COMPLETELY SOLD OUT. We regret to say that we can only admit people who have registered. Ticket holders, please bring your ticket, either in print or on your device, and arrive by 6:30pm to guarantee your seat. Doors open at 6:00pm. Note New Venue: Bissell Building, 140 St. George St.
Kent Monkman Film Night
Connor Pion and Lisa Boivin, speakers
The April edition of the LGBTQ Film Series is an homage to Cree artist, Kent Monkman's, Shame and Prejudice: a Story of Resilience exhibit, recently on show at the University of Toronto Art Gallery. What does the 150th anniversary of confederation mean to us respectively as Indigenous, settler, Two Spirit and LGBTQ peoples? Kent Monkman's work subverts conventional narratives to reveal a history of colonial exploitation and ongoing Indigenous resistence and resilience. He challenges us to critique the past and the present at the same time that he offers us the heart to carry on into the future.
Kent Monkman is a Canadian artist of Cree ancestry who works with a variety of mediums, including painting, film/video, performance, and installation. His award-winning short film and video works have been screened at various national and international festivals, including the 2007 and 2008 Berlinale, and the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.
kentmonkman.com.
Warning: the programme does contain images of violence.
Discussion
With Connor Pion and Lisa Boivin
ᑲᓇᕒ ᐲᐅᐣ bio
ᐚᒋᔦ ᑵ ᑲᓇᕒ ᓂᐣᑎᔑᓂᐦᑳᐢ᙮ ᑳᐏᐣ ᒪᐦᔑ ᓂᐣᑭᑫᓂᒫᐦᓰᐣ ᓂᐣᑑᑌᒼ᙮ ᓂᑕᐢᑭᓇᐣ ᓂᐣᑑᐣᒋ᙮ ᑫᐯᐠ ᐁᔑᓂᑳᑌᐠ ᓅᐣᑯᒼ᙮ ᓂᒫᒫ ᑲᔦ ᓃᐣ ᓂᐣᑖᐱᑕᐏᓯᒥᐣ᙮ ᓂᒫᒫ ᑫᐯᐠ ᐆᐣᒌ᙮ ᓂᐣᑌᑌ ᐆᑳᒪᑮᐣᐠ ᐆᐣᒌ᙮ ᒥᑭᓇᑰᑲᒥᐣᐠ ᓂᐣᑮᑭᐦᓄᐦᐊᒫᑯᓯᔭᐣ᙮ ᐸᐣᑮ ᓂᐣᑕᓂᔑᓂᓃᒧᐏᐣ᙮ ᐊᓬᐁᐠᐢ ᒥᑲᐄᔾ ᓂᐣᑭᐦᑭᓄᐦᐊᒫᑫᓂᓂ᙮ ᑭᐦᒋ ᒦᑫᐨ ᐊᓬᐁᐠᐢ ᑲᔦ ᑭᓇᓈᐦᑯᒥᑯᓈᐚ ᔔᒥᓯᓈᓇᐠ ᑲᔦ ᓅᐦᑯᒥᓯᓈᓇᐠ᙮
ᑲᓇᕒ ᐲᐅᐣ connor pion identifies as ᐋᐱᑖᐏᓯ aabitaawizi, ᐋᐱᑖᓭ aabitoose/ᑮᐋᐣᒋᓈᑯᐑᐦᐃᑎᓱ kii-aandjinaagowiihidizo/ᐑᐣ wiin (mixed, in-between/trans/ gender-neutral), and as a non-status mixed (Cree/Atikamekw/métis/european) member of tkaronto’s urban Indigenous community. shout-out to alex mckay for being a badass language + culture teacher.
Lisa Boivin bio
Lisa Boivin is a member of the Deninu Kue First Nation in Northwest Territories. She is an interdisciplinary artist and a graduate student at the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute at University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine. Lisa uses image-based storytelling to bridge gaps between bioethics and aspects of Indigenous cultures and worldviews. Lisa strives to humanize clinical medicine as she situates her art in the continuum of passing knowledge through images.
Programme
Iskootāo. Kent Monkman and Gisèle Gordon. 2010, 05:41 minutes
In a live performance with sound and light, 650-tonne billion-year-old chunk of the Canadian shield is transformed into the pulsing heart of Mother Earth by Kent Monkman's infamous alter-ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle.
Casualties of Modernity. Kent Monkman. 2015, 14:20 minutes
Celebrity artist and humanitarian Miss Chief Eagle Testickle tours a hospital specializing in the treatment of conditions afflicting Modern and Contemporary Art. Led by the Doctor of Fine Arts, and closely supervised by the no-nonsense head Nurse , Miss Chief encounters romance, tragedy and triumph.
Shot on the grounds of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario, Group of Seven Inches subverts the subjectivity and authority of colonial art history and everything else it can get its hands on.
Move over J.Lo and Cher! Miss Chief Eagle Testickle has a new sexy video of her club track: Dance to Miss Chief - a playful critique of German fascination with North American “Indians” that is guaranteed to make you want to get up and shake your booty!
This film draws upon various Native prophecies to reflect on how technology, 'advancement', and disease have changed both the land and the lives of those who lived here. The dancer assumes different forms as he finds his way through memories and visions; some are apocalyptic and full of dread, while others, like the Ojibway prophecy of the Eighth Fire, are more hopeful and suggest a new beginning.
[Excerpted from Kentmonkman.com]
The LGBTQ Film Series
The LGBTQ Film Series is a monthly educational film series sponsored by the University of Toronto Libraries, the Sexual & Gender Diversity Office and a rotating group of student organizations and University Departments. The series showcases films within the University of Toronto Library collections focussing on the lives of LGBTQ people in Canada and internationally.
All Welcome
Single-user, All-Gender Washrooms Available
Accessible Venue. Contact jesse.carliner@utoronto.ca if you have questions about accessibility.
Contact Sara McDowell at s.mcdowell@utoronto.ca if you have questions about the event.
Resources
Kent Monkman
Shame and Prejudice: a Story of Resilience
Two Spirit / LGBTQ Indigenous Filmography
[Image courtesy of the artist]
