WEBVTT

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[Music]

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Q: So how did you turn art from

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a passion into a career?

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A: It was it was a long, long process. This

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will be

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at the end of the month, it will be 10

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years since I first began

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doing performances and it was a

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combination

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of formal education

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and becoming involved in the local arts

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community.

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Q: And is art something that's always kind

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of been a part of your life or

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like from a young age or is it something

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you kind of, I guess,

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came into? A: To some degree I think I

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was always

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interested in drawing and painting.

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You know like the kind of

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usual things but then I think I reached

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a point,  just out of

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high school. When I really had to

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think about

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what kinds of things I felt I was.

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Not just sort of skilled enough at, but

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also interested enough in. That I

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could really

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throw myself into and have enough

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time and interest to really try to do

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well.

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You know I went into my

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first degree, which was a diploma

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in fine arts at Langara College in

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Vancouver.

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Not really knowing anything, not having

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any skills, and so I specifically chose

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a program where they were. They would

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teach you skills, where they would teach

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you how to draw, or they would teach you

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how to paint.

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Q: Right kind of like direct, like what

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you're passionate about and you

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mentioned you were out in Vancouver.

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So what brought you

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to Toronto and got you involved in nui

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blanche and all of that?

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A: After I graduated with

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my Bachelor of fine arts from Emily Carr

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University,

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I decided that I wanted to stop doing

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school part time, and go full-time into a

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master's degree. So I applied to the

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Masters of Visual Studies here at the

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University of Toronto, St

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George. Q: Okay good. So how long

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have you been involved in

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Nui Blanche? A: Well you know I have

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been attending Nui Blanche as just a

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citizen

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for about six years even before I moved

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to Toronto.

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I remember coming in and visiting

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artist projects

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by people that I knew who I thought were

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amazing.

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But this is my first year where I'm

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participating

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as an artist. I think up until now I

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hadn't really found

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a context that I thought was, that would

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fit

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really well with my work but Agustin

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Perez Rubio's exhibition,

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North, South - the new coordinates for the

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Americas, sort of gave my work the

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perfect platform

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to sort of find itself in the city and

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in Nui Blanche.

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Q: So what, the exhibit in Nui blanche

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that you're doing.

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Part of it's on the refugee crisis. What

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has made you so

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passionate about that topic? A: Well

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the work that we're presenting which is

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a billboard on the corner of Jarvis and

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Gerrard called "refugees run the seas"

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is actually a work from 2014. You know

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which was before

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you know, the refugee crisis as we

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know it right now in Syria, had really

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hit the headlines

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and when I proposed the work about a

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year ago

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these things weren't really in the

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news. I think it's been a

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a kind of a strange and in some ways a

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very emotional coincidence that these

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issues have sort of

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come so much into the fore in the media

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as the project has been mounted. But you

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know

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in terms of my personal connection to

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issues of migration,

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I came to Canada as a refugee

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claimant with my family

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when i was a teenager and I sort of

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went from

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that to becoming a citizen and so

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I think one of the things that is in

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some ways

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always present in my work is this

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awareness, this consciousness, this

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thinking about

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what it means to come from abroad and

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and the ways in which we imagine

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migrants and trying to create

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alternative ways of

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of thinking about people who come

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from other places.

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Q: And also, in your art exhibit you make

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reference to the sea but you chose to

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frame that line with a photo of the sky.

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Why did you choose to do that? A: Partly

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because

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I didn't want the work to be too literal.

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I wanted it to be quite poetic

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partly because the

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in the context of the exhibition,

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you know, it's a lot about

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what would happen if things were

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flipped if things were switched,

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if north was south. You know if the land

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became the sea.

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You know if the sky became the

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thing that were underneath. So it was a

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poetic decision.

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Q: And I just have about 10 seconds left

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here but we just want to know what

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what does the future hold

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for you? Kind of what are your

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plans here? A: I teach both at the

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University of Toronto and OCAD

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University and I have another exhibition

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at Sur

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Gallery on Yonge and Queens Quay that

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will run until November 25th.

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Q: Okay amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you.

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[Music]