Dayna McLeod is a Montréal-based performance artist and video maker… and she’s very funny. Winner of many prizes and awards, her work speaks to the masses with rare and powerful humour rooted in visionary feminist politics. It’s very likely that you’ve seen Dayna, but didn’t even know it: she embodies her message everywhere and in every way–from her infamous Santa Beaver to her newer (picture on the right) Monarchy Mama–her art travels far and wide.
[Interview by Mél Hogan for ArtThreat]
AT: Hi Dayna.
So, it's all about tits lately, isn't it?
Dayna: Totally.
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Posted by Mél Hogan on September 19, 2007 in
Big Red & Shiny has an insightful review of Global Feminisms, a collection of present and future feminist artwork at the Brooklyn Museum. One concluding statement in particular is begging for discussion: "Feminist art today is not as radical, or harsh as it had been originally in the '70s; Global Feminisms shows that feminist art no longer requires spreading blood all over your body, burning bras, or imagery that looks suspiciously like female genitalia." As there is no place to comment on the article at BR&S, fee free to duke it out here.
Image: Ingrid Mwangi, Static Drift, 2001. Two chromogenic prints mounted on aluminum.
Posted by Rob Maguire on July 3, 2007 in
While a lot of art has been called pornography, is pornography necessarily art? Chanelle Gallant, manager of Toronto's Good For Her, who are organizing the Feminist Porn Awards thinks that “all cultural production is art”, regardless of whether that art is considered "good" or not.
Now in their second year, The Emmas (named for feminist godmother Emma Goldman), will be handing out more shiny glass butt plug trophies for films and videos in categories like Smutty School Teacher (for educational titles), Hottest Trans Sex Scene, Indie Porn Pioneer and Hottest Diverse Cast.
This celebration doesn't just recognize the good work being done by filmmakers and actors though - it's also continuing the discussion around pornography and women's role (or lack thereof) in the production of mainstream porn. The round table discussion this year includes Shine Louise Houston, director of The Crash Pad, SuperFreak and In Search of the Wild Kingdom (and the only queer woman of colour with a distribution deal as of yet), Anna Span, who has filmed more than 185 scenes in the U.K., Simone Valentino, actress extraordinaire in titles including AfroDite Superstar and The Bi Apple, and Peggy Comstock, who along with partner Tony Comstock produces raunchy documentaries with real-life couples.
While many more women and feminists are embracing pornography and erotic expression (with or without caveats) there is still plenty of debate surrounding issues of representation within dirty movies, with some question still to what an event like this hopes to achieve. All in all, Gallant says that the Feminist Porn Awards are set up with multiple goals in mind: “One, to celebrate feminist porn filmmakers who don't otherwise get much recognition for the fact that their work is feminist [...] and to let people know that they have choices when it comes to the porn that they watch. People think that what the mainstream porn industry offers is all that there is, but in fact there are a lot more options out there”. And with more events like the Feminist Porn Awards, more discussion, and more thoughtful, engaged, critical artists making hump films, the future for sexy and feminist porno looks pretty bright.
The Feminist Porn Awards will be doling out trophies, accolades, screenings and music Friday, June 1st at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. Tickets are $15 advance or $18 at the door, and can be purchased through Good For Her's website or at their store (175 Harbord Street).
Posted by Alison Lee on May 30, 2007 in
On Saturday April 21st at 7pm there will be the Montreal Launch for "Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith, & Sexuality" (in the York Amphitheatre (EV 1.615) at Concordia University, located at 1515 St. Catherine St. West). The launch will feature readings and discussion by contributors, Shadi Eskandani and Nuzhat Abbas, followed by a book signing.
Nuzhat Abbas is a writer based in Toronto, Canada . She was born in Zanzibar , educated in Karachi and immigrated to Canada in 1981. On receiving Canadian citizenship, she promptly left to work in Spain, Turkey , and the UK , and later studied for several years in the US. She returned to Toronto in 1999 and since then, she has published literary non-fiction, reviews and poetry in Fuse, THIS magazine, CV2, Herizons , the Globe and Mail as well as Znak (inPoland). At present she is working on a novel as well as a book of essays about Zanzibar. She has taught literature at Ryerson, OCAD and George Brown College and currently works as an educator and consultant on anti-oppression, human rights and equity issues.
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Posted by Mél Hogan on April 18, 2007 in
Lesbians on Ecstasy--a favorite Montréal-based band--is releasing "We Know You Know", out on Alien8 Records this April. Listen to CKUT's Dykes on Mykes next Monday for a preview of their songs, or listen to the April 9 show for an hour-long interview with the band! Podcasts of all shows are available
here.
This time around with We Know You Know, L.O.E. draw their inspiration from the vast catalogue of womyn’s music from the 1970’s, much of it released on Olivia Records and other small, independent, woman-run labels. These ladies took matters into their own hands and recorded and released the music they loved. L.O.E. think that’s cool so they ripped it all apart and put it back together on the dance floor.
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Posted by Mél Hogan on March 20, 2007 in
The deadline has passed for submissions to the Feminism(s) Symposium in film, video, performance and workshops, but it's not too late to attend. The conference takes place in West Hartford, CT, between April 20 and 22nd, and will have the following speakers (among others): Abigail Child, Dara Greenwald, Jeanine Oleson, Maureen Turim and Sasha Waters. Fore more details read on...
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Posted by Ezra Winton on March 16, 2007 in
It's Oscar season again, and on February 25, little man-statues will be given out to the beautiful and famous in Hollywood, and as the Guerrilla Girls remind us, the recipients will be mostly men. While this annual celebrity cluster bomb reveals the clinically vapid celebritrons, the endlessly pretentious red carpets, the perfectly sculpted franken-lips, breasts, eyelashes and everything else, a handful of talented, politically convicted auters will be inconspicuously milling about.
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Posted by Ezra Winton on February 16, 2007 in
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