of that queerness—a celebration of it. When I tattoo my designs, it’s like I’m permanently branding the world with the reality of queer beauty with every piece that I do. And in that way, I’m permanently changing the world bit by bit. “The most important thing as an artist is that the people who come to me feel respected and heard, always.” <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/30e015963b28c7aea1b23d5d3995b206e8c36d88ea4a6b19b7de633723302f25/spencer-3.jpg" data-mid="169918950" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/30e015963b28c7aea1b23d5d3995b206e8c36d88ea4a6b19b7de633723302f25/spencer-3.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/16bcbf34b95b57f78043585add15259af001eeef259c88646ae5e001f097e7b1/spencer-2.jpg" data-mid="169918908" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/16bcbf34b95b57f78043585add15259af001eeef259c88646ae5e001f097e7b1/spencer-2.jpg" /> Q: Tattooing, similarly to brain surgery, is one job in which there is no room for mistakes. What are some strategies you use to keep a steady hand under all that pressure? A: Yeah, I don’t know if it’s as high stakes as brain surgery, but yeah, it can be daunting for sure. Because if you fuck up it’s not like you can erase it, that’s someone else’s body. There are always tricks you can use: pull the line towards you, hold your breath, eat before you tattoo, and have a decent quality tattoo machine, but learn on a shitty one. But the reality is that you always have to leave room for error, as a client. When you're getting a tattoo, you sign up for the humanity that comes with receiving a tattoo. You're receiving their art, a little part of who they are, and their humanity. And as the artist, as much as there is no room to make a mistake, there also has to be room for self compassion because you’re imbuing your art into someone’s skin and that in itself is a gift. People know that they aren't being tattooed by a robot. Q: Why do you think it’s important to specify on your Instagram, advertisements, and business cards that you are queer and trans? A: I want to attract queer and trans clientele. To be frank, I don’t wanna spend hours of time in the company of cishet men. Men don’t really seek me out when my Instagram bio reads “dyke for abolition.” It’s safer for me to have clients that I know won’t mistreat me once they meet me. But on a more serious note, the industry has historically been a hyper-masculine cesspool of machismo bullshit. There’s this idea that you need to “suffer for the art” to get your foot in the door in this industry, and that was true for a long time because the people who dominated the industry were angry cishet men with mommy issues. By specifying my values, it gives people with similar or other marginalised identities the space to feel comfortable and safe. The most important thing as an artist is that the people who come to me feel respected and heard, always. It’s crucial that people with marginalised identities, or accessibility needs, are free to be authentically who they are, because I am always authentically who I am. I want to create art that makes people feel fundamentally loved. <img width="4032" height="3024" width_o="4032" height_o="3024" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/85e19ee556a3407c687998e5bf781bcfdb8fd09ab999d8c171f446c4f8b25c67/spencer-1.jpg" data-mid="169918774" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/85e19ee556a3407c687998e5bf781bcfdb8fd09ab999d8c171f446c4f8b25c67/spencer-1.jpg" /> <img width="712" height="462" width_o="712" height_o="462" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0667ccc38079101a79fd8c3a7231b280d4e318196a253b01a69ba87e6b409308/spencer-5.jpg" data-mid="169919078" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/712/i/0667ccc38079101a79fd8c3a7231b280d4e318196a253b01a69ba87e6b409308/spencer-5.jpg" /> Q: The first evidence of tattoos originates in Japan in 5000 BCE (1). Throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, tribal groups such as the Fulani are tattooed on their bodies and faces with symbols and charms to aid fertility, beauty, and health (2). Indigenous Polynesian people of what is now called New Zealand, the Māori, view tattoos as a language, a symbol of power, and a mark of honour. They also hold a sacred importance as they are thought to possess magical abilities inherited from God (3). Are there ways in which you, as a white tattoo artist in 2023, can actively recognize the spiritual and religious significance that tattooing has within so many cultures that are not your own? A: Of course there is. All tattoo artists should be asking themselves that question every day. And not just asking, but doing the work and putting it into practice. Anti-racism should be a foundational value upon which a tattoo artist’s career sits. It’s a foundational value that my career rests on, which exists in stark contrast to the hyper-masculine, racist industry that we are seeing more and more people free themselves from. I think practical work is important: do some research, pick up a book, ask questions, seek out knowledge keepers, and learn with intention and with love. I also think that spiritual work is just as important. You need to maintain the roots of self expression, connection, and community in your own life and practice, while also holding the cultural, religious, and spiritual practices of the groups of people close to your heart. I do not believe that there can be appreciation without love. I once read a quote by Alicia Elliot, a Tuscarora author who wrote an essay on appropriation vs. appreciation, entitled “On Seeing and Being Seen: The Difference Between Writing With Empathy and Writing With Love” (4). They discussed how one can’t write from the viewpoint of another group of people, but one most certainly can’t if one is not writing from a place of love. I think the same can be said for tattooing. If you cannot hold the deeply-rooted cultural history of tattoos with love and admiration, then you shouldn’t be tattooing. I also know that, as a white artist, I am given many more opportunities to grow and expand than Black, Indigenous, and other racialized artists. In the spirit of that, I strongly suggest that the next artist that Yiara writes about should be an artist of colour. “A rapist can get a job as the president but a bitch with tattoos can’t get a job at the bank? Okay.” <img width="1939" height="2114" width_o="1939" height_o="2114" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/296bc3d997991db3ef16715df87d9ace57f5ecb65ac9ec95d8aeb97ca6e0015a/spencer-10.jpg" data-mid="169921686" border="0" data-scale="32.5" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/296bc3d997991db3ef16715df87d9ace57f5ecb65ac9ec95d8aeb97ca6e0015a/spencer-10.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a69e39d34b15bef43b6d3dccf60161b3be5ad48e471e9e059294ee44128c6d85/spencer-7.jpg" data-mid="169919256" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a69e39d34b15bef43b6d3dccf60161b3be5ad48e471e9e059294ee44128c6d85/spencer-7.jpg" /> Q: What is your response to those who find tattoos to be considered unprofessional, or taboo? Why do you think tattoos are so heavily associated with criminal activity in Western society? A: As you mentioned, tattoos are a staple of the cultures of people of colour. They’re criminalized for the same reason that weed was criminalized: in order to further stigmatize and oppress Black, Indigenous, and other racialized communities. The very idea that certain physical attributes make you a better or worse person is an inherently Western colonialist view. It’s just racism. So many civilizations over the course of history have used tattoos to elevate the spirit, understand one’s community, one’s identity. There was a time, very recently, when tattoos were incredibly taboo, but tattoos these days have become symbols of identification, safety, community, and expression. To those who criticise tattoos as being unprofessional, I would recommend they do anti-racist work, and take a second to realize that they don’t have to regurgitate everything that their parents taught them. A lack of understanding, in the age of technology and the internet, is just self inflicted stupidity. Q: What would be your dream tattoo to design for someone? A: My dream tattoo scenario… Somebody comes in to where I work and says they want their entire back covered but don’t care what it is. They have some sort of idea of what the vibe or theme is, but otherwise I have the full creative freedom to make a detailed back piece that is a full reflection of my work and the intention of the client. Honestly, I don't dream about what specific tattoo I get to do next because every custom design, flash piece, and new idea sparks something so specific inside me and I get so excited. Each one is better than the last and each idea brings me more joy than the last one. It’s a privilege to get to design them all. I’m constantly being inspired by my client base, even more so as it grows steadily here in Montreal. Follow Oonagh Moon on Instagram: @rowboattattoos References New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga. (2020, March 31). Māori. Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved February 6, 2023, from https://teara.govt.nz/en/maori#:~:text=The%20ancestors%20of%20M%C4%81ori%20arrived,and%20strong%20traditions%20of%20warfare.Olson, A. (2010, April 12). A brief history of tattoos. Wellcome Collection. Retrieved February 6, 2023, from https://wellcomecollection.org/articles/W9m2QxcAAF8AFvE5Tattoos of SUB-SAHARAN africa: Lars Krutak. Lars Krutak | Tattoo Anthropologist. (2022, May 19). Retrieved February 6, 2023, from https://www.larskrutak.com/tattoos-of-sub-saharan-africa/Elliot, A. (2011). “On Seeing and Being Seen: The Difference Between Writing With Empathy and Writing With Love.” Retrieved 2023, from https://roommagazine.com/on-seeing-and-being-seen-the-difference-between-writing-with-empathy-and-writing-with-love/ https://yiaramagazine.com/Interview-with-Poline-Harbali-Clare-Chasse-oualie-frost Sun, 22 Jan 2023 15:32:59 +0000 Yiara Magazine https://yiaramagazine.com/Interview-with-Poline-Harbali-Clare-Chasse-oualie-frost They wrote the countries borders on my skin: Interview with Poline Harbali By Clare Chasse &amp; oualie frost January 22, 2023 They wrote the countries borders on my skin is a multidisciplinary exhibition by French-Syrian artist Poline Harbali that was exhibited at FAIS-MOI L’ART in Montreal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal borough until December 30, 2022. Working with other female and non-binary immigrants over the last four years, Harbali, an immigrant herself, used tattooing and embodiment as the launch point for her show. After making sure to grab a glass of wine at the vernissage, Yiara contributor Clare Chasse and oualie frost met with Harbali to hear more about the unique premise of They wrote the countries borders on my skin. &nbsp; <img width="3574" height="4537" width_o="3574" height_o="4537" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/80b3ebe6b6ce2d9de0ef01bf304d13dbc7750cdb4cb71210554ca92d0343bc4d/poline-cover.jpg" data-mid="165567946" border="0" alt="Photograph of &quot;They wrote the countries borders on my skin&quot; exhibition at FAIS-MOI L'ART in Montreal, 2022. Image courtesy of the artist." data-caption="Photograph of &quot;They wrote the countries borders on my skin&quot; exhibition at FAIS-MOI L'ART in Montreal, 2022. Image courtesy of the artist." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/80b3ebe6b6ce2d9de0ef01bf304d13dbc7750cdb4cb71210554ca92d0343bc4d/poline-cover.jpg" /> Clare:&nbsp; Would you mind going into the process of how this started? Because four years is a long time to be working on something and have it come to fruition. Poline: I started this project four years ago when I was in the middle of my immigration journey. I was in a bad situation without documents and I was pretty alone.&nbsp; I couldn't work, I didn't have any money. I felt that I needed to build a project… At the beginning, I had no idea what kind of project I wanted to do. The first part was more about meeting people in the same situation as I was in—to meet people, to exchange, to feel that I had a social life also. At the beginning, the project was open to all genders. Then after meeting a few people, I figured out that all the women and non-binary people had something in common in the relationship [they had] with their bodies in the public space. As women and non-binary people, everybody talks about our bodies; that's something very important. Something in common which came out of that was the act of being tattooed for those people. It was a way to reintegrate their body. I felt that was also my experience, but I didn't know the words. So it became the focus. It was because of them that I found out that was my topic. Clare: So that’s where the tattoo process emerges? Poline:&nbsp; Yes, the first two years were about…I didn't know how to do it at this point. At the beginning of the project, I thought about working with a tattoo artist, but I really loved the relationship that I had created with the subjects, so I felt that introducing a new person into the project would be maybe less intimate. I decided to learn to tattoo to be able to do it by myself. The first part was meeting them; I had questions to ask them, but it was more about talking together—about their immigration journey, their challenges, their stories. The second part was about tattooing, and after that, for about three years, I collected archives and documentation. I documented absolutely everything about the process, but I didn't know what I wanted to do with it. After a few years of doing it, something came out, something about skin. Skin holds a heavy presence in the exhibition. In one room, a large patched-together strip of bio-manufactured skin hangs from the ceiling above a dirt-strewn waiting area of mismatched chairs. In the other, a tattoo table&nbsp; stands to the side, wrapped in this same skin rather than the usual vinyl. And of course, we cannot forget the heavy yet visibly shrouded presence of tattooed flesh, strung up like a tanned hide on the back wall, that the show revolves around. <img width="2441" height="1897" width_o="2441" height_o="1897" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9c8be269cb95b5941aa36ac93628bb6b48bedbf64711b236a3b9aacb696fa5f5/IMG_6962.JPG" data-mid="165567934" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9c8be269cb95b5941aa36ac93628bb6b48bedbf64711b236a3b9aacb696fa5f5/IMG_6962.JPG" /> <img width="1269" height="1756" width_o="1269" height_o="1756" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7a9276fb95a8663676ccecc43ad52e16d0deff723f52bdd82e26854b3d063838/poline-chair-2.jpg" data-mid="165863498" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7a9276fb95a8663676ccecc43ad52e16d0deff723f52bdd82e26854b3d063838/poline-chair-2.jpg" /> <img width="3968" height="2976" width_o="3968" height_o="2976" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3747c3ae9aaa7631ad8889d33d80ef06d0c47eca092189279be3e87dafad0b0c/chairs-photo.jpg" data-mid="165567942" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3747c3ae9aaa7631ad8889d33d80ef06d0c47eca092189279be3e87dafad0b0c/chairs-photo.jpg" /> <img width="4000" height="2661" width_o="4000" height_o="2661" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/864a98286c6798c661ab934437621e91f2efba42d67fe72c1386e1d1eddc9f5a/IMG_6920-copie.jpg" data-mid="165567944" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/864a98286c6798c661ab934437621e91f2efba42d67fe72c1386e1d1eddc9f5a/IMG_6920-copie.jpg" /> oualie: Creepy is my interest. So I found the skin tattooing table and the disembodied hanging skin very interesting, especially from a displacement perspective. A lot of elements in the show are not within the places you would normally see them in. I wanted to ask you as well, about presenting the personal when you’re working in the art world. My friend is an immigrant and was working with other immigrants as well, and she said it was so important to spend such a long-time building relationships with these people. She felt like she could really work with them rather than extracting them. Poline: It's not to say that I'm connected to the art world. It's not that; I do arts, but I don't really have a community of artists in my life. Art is something that I do. But that's not like my life. Meeting all of those people. I mean, most of them became very, very close friends. It was, for me, like the most important part of the project. And, in fact, it's the first time in my practice that I introduced the stories of others, because my practice is more based on my own story, family stories. It was very stressful for me too—I wanted them to feel seen and to be shown as I understood them, but it's not a documentary. It's documented. But I mean, I transformed all of those materials by myself, so the point that was very difficult for me was to be able to pay homage to their histories and then do an intervention on this without masking their stories. Harbali is correct about the project being a practice of documenting, not documentary. The tattoos settled onto participants' bodies are never directly shown. Instead, they are made tangible through the sketches and stories and sometimes bloody red art on the walls. We don’t see the actual bodies at all beyond a series of portraits and close cropped videos of each subject's eyes as they are tattooed. <img width="2000" height="1333" width_o="2000" height_o="1333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dbdf8294cb3ce61dccf2ee83b0311864c677d1f99d6484a2e428162acd3b937e/ZDs--2PY.jpeg" data-mid="165568012" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/dbdf8294cb3ce61dccf2ee83b0311864c677d1f99d6484a2e428162acd3b937e/ZDs--2PY.jpeg" /> <img width="6000" height="4000" width_o="6000" height_o="4000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/97b2c6575c1c347712895f62fcf4d9f550524c076b479468344cb0db9fab1e55/IMG_6963-copie.jpg" data-mid="165568932" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/97b2c6575c1c347712895f62fcf4d9f550524c076b479468344cb0db9fab1e55/IMG_6963-copie.jpg" /> Clare: So is that where the elements of embodiment, like earth, soil, and skin come in? They seem to be speaking to a dual emplacement of grounded/foundationless bodies and stories. As in we as people, friends, and immigrants are in communion; connected and solidified here. But not completely. There's still the very ephemeral element of everybody’s unique history. Your subjects belong to these places where, for multiple reasons, they can no longer stay or return to. The soil Clare refers to is dark, damp, and strewn in small piles all around the “waiting room” chairs. Poline: Yeah, for example, the soil for me, it's like we don't know if the soil is the soil from here or from there… there’s something a bit ambiguous about it. oualie: Unknowable? Poline:&nbsp; Yeah, but it's soil anyway. Clare: Like the body. Poline: Yes! So the idea was not to do something too literal or narrative because their stories are there already, and speak for themselves. It was more about experiencing something visceral. oualie: Especially considering the experience of pain throughout the tattoo process? Poline: It was about reintegrating our bodies, but also suffering as a result of it. The balance of that. <img width="3968" height="2976" width_o="3968" height_o="2976" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/563da430f8af57cac9a05f21584b09227ad50a2eff4554d44b7eb95299c4eacd/hands-poline.jpg" data-mid="165864272" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/563da430f8af57cac9a05f21584b09227ad50a2eff4554d44b7eb95299c4eacd/hands-poline.jpg" /> <img width="3968" height="2976" width_o="3968" height_o="2976" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/eaaa0f6a2324bd508f1d19d36cc6892437b6dd7b3b368574f6227419ef3baaaf/IMG_20221105_095422_072.jpg" data-mid="165864286" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/eaaa0f6a2324bd508f1d19d36cc6892437b6dd7b3b368574f6227419ef3baaaf/IMG_20221105_095422_072.jpg" /> Clare: Considering how involved you are in the process, you don’t actually display yourself the way that you display the subjects. Was that intentional? Poline: That was something that I questioned. I didn't know if I wanted to be included as a participant. Many of my own tattoos that I did are related to my immigration process. But at some point, I felt that documenting myself as a subject was not really balanced because I think I am in every part of the project. I felt that it was more intimate to show my process. In documentation with people, we have to never forget that there’s always someone who is portraying them; it’s not the truth, it's just&nbsp; my vision. So I wanted to let them shine with their stories, because they were very strong by themselves, and I didn't want to put myself into that. But I'm still in the project through the process of creation. oualie: I’m curious about your decision to not show the final tattoo results and more just to allude to them. You document the eyes of your subjects as you tattoo them, but we never see the actual result. Is there a reason why you chose not to include photographs of the final tattoos? Poline:&nbsp; Yeah. The first thing is, as you mentioned, I wanted to focus on the experience they felt in their body and not the result of the experience. So that was the first point. And the second one is—actually, you can more or less, see the tattoos on the skin map that I drafted. Yet, you can't really see them because they printed ‘red, large, loud’. And the focus on the eyes—I think during a tattoo session, the most expressive part of the body is the eyes. It's not the bloody skin, because we all have the same blood. We all have different expressions during the tattoo. Some of them are laughing, others like, “Oh, my God, I'm gonna die.” Or they're otherwise just very stoic. Clare: And past this project, you still tattoo right? Has that process changed for you? Poline: I do still, but not in the same way. It's very demanding, I just couldn't. Many of my clients are still immigrants, and many of the tattoo topics are related to what I do because I guess my work is very related to this work in general. Just never in the same conditions. It seems that Harbali has managed to successfully do what her project set out to do, even beyond the reaches of her process. Through it, she found that others were able to relate it to a sense of community and footing during a time of isolation, and a way to support herself. Just as tattoos slowly settle in with the ink, slightly blurring and changing with age and healing, so do her participants as well as herself. These stories solidified by history and action&nbsp; are not stagnant, but ever-shifting along with the bodies that carry them. To find Poline Harbali’s work: Instagram: @poline_harboli Website: https://cargocollective.com/harbali All images included courtesy of the artist. https://yiaramagazine.com/Taking-the-Spotlight-A-Conversation-with-Journalist-Wendy-Lu-Meera Tue, 22 Mar 2022 00:58:15 +0000 Yiara Magazine https://yiaramagazine.com/Taking-the-Spotlight-A-Conversation-with-Journalist-Wendy-Lu-Meera Taking the Spotlight: A Conversation with Journalist Wendy Lu – Meera Raman FEBRUARY 1, 2021 <img width="768" height="770" width_o="768" height_o="770" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/72f77d12e96a8724dead10d2e6923518373bda3e0aeaa00552584da32a209f9c/profilepic.png" data-mid="137127344" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/768/i/72f77d12e96a8724dead10d2e6923518373bda3e0aeaa00552584da32a209f9c/profilepic.png" /> <img width="768" height="960" width_o="768" height_o="960" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2b58d6518c016b5ea7c351f41a9c236cbffbbaa0e8d1ac6b249ebacd0850cf98/profilepic2.jpg" data-mid="137127375" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/768/i/2b58d6518c016b5ea7c351f41a9c236cbffbbaa0e8d1ac6b249ebacd0850cf98/profilepic2.jpg" /> Wendy Lu was destined to become a writer. “I have always wanted to be a journalist,” she said over Zoom, with a smile on her face. “I was on the newspaper back in high school and middle school and before that, when I was very little, I created my own neighbourhood newspaper. It was just something that I always wanted to do, mainly because I loved writing.” Lu seemingly paved her own way in becoming a writer. In a field that is dominated by white, able-bodied men, she is anything but. Lu’s writing has brought a voice and genuine representation to an often silenced community. Just years after her neighbourhood newspaper days, Lu—now a New York City-based editor and reporter at the Huffington Post—finds her realized dream at her fingertips. But how, in a working environment controlled by people so different from herself, did she manage to get to where she is? Lu attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to earn an undergraduate degree in journalism, and went on to get her master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University. It was in New York City that Lu discovered her beat. “I have become very passionate about writing on disability politics and culture because I am a disabled person,” Lu said. “It is something that is very important to me both personally and professionally.” Lu is an Asian-American writer with a tracheal tube. Her personal identity as a disabled woman of colour has motivated her to write stories that speak to and advocate for the communities that do not traditionally get the spotlight. After she graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, it was at Bustle, an online millennial news website, that Lu was asked to write a piece about her experience being disabled. “I realized those stories that I did about disability got the most traction and there was a lot of interest,” she said. “That showed me that there are a lot of people that felt like they could resonate with my story.” Lu saw this gap in reporting when it came to disability, especially disabled women of colour. This is where her passion and drive originated. “I have become very passionate about shining a light on stories and on communities that are typically either underreported or when they are in the media, inaccurately reported,” Lu explained. The New York City-based writer is no stranger to the lack of diversity in mainstream media, which is reflected in the newsroom. Lu emphasized the fact that journalists uphold values of being unbiased and objective, but this objectivity is skewed when what is considered the norm is based on white, cis, able-bodied men. “I want to be a part of changing that,” Lu said, “[by] showing that disabled people, especially disabled women of colour, should be a part of that norm. We have always been here, but I want to help normalize those stories.” Lu has brought this goal to the Huffington Post, where she has worked since October 2018. This year, she pitched the idea of the publication organizing its first ever Disability Pride package. “I pitched it and I didn’t know if it was going to happen for a long time. I kept following up and finally they approved it, so I started getting right to work,” she said. The writer told me that the theme of the package was about the disability rights movement as it is today. While the movement has been active for decades, there were so many factors about 2020 that emphasized a focus on disability rights. For example, throughout the coronavirus pandemic, there has been a gap in stories about how people with disabilities are disproportionately affected by and at risk of dying from the virus. Additionally, there was the 2020 election. According to Lu, this election was a huge win in terms of progress for disability rights. “Disability was brought up on the debate stage and talked about as a real issue, a real community that matters to the public,” she said. The United States’ reckoning with racism and white supremacy has also involved disability rights. In a 2020 Time article, advocates for both racial justice and disability rights agreed that Black disabled Americans are especially at risk of police brutality. “So, there were all these things that culminated into the fact that we can’t afford to forgo disability any longer,” Lu said. “That was the approach we took to our package.” Included in the New York Times’ Disability Pride Package is a piece Lu wrote about how equity is actually lost when companies only hire people with disabilities. “This kind of turned this hiring strategy on its head,” Lu told me. “Oftentimes disabled people get pigeon-holed into those industries, such as tech or retail,” she explained. “It also gives companies a pat on the back for something that is supposed to be the norm—that people with disabilities are hired. This isn’t something that should be special. We deserve to be actors, politicians, and whatever career we want to [pursue].” I asked Lu what advice she had for journalists who want to cover topics such as disability politics and gender. “One thing that is really important to remember is that disability is not just a healthcare topic,” she said. Lu emphasized the fact that disabled people do not just exist within the medical sphere. Disability politics touch every facet of our lives, from education to politics to pop culture. “Every story has a disability angle,” Lu said. “There are so many ideas out there that it is endless. I think that is a big hurdle when you are in newsrooms.” The writer also stressed that when a journalist is interviewing someone, they should ask how their subject prefers to identify. “Make it easy for them,” Lu said. “‘How do you spell the name of your disability? Do you capitalize the ‘d’ in deaf or not?’ Don’t make assumptions. Even though I have a trach tube and I am disabled, I don’t know what it’s like to have every other disability.” Lu goes into every story knowing that she is there to learn and challenge her own preconceived notions. “It is my turn to listen to people share their stories because they are trusting me,” she said. It is because of journalists like Lu that people who are traditionally pushed to the margins are finally getting the spotlight. Lu’s destiny to become a writer stretches beyond words on a page. Her words are a rallying call for disability justice and activism that are heard by many across the world. Seeing the impact that just one person can make on a community, it is now up to the news industry to diversify the voices it chooses to amplify. Communities deserve to be accurately represented in the media, and that starts with publications hiring outside of the white, male, able-bodied norm. “We need more coverage of disability as a whole,” Lu shared as we ended the call. Follow Wendy Lu’s work on her social media accounts: Instagram: @wendyluwrites Twitter: @wendyluwrites https://yiaramagazine.com/On-Tattoos-and-Belonging-An-Interview-with-Anni-Rose Mon, 21 Mar 2022 21:18:07 +0000 Yiara Magazine https://yiaramagazine.com/On-Tattoos-and-Belonging-An-Interview-with-Anni-Rose On Tattoos and Belonging: An Interview with Anni Rose MARCH 20, 2020 <img width="832" height="1023" width_o="832" height_o="1023" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/01658f1cd05760bcfd424a9e1b5fec040bd2b8e764ce79afd0cc8fddce174f7b/img_0058-2-1.png" data-mid="137109152" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/832/i/01658f1cd05760bcfd424a9e1b5fec040bd2b8e764ce79afd0cc8fddce174f7b/img_0058-2-1.png" /> <img width="768" height="1394" width_o="768" height_o="1394" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/76ed2314ed9718d1343d8e9c2a52ce89611c9640c24e7958a3cdb7dd0fd73c42/img_0034-2-1.png" data-mid="137109150" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/768/i/76ed2314ed9718d1343d8e9c2a52ce89611c9640c24e7958a3cdb7dd0fd73c42/img_0034-2-1.png" /> <img width="768" height="1114" width_o="768" height_o="1114" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/501030a578826e56ab96430df728640dc64d51ae962fa4f94b3da2fa4e900060/img_0054-3-1.png" data-mid="137109151" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/768/i/501030a578826e56ab96430df728640dc64d51ae962fa4f94b3da2fa4e900060/img_0054-3-1.png" /> Drunken “stick and pokes” in my sister’s bedroom apartment. Insignificant abrasions in non-toxic ink.The smallest, most unobtrusive option chosen from the flash sheets at a fundraising event.A memorial for a lost pet. To honour an association of home. To cover scars. To feel something. To declare myself a bitch.Regaining lost territory. Reclaiming, covering, engraving.In the buzz and stab of tiny needles, singing lullabies to exiled skin. Swollen, bloody, inky, mine.Healing, scabbing, itching, mine.Decorated, cherished, chosen, mine.Piece by piece, belonging again to myself Text and self-portraits: Anni RoseTattoos: Gabe David and Emerson Roach of Outlaw Country Tattoo In an interview with Yiara Online, Concordia artist and Art Education student Anni Rose discusses their recent project, On Tattoos and Belonging. Coupling elegant self-portraiture and biting poetry, Rose reflects on the healing and empowering potential of self-representation. Rose explains that tattoo work, among other forms of art and creation, not only becomes a way of coming to terms with one’s identity, but also of building outwards to find meaningful community. Amelle Margaron: On Tattoos and Belonging is a multimedia project that features both poetry and photography. Can you explain the process behind your work? Anni Rose:&nbsp; A lot of my work centres around self-portraiture. The easiest place for me to start is [with] myself, and that’s the area of the world that I understand most intimately. I’ve obviously gotten these tattoos over many years, but I did this series of self-portraits shortly after I moved here. I just woke up in the morning, with this feeling — [I was] noticing for the first time in a while that I was very at home in my body. I wanted to capture that, to explore this feeling. I played around in my room, taking photos. They weren’t necessarily about the tattoos [at first], but I realized that [the tattoos] were an important element, so I wanted to highlight them. And that’s when the writing came into it. What inspires your tattoo choices? [It’s] a mix of things. Some of them have been ideas I’ve had, a particular flower or idea that I’ve really wanted. Some have been flash pieces. One of my favourite pieces was something that an artist (from whom I’d gotten tattoos before) had posted on his Instagram Story. It was a piece that he’d done seven years ago! I responded [to the post], and I was the one who got it. That felt really, really special. Is there a particular symbolism behind your tattoos? They represent my journey, different people, different places, and the “building up” of who I am. In your poetry, you evoke the pain of being tattooed. How is the physical aspect of getting inked relevant to your work and personhood? [The pain] is one of the reasons why I’m so connected to getting tattoos. It’s so cathartic. I’ve struggled a lot with depression in my life, and what I noticed was that physical pain became a way to deal with [my] emotional pain. This has manifested in self-harm, which felt very negative. But understanding that with tattoos the pain isn’t necessarily negative –– that there are positive ways of experiencing pain –– felt healing.&nbsp; It connected me to my body, and [to] the physical and emotional worlds that I was inhabiting. How does getting tattooed allow you to reaffirm your sense of self? It’s a triggering of the sympathetic nervous system, where you’re experiencing adrenaline [and] you’re experiencing a heightened awareness, which is just your body’s natural response to pain. As someone who dissociates a lot, it feels good to be present in the moment, and [to feel] something very physical that is uncomfortable, but not scary. It’s a way of experiencing that kind of fear or adrenaline in a safe place. Have your tattoos allowed you to build any meaningful connections?&nbsp; In Halifax, there’s a pretty big tattoo community. I worked at a busy cafe for a while, [where] I’d see people, and they’d ask who did my tattoos. And then they’d be like, “oh yeah, I have a tattoo by [that artist] as well!” There was definitely this form of connection and this sense of community. It’s not just the tattoos; it’s the people giving me the tattoos that are special. Art can be a way of defining yourself in a world that can feel depersonalizing or disempowering. Do you find that your work speaks to that structural immateriality? Yeah. Maybe indirectly or more subtly, but that is something that is often on my mind. I do think [about] the boundaries between one person and another person, and the physical body and the mental side of a person, however you want to conceptualize that. And I feel this world is becoming a place [where] more and more people are disconnected. That border between people and their surroundings, there are so many more layers being added to [it], and I think that art is a way to explore those boundaries. To push up against them, and see how sturdy they are. And [to see] how much I need to push before they break. I like to think of my tattoos as the layer between [myself] and the world. There is this boundary, but it’s very thin, and you can see a lot of me through it. Do you have any ideas for your next tattoo? I actually do have one scheduled! With an artist in Montreal with whom I’ve been obsessed for a long time. Hillary Jane is their name, and I’m getting a jellyfish tattoo sometime in March. It’s aesthetically pleasing, [but] I also grew up by the ocean. It’s very much a part of who I am, and it reminds me more than anything else of what it means to be home. It feels very symbolic to be getting a tattoo of Nova Scotia when I don’t live there anymore. You can find and follow Anni Rose’s work on their instagram account. An earlier version of this article incorrectly uses Rose’s pronouns. We apologize for this error and have since corrected our mistake. https://yiaramagazine.com/A-Conversation-with-Tattoo-Artist-Rosa-Laura-Meera-Raman Tue, 22 Mar 2022 00:53:12 +0000 Yiara Magazine https://yiaramagazine.com/A-Conversation-with-Tattoo-Artist-Rosa-Laura-Meera-Raman A Conversation with Tattoo Artist Rosa Laura – Meera Raman NOVEMBER 9, 2020 <img width="768" height="576" width_o="768" height_o="576" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fe026cbd86f9ac0742ada00c77f443b30d9a9d62de1416995f399ea0c7d1bd53/4-meera-article-1.png" data-mid="137127104" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/768/i/fe026cbd86f9ac0742ada00c77f443b30d9a9d62de1416995f399ea0c7d1bd53/4-meera-article-1.png" /> <img width="1024" height="768" width_o="1024" height_o="768" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/320b71c68c0177c37722c2aa30740ff05b42479b510a38c86e1b22f27c80b45e/meera-article-1-1.png" data-mid="137127122" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/320b71c68c0177c37722c2aa30740ff05b42479b510a38c86e1b22f27c80b45e/meera-article-1-1.png" /> <img width="1200" height="1600" width_o="1200" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bb52580f3534c1f8711a4b24fc9f3a745a6487ac9aea38abde0117d6e5cb20c3/2-meera-article-1-3.png" data-mid="137127126" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/bb52580f3534c1f8711a4b24fc9f3a745a6487ac9aea38abde0117d6e5cb20c3/2-meera-article-1-3.png" /> <img width="1200" height="1600" width_o="1200" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2b6e5f186c394c6e80a4c4da6a5da1fd6ea6d607075ae3b2a694cf53b656f28d/3-meera-article-1-1.png" data-mid="137127129" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2b6e5f186c394c6e80a4c4da6a5da1fd6ea6d607075ae3b2a694cf53b656f28d/3-meera-article-1-1.png" /> Content Note: The following article contains a narrative story discussing online violence against trans folks. “I lost complete control of the message I was trying to send.” 32-year-old, New York-based tattoo artist Rosa Laura posted a five-minute video on their Instagram page, not knowing it would garner worldwide attention and more than 2 million views. In our Zoom conversation, Rosa and I fight through lags and pauses so we can talk about their amazing story. Until they were 29, Rosa lived in São Paulo, Brazil. “I identify as a transmasculine, non-binary person,” Rosa tells me, with a cup of tea in their hand. Rosa shares they were connected to their sexuality in highschool. “First, I only connected to my sexuality. I had no reference of what being trans was. I didn’t know it was something I could be. I only understood that I was trans when I was 26. That is when I came out.” At age 29, Rosa started to travel for tattooing. They were eventually invited to work at Welcome Home in New York, and have been there for over a year. When I asked Rosa about their tattooing style, they said they “only do abstract tattoos, nothing that really resembles reality.” Rosa’s designs are formed through lines and curves that accentuate the body. “When I am tattooing someone, I look at how their body is present and what it is doing — how do I make it flattering for how the body moves or how it is shaped? If you have a curve here, or your shoulder moves a certain way, I want my design to accentuate that.” Rosa’s designs adapt to each body, “because everyone has their own shape.” “I am inspired by my studies in architecture and big art movements in Brazil that are connected to abstract design. I like to use Xerox machines to distort my designs. I love using a mix of media, so I either draw, use the machine, or use my computer.” Along with working at Welcome Home, Rosa advocates for trans rights in Brazil on their Instagram page. “I think gender can express a vision of the world. If we start to look at the structures by which society is organized – structurally, politically, economically – we can see it is binary,” Rosa tells me. After leaving Brazil, on their travels, Rosa noticed how gender neutral language is used in other parts of the world frequently. Rosa wanted to learn more about how to apply gender neutral phrases to their native language, Portuguese — an inherently gendered language. “Over quarantine, I started researching more about the Portuguese gender neutral language and then used my social media to post videos about it.” Rosa posted a video on their Instagram, sharing the work they had done. “The video was about how we can increase our vocabulary, adding words non-binary people would like you to use to express themselves in Portuguese.” For the first couple of days after, they were really excited and hopeful. Then, Rosa’s mood changed. “I started getting messages from friends and people I didn’t know telling me the video went viral on Twitter.” Alt-right Brazilian Twitter had become aware of the video and posted a 10-second clip from their five-minute video. “When I first saw it on Twitter, it had 400,000 views. By the end of the same day, it had 2 million views. When I saw the comments, they were very violent and brutal.” Once right-wing Twitter-users had taken Rosa’s face and voice out of context, it was all downhill from there. “It lost all control — for real. I lost complete control of the message I was trying to send. It was not only people on the internet, but people related to politics who were using my video.” Rosa tells me politicians who were hoping to be elected in Brazil used the video as ammunition for their alt-right campaigns. The parties condemned the video, stating Brazilians need to uphold traditional ways of life. “I got death threats. My loved ones were threatened. It is very scary — my face is everywhere and I am very recognizable.” If hope could be found anywhere in this situation, it was through community. “Although I got so much hate, on the other hand, the support I got from the community was incredible. I got so many messages of support from non-binary people saying they wanted to use the language.” Rosa’s love of tattooing is a form of solace for them in times of utter chaos. “Tattoos can do so much to create a welcoming space and a space of healing,” Rosa tells me. “Tattooing connected me to the trans community. It brings me joy to be able to connect with other trans folks. Whenever you lay on the bed to get tattooed, you’re probably gonna talk. It is a very delicate moment. I learn a lot from them.” Rosa continues to talk about the importance of tattoos to trans folks. “I tattoo mostly trans people and people within the flag (LGBTQ+). Tattoos are very important to trans people to reconnect with their own body, to recreate a relationship with parts of their body. Tattoos have a power to give people a lot of confidence – it’s a way of bringing memories with you and regaining power of your body. Tattoos can reveal who you are and can be helpful in processing trauma.” With Rosa’s strong community in Brazil, New York, and now all over the world, they know they have people behind them even when they receive hate. Rosa’s tattoo practice is a form of art activism – making designs that shape each person’s individual body is an active practice of rejecting oppressive, binary systems. Their work centres around the LGBTQ+ community, love, and unwavering support of every individual and their body. Rosa leaves our call saying, “I won’t stop working to make us more visible…because I have felt what it is like to be silenced.” You can find Rosa’s work on their Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosalaura_/?hl=en. https://yiaramagazine.com/Laurence-Philomene-on-the-Beauty-of-Everyday-Trans-Existence-Sarah Tue, 22 Mar 2022 00:46:14 +0000 Yiara Magazine https://yiaramagazine.com/Laurence-Philomene-on-the-Beauty-of-Everyday-Trans-Existence-Sarah Laurence Philomène on the Beauty of Everyday Trans Existence – Sarah Hollyer-Carney DECEMBER 3, 2019 <img width="768" height="512" width_o="768" height_o="512" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9ce42047f76f036b23b632cb5820bbb00fec0246ed5ab9053e57d1befb9c874a/paint-me-like-one-of-your-pre-raphaelite-boy-girls-february-2019-puberty.png" data-mid="137126530" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/768/i/9ce42047f76f036b23b632cb5820bbb00fec0246ed5ab9053e57d1befb9c874a/paint-me-like-one-of-your-pre-raphaelite-boy-girls-february-2019-puberty.png" /> Montreal-based photographer, director, and curator Laurence Philomène creates a warm and colourful world in their work. Their photographic practice serves as a vivid and beautiful visual archive of trans people’s lives, bodies, and self-expressions. They explore non-binary identities in particular, and portray the joy and humanity in trans people’s lives that are so rarely depicted in popular media. Through their intimate self-portraits and striking depictions of friends, Philomène shows the vibrancy and diversity of trans experience, pushing back against a narrow and homogenous landscape of mainstream trans representation. Philomène’s work draws upon the aesthetics and emotional tenor of the late 2000s and early 2010s Tumblr art community, where they created works alongside a new generation of queer and feminist artists. Their distinctive style features vivid pastel colours, minimalist compositions and warm intimacy, and highlights the beauty and humanity in a diverse range of genders and self-expressions. In addition to their artistic practice, Philomène offers photoshoots for low-income trans people, extending access to self-representation to those who are often denied it. Their new series Puberty is an ongoing photographic project documenting the mundane, everyday activities that make up the lived experiences of transition and trans existence. It began in January 2019, and was originally meant to be completed over the course of a year –– Philomène now intends to extend it for another year, and eventually publish a curated photobook. The series documents the gradual process of physical change in hormone replacement therapy, practices of self care, and the kinds of minute details of transition and trans experience which are seldom represented. Philomène finds beauty in the ordinary by intimately depicting scenes of themselves taking a testosterone shot, eating food, lying in bed, or taking a bath. They humanize and demystify the experience of transition, and invite the viewer into an understanding of what trans lives look like outside of the spotlight. Philomène spoke to contributor Sarah Hollyer-Carney about authenticity, activism, and the process of documenting the everyday moments of trans experience. <img width="1600" height="1066" width_o="1600" height_o="1066" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dc97e704701140ecc31fe5a0c483ce446efe8a1c4c431437bed93e997992f679/talking-with-nina-in-bed--september-2019--puberty.jpg" data-mid="137126669" border="0" alt="Talking with Nina in Bed, September 2019 from Puberty, Laurence Philom&egrave;ne (2019)" data-caption="Talking with Nina in Bed, September 2019 from Puberty, Laurence Philomène (2019)" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/dc97e704701140ecc31fe5a0c483ce446efe8a1c4c431437bed93e997992f679/talking-with-nina-in-bed--september-2019--puberty.jpg" /> Sarah Hollyer-Carney (SHC): How did the project come about? Laurence Philomène (LP): I started taking testosterone in April 2018, and I’ve been a photographer for over 10 years now. A big part of my practice is self-portraiture, so when I started testosterone, I always had [this idea] in the back of my mind that it was something I wanted to document, but I wasn’t sure how. Then, around December 2018, I became really burned out, and I kind of forced myself to take a sabbatical. During that period, I realized I had basically forgotten how to take care of myself –– just basic things like taking a shower every day, making food for myself, stretching, journaling, and meditating.&nbsp; So, I was just trying to do all these things that are good for you. It took a few weeks to do that, and then I started to get bored. But I was also seeing a lot of beauty in this “living slow” thing I was going through. Around January 2019, I gave myself the challenge to take a photo every day, just to keep my artistic skills sharp, and it came naturally to me to photograph these acts of self-care every day because they felt meaningful to me. After a few weeks of doing these self-portraits, I realized this was also a really interesting way to document my transition that I hadn’t seen before. So the project combines this idea of looking at a state of burnout, at the practice of self-care, and also witnessing&nbsp; the everyday moments in a transition, and humanizing the experience of being a trans person, and just being a human, really, in the 21st century.&nbsp; SHC: What is the significance of this kind of documentary, everyday approach? LP: A lot of photography projects that I see about trans people, and about transitioning specifically, only show one side of the experience, when you’re “done” transitioning. Which to me is a false concept, because no one is ever really done becoming themselves. A lot of my work around non-binary identities came about when there started to be an increase in trans representation in the media. Specifically, a lot of the representations I was seeing were very much based on a binary idea, where this person changed from one gender to another, with these big celebrities like Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne Cox on the cover of magazines, and associating transition with surgery and “passing” as a gender. All of these things are important and are a big part of trans identity, but they’re also not completely representative of myself and other trans people who don’t fit within the binary. My idea was to show that transition is not an overnight process — I can’t even see the change, I have to look back to begin to really see it. My initial idea was to do the project for a year, but now I’m applying for grants to continue for a second year. I feel like it’s a really interesting project, but I don’t think you really see that much change in a year. <img width="1200" height="800" width_o="1200" height_o="800" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bae3e3ebfa65b2fa5f10f16ac44c269895674b9f76bcf41f96093ce9380c5994/doing-my-shot-in-my-bedroom--june-2019--puberty.jpg" data-mid="137126739" border="0" alt="Doing my Shot in my Bedroom, June 2019 from Puberty, Laurence Philom&egrave;ne (2019)" data-caption="Doing my Shot in my Bedroom, June 2019 from Puberty, Laurence Philomène (2019)" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/bae3e3ebfa65b2fa5f10f16ac44c269895674b9f76bcf41f96093ce9380c5994/doing-my-shot-in-my-bedroom--june-2019--puberty.jpg" /> SHC: How do you see your work as speaking to other trans people? LP: I think the dialogue is happening very differently with trans people than it is with cis people. I think with other trans people, a lot of the feedback I’ve been getting is “oh, I relate to this,” especially with the photo of me doing my testosterone shot on my bed. That was something that I really wanted to humanize, because I think a lot of people don’t really understand what goes on with that. [My mom] was like “I thought you had to do the shot every day!” (laughs). So that’s been interesting. But I think it hasn’t only been relatable for trans people, because I’m showing these very mundane moments that we all go through, like eating, taking a bath, scrolling through&nbsp; my phone. These things are relatable for cis people as well, which I wasn’t intending on, but I’m starting to realize as I’ve developed the project that that’s an important part of it for me. At the end of the day, we’re all human, and we all go through similar experiences, and we all grow in different ways. SHC: What would you say your relationship is with activism, and with the task of representing trans people externally to a cis public? LP: I think I’ve taken on the role of activist willingly, from a pretty early age. Before I was making queer art I was making feminist art, and it’s always been important to me to have some sort of message in my work. I also think that when a marginalized person does identity work, it is going to be an activist practice whether you want it to be or not, so you might as well just embrace it and use that. That’s where my work is at these days. It’s kind of twofold — with my art practice, I think it is activism to really humanize trans existence, and help people of all genders see the beauty in each other and in themselves. And then with my private practice, a lot of the work that I do is offering photo sessions to low-income trans folks and helping people feel beautiful. I guess that’s a different form of activism that I do. <img width="1200" height="800" width_o="1200" height_o="800" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9487c9f1dffe059db2a79e4c900395fbc334c390059ae4f102b0d8a8e99503b4/playing-dress-up-in-billy-s-room--march-2019--puberty.jpg" data-mid="137126936" border="0" alt="Playing Dress-Up in Billy&rsquo;s Room, March 2019 from Puberty, Laurence Philom&egrave;ne (2019)" data-caption="Playing Dress-Up in Billy’s Room, March 2019 from Puberty, Laurence Philomène (2019)" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9487c9f1dffe059db2a79e4c900395fbc334c390059ae4f102b0d8a8e99503b4/playing-dress-up-in-billy-s-room--march-2019--puberty.jpg" /> SHC: How do you deal with the question of what authentic representation looks like? I know that a lot of your work is highly staged. How do you perceive&nbsp; the relationship between staging and authenticity? LP: I think that’s kind of the Big Question of my life (laughs). The thing with photography is that it really plays with that line of real and not real, and that’s something that I like to explore in different ways. With this project, specifically, I’m trying to use as little staging as I can. Obviously, when you know you’re being photographed, it becomes a staged moment. But it depends, too. There are multiple kinds of images in the project, and some are more obviously staged than others, like the reclining nude or a studio portrait. But the ones that are daily scenes, I do really just go about my day, and as I’m doing something, I think: “ok, this is the moment I want to document today,” and set up the tripod. I’ll click the remote a bunch of times until I kind of forget it’s there, and I’ll try to just recreate the exact pose that I was doing before I started taking pictures. So it is staged — it’s a staged reconstruction of a reality that happened two seconds ago, but I think it’s as un-staged as a self-portrait can be.&nbsp; SHC: How has the project evolved over time? Where do you want to go with it in the next year? LP: When I first started, it was just experimental, and kind of steering away from a lot of the work that I’d been doing, which was very studio-based, portrait based, and a lot more minimalist. So with this [project], I was playing with the different territory of just photographing a space, or myself, or whatever, really “as it is”— with a lot more elements, and with less control over the colours because you have to work with what’s already there. At first I was just playing with it, doing it for myself and posting it on my personal instagram — my finsta (laughs). I was posting every day. I started getting positive feedback from friends who were looking at it. This was just a fun exercise, but people were interested. So I posted these photos on my public instagram, to see what the response would be there, and it was really positive. That’s how I started to think: this can have an impact, people are really reacting strongly to it. So from there on it became more intentional, and then I think throughout this year, I’ve been looking at the different themes that come up naturally through it and repeating them, and just witnessing that repetition. I’m not sure [about next year]. I just started thinking about it. It was going to be a year-long project, but now I feel like it needs to be longer, and a bigger slice of time in my transition. I think I want to keep looking at the element of repetition. Originally I was going to post every single image, but in the end I wanted it to be a more curated body of work, a selection from all the images. I’ve also been enjoying showing it both ways: as a small curated collection, which I’m hoping I’ll publish in book-form when the project is done. Then when I exhibit it, I do a slideshow with every single image in chronological order. Something I’m trying to incorporate more into the project now is not only doing pictures of myself. Some days it’ll be a still-life, some days it’ll be a picture of what I see from my window, things like that. I think that helps, to see the passage of time, like the seasons changing. That’s something I want to incorporate in it as well: that it’s not just me that’s changing, that everything is always in flux. <img width="1600" height="1066" width_o="1600" height_o="1066" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ff52c3f4d7c1073b610767dbe4506ccd2eaac2839fdeacb6ff39d870bb25afbc/brushing-my-teeth-with-nina-before-bed--september-2019--puberty.jpg" data-mid="137126974" border="0" alt="Brushing my Teeth with Nina before Bed, September 2019 from Puberty, Laurence Philom&egrave;ne (2019)" data-caption="Brushing my Teeth with Nina before Bed, September 2019 from Puberty, Laurence Philomène (2019)" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ff52c3f4d7c1073b610767dbe4506ccd2eaac2839fdeacb6ff39d870bb25afbc/brushing-my-teeth-with-nina-before-bed--september-2019--puberty.jpg" /> SHC: Were there any specific influences you were drawing on in this project? LP: I grew up in my early teens using the website Flickr, around 2007, 2008 to 2010. When I was on Flickr, I felt like there was a community of other young photographers who were doing similar work, using photography as a tool for self-exploration. A lot of self-portraits, pictures of your friends, and there was a big trend of doing what we would call a 365, which was one picture every day for a year. It was really common, and you would try it and you would just give up after a week because it was too hard. So my idea was to bring that concept back, but instead of putting pressure on myself to make a great piece of art every day, because you can’t do that, I’d just photograph and not put pressure on myself for it to be a masterpiece. Just photographing whatever was there, and seeing the beauty in that. SHC: Did it have anything to do with social media, and the way we document our lives? LP: Yes, definitely. A big part of it for me was this idea that I’m a content creator, and I have to constantly churn out content. At the very beginning it wasn’t about my transition, it was saying: I’m going to give you content, but it’s going to be really mundane shit. It’s going to be brushing my teeth, and eating ramen, and literally just what we’re actually doing, instead of showing off a picture of us on the beach. So that was a part of it at first, was playing with this idea of constant content creation, and what social media is doing to art. And I feel like I was doing it as kind of a joke at first, but then people really liked it. SHC: I also wanted to ask you about your other new series, Huldufolk. I think it’s similar to Puberty in that they’re both about naturalizing transness in different ways. Do you see those as related processes? LP: Definitely. A friend of mine moved to Iceland for this residency, and I thought it was an amazing opportunity. I knew I wanted to continue doing self-portraits while I was there, and she told me about this legend of the Huldufolk, which was about hidden people and elves that are invisible, that just exist in the landscape. And so from there, I kind of played with that idea of a trans body as something that is, at times, visible, but also invisible— no trans body looks the same, and there’s not one thing that a trans body looks like. A lot of the dialogue that was happening was about trans identity as created and fake, and all of this stuff, and I wanted to push back on that and say: no, this is a natural body, coexisting with nature. I feel like I haven’t seen a lot of pictures of things like that. <img width="1600" height="1066" width_o="1600" height_o="1066" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a6e4312349230197afa3badbdd665522e1bc18928720a6d8ef687f9afca4b4ca/self-portrait-in-lava-field--huldufolk--iceland--2019.jpg" data-mid="137126993" border="0" alt="Self-Portrait in Lava Field from Huldufolk, Laurence Philom&egrave;ne (2019)" data-caption="Self-Portrait in Lava Field from Huldufolk, Laurence Philomène (2019)" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a6e4312349230197afa3badbdd665522e1bc18928720a6d8ef687f9afca4b4ca/self-portrait-in-lava-field--huldufolk--iceland--2019.jpg" /> SHC: How do you feel about this question of the natural versus the artificial in how we understand the trans body? LP: I think it just goes to show that there’s not just one way to experience transness. For some people, it is about changing your body, and for others&nbsp; it’s about accepting it as it is. I feel like my work specifically has been about stripping away the artifice and saying that, at the end of the day, even if I’m not passing as either gender, I’m still just a human being. I experience all of these things just like everyone else. Puberty is currently on display alongside Huldufolk at La Cenne until January 24th. You can see both full series at laurencephilomene.com, and you can follow them on Instagram @laurencephilomene. Featured image is Paint Me Like One of Your Pre-Raphaelite Boy-Girls, February 2019 from Puberty, Laurence Philomène (2019) https://yiaramagazine.com/In-Conversation-with-Fashion-Business-Uncovered-Angelina-Mazza Tue, 22 Mar 2022 00:40:32 +0000 Yiara Magazine https://yiaramagazine.com/In-Conversation-with-Fashion-Business-Uncovered-Angelina-Mazza In Conversation with Fashion Business Uncovered – Angelina Mazza NOVEMBER 27, 2019 <img width="768" height="426" width_o="768" height_o="426" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/11b7246d9993fce2ee43c9ef85ea015b9c4fc8ce364db3b90b9906a5edf1198a/fbu-main-horizontal-banner.png" data-mid="137126189" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/768/i/11b7246d9993fce2ee43c9ef85ea015b9c4fc8ce364db3b90b9906a5edf1198a/fbu-main-horizontal-banner.png" /> Fashion Business Uncovered (FBU) will hold their seventh annual conference, which aims to educate students on the opportunities available in the fashion industry. Attendees learn about the professional roles and realities behind the glamour, and connect with their passionate peers. As a student-run conference, FBU also encourages students to attend a networking cocktail with the panelists, and to include their CV in a booklet provided to all speakers. While the conference has explored issues and trends related to business, branding, and marketing in previous editions, FBU has since evolved. This year, co-executive directors Rachael Atkinson and Laura Cohendet have chosen to spotlight the topic of sustainability in the fashion industry with the theme “Behind the Seams.” To find out more about why sustainable practices are crucial to the future of fashion, contributor Angelina Mazza spoke to Rachael and Laura about how FBU is making a difference, and why students should care. Angelina Mazza: What does the theme “Behind the Seams” mean to you? Rachael Atkinson: Laura and I have seen how terrible the fashion industry can be for the planet. We went into this year asking ourselves what we could do about it, and how we could create a theme from that. People think a lot about what they wear because it represents who they are in many ways. But most people don’t consider what they’re saying to the world when they put their outfit on in the morning –– there’s a lot more to it. Laura Cohendet: What’s “Behind the Seams” is the question of ethical production, and then there are also the people wearing the clothing, so the people who are “Behind the Seams” [in a literal sense]. FBU took a value chain approach this year, and we’re exploring how our day-to-day interactions with clothes can be more meaningful and ethical in general. RA: That value chain starts at the very beginning of product conception, and works all the way down to the end user, when we purchase something and wear it. And with sustainability, the value chain continues: What do you do when you don’t want to wear something anymore? Does it get thrown out? Does it get recycled? AM: How does FBU engage with those questions? RA: FBU holds four panels framed by keynotes, and each panel is a step in the chain, beginning with the artist.&nbsp; Fashion has historically been a powerful tool for marginalized communities; it’s a huge part of identity and culture. So, we’re talking to artists and asking them how they harness that power to allow those communities to speak for themselves, and to identify with one another. We want to know about the intent behind a piece. Who are the artists designing for? We then address the production challenges in the industry, with a focus on sustainability. There are problems with water use, dyes, and beyond that, there are human rights and transparency issues. On our third panel, we go further into retail and the consumer. We look at rental, consignment and thrifting –– it’s an exciting part of the industry that a lot of new ideas are coming from. And finally, we go all the way down the chain to the individual. I think a lot of people [of our generation] really want jobs that are meaningful. They want to make an impact, but they get into these huge firms –– at least, that’s the narrative in [the Faculty of Management] –– and then they don’t have a lot of say. So, how do they speak up? How do we pitch this as the right thing to do while considering profits? Our last panel of the day is really about making the business case for it, after having made the ethical case all day. AM: How do you select your speakers? RA: It starts with the overarching theme. We then figure out what the most important things to talk about are in that context, and we establish our panels and our subtopics. We consider where the industry is heading, what the biggest names are doing, and what’s going on right here in Montreal. Then, we have to think about how the speakers complement one another. If we put on a panel of three or four people, we want to make sure we’re getting a diverse perspective. We want people who can still answer the same question, even if it’s in different ways. We’ve had some returning speakers, which I always think is flattering –– to have people reach out to say: “I’d like to come back to FBU, I always plan this into my year!” There’s also a trade-off that comes with sustainability –– there’s being as profitable as possible, and there’s being as sustainable as possible. So, when we choose our speakers, the question we face is: do we get the big brand names, or do we talk about what really matters? LC: The big brands aren’t always the best brands. Everyone will know Zara or Forever 21, but our audience might not recognize the names of smaller companies that are doing sustainable things. We try to build that awareness, but in past editions of FBU, it was about getting all the big names to attend. That’s been tricky. RA: You want be at the far end of the spectrum asking the big questions, and calling out brands, but there’s a fine balance. You need to appeal to your audience because if we put on a conference that has these great big ideas, but no one shows up, then what impact do we have? You have to draw people in. So, we’re really asking ourselves how we can work with these big brands, and how we can convince them that [sustainable practices] are something worth working on. <img width="1600" height="1067" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8062f252cb0536d3fecc8bb38f77f3ea0e46a28040af2fad54321d863518ea2d/FBU-Executive-Team-2019.jpg" data-mid="137126213" border="0" alt="The 2019 FBU Team. Atkinson (left) and Laura Cohendet (right) pictured in front. " data-caption="The 2019 FBU Team. Atkinson (left) and Laura Cohendet (right) pictured in front. " src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8062f252cb0536d3fecc8bb38f77f3ea0e46a28040af2fad54321d863518ea2d/FBU-Executive-Team-2019.jpg" /> AM: How are you implementing sustainability into your practice and the event’s promotion? LC: We’ve received the Gold Sustainable Event certification from McGill’s Office of Sustainability, which means that the conference is accessible, and that it won’t be generating plastic waste. We’re also providing vegetarian food on reusable plates, and our goodie bags this year are reusable totes. In previous years, FBU had a water bottle budget, so that’s been completely cut –– the venue we’ve partnered with hasn’t used plastic water bottles in over a decade.&nbsp; RA: We try to be as sustainable as we can at every point, so we don’t have printed flyers; we’ve tried to push social media and word of mouth. We also table, so we’re in the [Bronfman] building almost every day. My friends know they can find me there, it’s where we go hang out! I think there’s a lot of power in speaking to people face-to-face. You can read our informational poster and get one thing, but then you talk to us, and there’s so much more behind it. There’s a huge benefit to that. We’ve also made a call to our attendees and our team not to buy something new for this event. The best thing you can do is to look in your closet –– I guarantee we all have something in there that we can wear. If not, call up your best friend! I’m sure she’d be happy to share something with you. The next thing you can do is buy your outfit second-hand, and wear something that might have been thrown out otherwise. And another great alternative is renting clothes. AM: Those are some great ideas. What are you planning on wearing to the conference? LC: I looked in my closet, and chose my trusty black turtleneck –– RA: We love a good turtleneck. The black turtleneck is an iconic piece. LC: I also went to the consignment store Ruse, which curates a collection of unique fashionable items –– they do the thrifting work for you.&nbsp; And I found a checkered dress to wear over my black turtleneck, which I’m going to have mended. That’s actually another idea for the list. RA: Okay, I’m going to say something shocking: we are less than a week away, and I still have no idea what I’m wearing. It’s been hectic! But I’ll be digging deep into my closet, and maybe heading to my favourite thrift stores. That’s a problem for Monday. AM: You have designer Izzy Camilleri coming in to talk about accessible clothing. That’s incredible! How do you think her work connects to “Behind the Seams”? RA: Izzy Camilleri is the coolest person! We had to have her. She’s designed for some huge names: David Bowie has worn her clothes, Meryl Streep wears one of her jackets in The Devil Wears Prada. And she created the brand IZ Adaptive, where she applies her talent in this really important way. When we talk about clothing being accessible, I think people often think about plus-sized clothing and size ranges, which is so important. But something that doesn’t get spoken about enough is people with disabilities and limited mobility. If you’re in a wheelchair, getting dressed and finding clothes can be a challenge. Izzy works with people who have these challenges, and creates things that make them feel empowered and excited to get dressed in the morning. Her line is size inclusive, and she has gender neutral pieces.&nbsp; She’s doing some really important things, I definitely look up to her. And sustainability isn’t just about the environment, it’s a very intersectional issue. So, even if we say “this is about sustainability,” [that word] needs to encompass a lot of different ideas and [accessibility] is one of them. AM: Most of your speakers this year are women. Was this a significant factor when you were planning the conference? RA: When we think of fashion, we often think of women. Our audience is largely women, but that being said, women in the fashion industry still aren’t equal. We think of the big names in fashion, and we think of Yves Saint Laurent. They’re men for the most part! So, there was a conscious effort from FBU [to have a majority of women on our panels]. It was important for us to have diversity. We want our attendees to see themselves in the people they look up to. Representation is so important, and it is key to say to our largely female audience: “look what you can do!” LC: FBU also has an all-women team this year. Rachael and I have a platform as co-executive directors, and it’s important for us to use it to uplift the women on our team by making sure their ideas are reflected in the conference. AM: On that note, how has the fact that business remains a male-dominated field affected your academic experience? LC: It’s something that slowly creeps up on you. Like, “Oh, I’m the only girl in this group project!” RA: I was initially going to go into engineering, but I visited McGill and I was one [of the only women] at the engineering presentation. I’m a very feminine person –– I have those interests that are often cast as contrite and less relevant, and in the end I kind of didn’t do it out of fear. And I’m glad I ended up where I am, but it sucks that it was a determining factor. That being said, I don’t feel like I’ve been severely held back. I am a privileged white woman, and I come from a middle-class family. I’ve been afforded many luxuries and privileges in my life. A lot of women at this point in their life haven’t had that, like people of colour and people with disabilities. So, it’s important to recognize your own privilege and to think about those people, and to try and highlight them. <img width="1600" height="1067" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/926ed525380b332efbfa54a8b9a6fec9266492b782d7b7dcf632d33a7246a37a/IMG_6161.jpg" data-mid="137126235" border="0" alt="Atkinson (right) and Cohendet pictured above." data-caption="Atkinson (right) and Cohendet pictured above." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/926ed525380b332efbfa54a8b9a6fec9266492b782d7b7dcf632d33a7246a37a/IMG_6161.jpg" /> AM: Where do you see room for improvement in Fashion Business Uncovered? RA: We’ve discussed maybe implementing a Director of Sustainability. Having someone on the team that’s really going to take charge of that component, so we can keep the sustainability narrative moving forward. LC: I’d also see FBU collaborating more with other universities because the conference still feels siloed within McGill’s Business Faculty. We’d love to connect with LaSalle College to work with the fashion school students. I think the dream for me would be to have one big fashion conference that brings together McGill, Concordia, HEC, UQAM and LaSalle College, so it wouldn’t only be the McGill community benefiting from FBU anymore. AM: Do you consider highlighting racial diversity a key objective for the future of FBU? RA: Absolutely. That was something I tried to do a bit of last year in the panels I worked on. And we looked at that again this year, and there are a lot of white women for sure. But there is some diversity –– we really wanted to do that. We’ve got Iman Nakhala coming in, and she wears a hijab, and she talks about how that is a challenge for her because she’s had people say that she’s “too cultural” to be in fashion, whatever that means! She’s been vocal about the challenges she has faced, so we really wanted to talk about that this year, and hear that perspective. I am a woman, but I’m a privileged woman. And we have this platform, which we want to lend [to marginalized voices]. I think it’s on us to find those [voices]. It’s important to highlight stories that are different from our own. We want to empower marginalized women, and I think going forward that’s definitely something that can be improved [at FBU] and spoken about even more. AM: What else can we do to further spotlight sustainability in the fashion industry? RA: You can lobby the government to do the work. Voting is so important! Write letters to politicians, to clothing companies. Post things to social media with hashtags when you’re upset! LC: There are also tools that consumers can use, like this app I downloaded called “Good On You,” which recommends ethical fashion brands. AM: What do you hope attendees will take away from the conference next week? RA: I think there’s an overarching idea whenever we talk about sustainability: it’s a lot of doom and gloom, it’s urgent and it’s scary. And yes, it is all of those things. But I think an essential narrative to have is that there are things we can do, and there are people who are doing important work. So, it’s about awareness and urgency, but also inspiration and optimism, and just a bit of hope. And the knowledge that you can go out there, and really change things. I think that’s an idea that we’re trying to get across. Fashion Business Uncovered will be held at Gallery Gora on November 29th. Doors open at 10:00, and the event ends at 6pm. The conference will be followed by a networking cocktail. Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite, or in McGill’s Bronfman Building (for students). For more information, please visit: https://www.fashionbusinessuncovered.ca/