PillOry

Nicole Lynn Deschaine
Performing July 25th

“Hi I’m Nikki, this will be my first time doing performance art. I’m a Visual Artist, Trans Activist, and community member of the Glad Day Family and Church Street.”

Tess Martens
Performing July 26th

Martens completed her Masters of Fine Art at the University of Waterloo in 2018. She is also part of the programming committee for CAFKA (Contemporary Art Forum of Kitchener & Area) and has interviewed artists for arts and culture blog, www.culturefancier.com. She has participated in performance art residencies and performed internationally. In her art practice, personal experiences are re-contextualized through performances. These performances draw from memories that are simultaneously nostalgic, shameful and based in fear. There is an attempt to fight off shame and guilt associated with exposing oneself in her performances. Humour is often used to invite and engage the viewer.

Simla Civelek
Performing July 26th

“I don’t want realism, I want magic.” I came across this quote recently, once again, years after reading A Streetcar Named Desire for the first time. Things feel inherently different now. An outside world in turmoil and an inner world with angst, fear, and weariness. Blanche makes more sense, or rather, I understand her need. When I have the cynical question of “why make performance,” I also have the inclination to start from the present moment to find an answer, or rather, to look for an answer. As realism can never be a match for magic.

Racquel Rowe:

Is an interdisciplinary artist from the island of Barbados who currently resides in Canada. Rowe explores the relationship between the history of the marginalized black female body and bodily fluids as structures that are both othered, exotic, abject and vessels of pleasure at the same time. The work takes shape through performance, painting, and sculpture.
Racquel Rowe will be performing a work called Washing Rice, a durational work in which the artist attempts to individually wash the grains in a bag of rice, this arduous task usually results in failure with the artist either being too tired to complete the tasks or getting frustrated and quitting. This work deals with myth, folklore and Barbadian traditions that are still very prevalent today in and around black communities when it comes to food preparation and labour.

Website:
https://www.racquelrowe.ca