CULTURE Mayworks celebrates 25 years of arts for the people By Tashika Gomes
If you close your eyes tight enough, you can see the colours, you can hear the drums and you can feel the passion. Each artist performing at Mayworks acts as a beacon; voicing the struggles of the working class and artists alike. Equity-seeking groups such as First Nations people, queer-identified individuals, women and those people who are politically and socially engaged are given a platform for artistic expression which they might not otherwise obtain. Beyond the significance of the festival and its social justice mandate, this year Mayworks will be even more special. As Canada’s largest and oldest labour arts festival, Mayworks will turn 25 years old this May. Back in 1985 the Labour Arts Media Committee founded the festival to create a forum that would recognize workers as artists, and artists as workers. The group envisioned a festival that would provide a stage and an audience for various disadvantaged groups in the city. Since its founding, Mayworks has hosted celebrations in cities across Canada, in Edmonton, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Toronto. The organizers are conscious to host the festivities in locations across the city, thus making it more accessible to more of the public. They also ensure that event locations are wheelchair accessible. From art galleries to clubs, the festival offers nine days of spoken word, performance art, photography, workshops and family-friendly events. They pride themselves on having a large and diverse audience. “Last year we had many events where there was standing room only. (Our audiences are) from different communities… Quite an accomplishment,” said Mayworks publicist, Matthew Adams.
Although it has been difficult to get coverage from the mainstream media about the festival’s growing success, in the last ten years the festival has definitely become more popular outside of the labour movement. Many people who are not unionized or part of a labour council are presenting art and attending events. For many artists, the festival acts as a stepping stone to greater things. Some of Mayworks’ artist alumni had existed almost completely in obscurity before eventually gracing the covers of magazines. One such grassroots group who appeared on the cover of NOW Magazine was Pretty Porky and Pissed Off. They’re fat-activists who use theatre to challenge body image stereotypes. When it comes to the kinds of artists that Mayworks is prepared to spotlight in their events, the festival committee is dedicated to giving as many new artists as possible the type of exposure they deserve. As a testament to this policy, every year Mayworks’ line-up is unique. One of Mayworks’ most renowned artists at last year’s festival, Favianna Rodriguez said performing at Mayworks is, “a way to reach audiences that you may not reach otherwise.” She also said, “It’s great to collaborate with artists who have the same political inclinations.” “It was very powerful,” said Rodriguez, who is based in California. “It was a great experience for me to go to Toronto and interact with the community there…To see how Canadians…really saw the interception between art and labour,” she said. Despite the economic downturn, the festival has not floundered. The organizers say they are accustomed to running on a slim budget and they have been able to skim by during hard times. The festival committee has even decided to branch out beyond the month of May. They will be bringing arts to the labour movement all year round by providing cultural services to conventions and training schools. Adams is positive about in which direction the labour movement and the arts are growing together. He said, “More unions are embracing the use of the arts. They are beginning to see that the arts are not some add on or simply entertainment but are a way that they can explore their issues, get their messages across and celebrate their victories.” Although a full schedule is not set to be released until mid-March, the Ryerson Free Press was able to get a sneak peek at the line-up. The highly anticipated queer performance troupe Swell will be on stage on April 27. In addition, audiences should anticipate sold out shows for feminist powerhouse poet Ami Mattison, who is coming in from the U.S. The festival runs from April 24 to May 2, 2010. Visit www.mayworks.ca for more information. To volunteer for the for the Mayworks festival email admin@mayworks.ca. Submissions for the Bookends exhibition are open until February 12, 2010.
REVIEW: footnotes in gaza By Katia Dmitrieva
Footnotes in Gaza. Metropolitan. Written and illustrated by Joe Sacco. Hardcover. December ’09. Joe Sacco’s newly-released Footnotes in Gaza is no less ironic and blunt than his other graphic novels. His voice can be heard in the opening chapter, “A Glimmer of Hope.” Journalists at a party in Israel swap information on the latest violence as if they were discussing stock prices. Sacco intones that “they’ve photographed every wailing mother, quoted every lying spokesperson, detailed every humiliation-and for what?” The people in the region live in emotion-numbing reality. And Sacco doesn’t let us forget it for a minute. Later, in the chapter titled “Claustrophobia”, the stress incurred by Palestinians when crossing Abu Houli checkpoint is recounted in his ink drawings and suspenseful blurbs over six agonizing pages. The driver concentrates on the slightest sign from the Israeli soldiers manning the checkpoint. After all, Sacco injects, these gatekeepers have the power to close the road for hours, days, or indefinitely. Sacco’s destination was Khan Younis, site of the Israeli massacre of Palestinian civilians over fifty years ago. But along the way, he interviewed survivors, witnesses, and a memorable fedayee (guerilla fighter) who
insisted that Rafah city hid another key event. During his research, Sacco noticed that the massacres in Khan Younis and Rafah were barely documented. In fact, the 1956 Israeli military roundup and execution of Gazan civilians was summarized by a UN report in just a few sentences, a veritable footnote in time. Sacco highlights these crucial moments in the Palestinian narrative while reflecting on current hostilities between Hamas-controlled Gaza and the Israeli state which chokes it. A veteran conflict-zone journalist and cartoonist, he delves into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once more by relying on history as a guide and Gaza as his story-telling focus. Sacco has an uncanny ability to integrate himself into his surroundings, offering the reader an observant perspective on the conflict through his subjects’ eyes. As one of his interview subjects revealed, the massacre of men in Khan Younis left “a wound in [the] heart that can never heal.” Sacco illustrates with unflinching clarity how those wounds can fester with his detailed, frame-by-frame unraveling of Gaza’s tragic past and sombre present.
18 ryersonfreepress.ca MAYWORKS POSTER ARTWORK: Favianna Rodriguez