Building Armour: A Panel of Poets
A1014 (1:30-2:45PM)
This session will feature a panel of three women of colour on self-care. Along with an exploration of identifying creative needs, defining boundaries, holding space, and knowing when to let go, the facilitator and panel members will share poetry, followed by a short guided meditation. The panelists are: Channdika, a trained yogi, anti-violence counselor, singer and writer, as well as, poet, activist and healer, Jane Shi, and Amal Rana, the director and founder of Cambium Arts & Education. This session intends to discuss the ongoing process of creating an oxygen mask in the different spaces we encounter as creative BIPOC femmes, meaning understanding our own creative desires and fostering them with attentive care.
This conversation intends to discuss the ongoing process of creating an oxygen mask in the different spaces we encounter as creative BIPOC femmes. This means understanding our own creative desires and fostering them with attentive care.
ORGANIZER
Maneesa
Veeraveyil
Maneesa is a youth educator and interdisciplinary artist who enjoys creative expression and mindful experiences such as, hiking, painting, kneading dough, and lying on flat surfaces or critically consuming cultural commodities. She is currently finishing up a Communications and Sociology degree at Simon Fraser University in addition to a Social Justice Certificate. She has been volunteering for not for profits, facilitating speeches, workshops, fundraisers and events for over a decade.
GUESTS
Jane Shi
Jane Shi is a queer Chinese settler currently living and writing from the unceded, ancestral, and traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Hailing from the islands and mountains of 浙江 (Zhejiang), she was raised on yangmei, quail eggs, and salted water ducks. Jane is a poet, writer, editor, filmmaker, and community organizer whose work has appeared in Room Magazine, Poetry Is Dead, GUTS Canadian Feminist Magazine, LooseLeaf Magazine, The Bulletin, and others. She wants to live in a world where love is not a limited resource, land is not mined, hearts are not filched, and bodies are not violated.
ChaNndika
Channdika is a Tamil, Poet, Queen, Yogi and facilitator living on unceded Coast Salish Territories. Her ancestors hail from Tamil Nadu, her parents were born in what was known as Malaya during the British colonization of Southeast Asia. She was born in what became known as Singapore post-independence. She is grateful to live on the unceded and traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) Nations, located on the north-west coast of the Canadian Colonial Project (Canada). Channdika stands in solidarity with those seeking to decolonize themselves and their worlds. She believes in using her respective privileges to bring attention to the systemic oppressions that less privileged individuals and communities face on a daily basis.
Amal Rana
Amal Rana is a Pushcart Prize nominated poet and interdisciplinary storyteller living as a settler on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) territories. Their writing has appeared in multiple journals and anthologies, including: Room Magazine, Canadian Theatre Review, Arc Poetry Magazine, Adrienne: A Poetry Journal for Queer Women, Writing the Walls Down: A Convergence of LGBTQ Voices and more.
Through Cambium Arts and Education, Amal uses her expertise as an arts educator and inclusion consultant to support clients in the arts, and other sectors, in creating inclusive organizations that truly centre those on the margins and prioritize transformative change. Over the years, Amal has curated multiple arts showcases, workshops and other projects centering BIPOC, particularly queer and trans Muslim voices. She recently completed a year-long arts residency with Carnegie Community Centre in the DTES. Amal's work is informed by many years at the intersections of creative resistance and involvement in anti-imperialist, decolonial, anti-pinkwashing and other grassroots movements. Their art practice is centered on the foundational belief that together we can build the decolonial futures of our dreams. Find out more at cambiumarts.com
Don’t miss the 2020 Future Forum for creative BIWOC in Vancouver.