we only liberate ourselves

PUBLIC ART | TALK

October 4, 2019, 6 PM

Pansee Atta, Alexis Shotwell + Andi Vicente

Digital Arts Resource Centre (DARC) is pleased to have held a discussion and closing reception for Pansee Atta’s site-specific video projection we only liberate ourselves by binding our liberations to those of one another, visible at the base of the  Mill St. Brew Pub along the Ottawa River, and presented as part of Knot Projections 2019: Imagining Publics, a special public art project by  DARC, with support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The event was held at the  Mill St. Brew Pub.

 

Preceding a reception with drinks, we presented an on-site discussion taking the work as a point of departure to navigate the structures, commitments and affects of solidarity and inter-dependence that Atta’s work investigates and performs – modes of relation that are central mobilizers to collective action and social movements more broadly. The discussion began with a brief artist talk by Pansee Atta about her work, followed by presentations and comments around these themes and processes, viewed through contemporary and local concerns by Alexis Shotwell and Andi Vicente

The colourful sillouettes of Pansee Atta's site-specific work are projected onto the Mill St Brew Pub building.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Alexis Shotwell

Alexis Shotwell teaches and writes in Ottawa, on unceded Algonquin territory, where she’s a part of the Punch Up anarchist collective. She is the co-investigator for the AIDS Activist History Project (aidsactivisthistory.ca), and author of Knowing Otherwise: Race, Gender, and Implicit Understanding and Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times.

ANDI VICENTE

Adrienne (Andi) Vicente a queer filipinx second generation immigrant settler on Algonquin Territory. Her work revolves around community building, grassroots advocacy, decolonization, undoing border imperialism and creating safe and inclusive spaces. They are a full spectrum doula and have a decade of experience helping folks with precarious status navigate immigration systems. Andi is also on the board for Kind Space, Planned Parenthood and the Ottawa Birth and Wellness Centre.

PANSEE ATTA

Pansee Atta is an emerging Egyptian-Canadian artist and scholar whose practice considers themes of colonization, feminism, and Muslim representation, as well as the role of Canadian cultural institutions in legacies of epistemic violence. Her multimedia practice includes new media forms such as GIF animation, 3d-printed and laser cut sculpture, as well as installation, painting, and video work. Previous exhibitions have taken place at La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, the Art Gallery of Mississauga, Z Art Space in Montreal, MSVU Art Gallery and others.