what stories are pushed to the margins? what experiences are ignored or deemed unimportant? what perspectives are not given space?

who decides which stories will be recorded as history, which perspectives will be considered truth and which experiences will be discarded, overrided and marginalized?

please join us for an intimate evening of art and expression which seeks multiple perspectives and makes space for marginalized truths. we invite multiple imaginings of sexuality, queerness, disability, race, sex, gender, addiction, recovery, trauma, violence, resistance, spirituality, healing, community, family and beyond.

coming together to make space for multiple stories, experiences and perspectives.

from the margins, with love.

the host for the evening

jes sachse:

jes sachse is a toronto-based writer, journalist, artist and curator obsessed with disability culture & representations. known for the unapologetic and provocative nature of their work, wielded from a genderqueer, crip, & general badass identity. juxtaposing archetypes with self-representations, sarcasm and contradiction, the stories sachse creates pervade public and private spaces to present audiences with the invitation to look.

presenting on national & international stages, you can currently find them proliferating the youtubesphere with their recent TedxTalk, discussing digital media and disability. sachse's work has also been featured in publications such as The Toronto Tempest, Ryerson Free Press, Arthur Newspaper, The Toronto Star, Abilities Magazine, NOW Magazine, Xtra, Eye Weekly, and the 40th anniversary edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves.

spoken word by

Robyn, bio to come.

Izzy Mackenzie:

Izzy is a Youth Outreach Worker at the Griffin Centre and Project Coordinator of Compass an LGBTQ drop-in for youth labelled with intellectual disabilities. She is a queer disability activist, community arts facilitator, feminist writer, barf poet, performer and a proud member of R3: Roots Rhythms Resistance Artists' Collective. Some of Izzys recent works include Ravenous Cows and Cannibalizing Poesis spoken word performances that entangle barf poetry with tales of magik and the sacred. Currently, Izzy is co-authoring a forthcoming publication in Solitudes of the Workplace: Women and Universities Mcgill-Queens University Press 2014. To find out more please email Izzy at isabelmackenzielay@gmail.com or visit http://r3collective.wordpress.com/

readings by

Kayla Carter:

Kayla Carter is a writer, a storyteller, a poet, a lover, a daughter, an artist, a sister and a dancer. She is a Toronto born artist who is of Jamaican, Cuban, Maroon and Taino ancestry and believes that her existence is not accidental nor is it coincidental. Kayla believes that art is a healing, transformative and meditative process not only for those who are receiving it but also giving it. Her work focuses on regimes of trauma, healing, diaspora, affect, shame, institutions of and histories violence, queer theory, blackness ,transnational feminist thought and storytelling.

clementine morrigan:

clementine morrigan is a femme as fuck tomboy witch. her first book, rupture, was published in 2012. she produced a short film entitled resurrection in 2013. she writes a zine called seawitch and also works on other zine projects. she's a multidisciplinary artist and writer. more of her work can be found at http://clementinemorrigan.com/

geoff:

geoff is a rad mixed race queer anarchist that believes in creating communities of love and still dreams of smashing the state. he identifies as an addict in recovery. he wishes to politicize his experiences with substance use and sobriety while unravelling the limited representation of the addicted body. more of his work can be found at http://livingnotexisting.org

digital story videos by

Afi:

Creating safe spaces for the queer and trans community is an integral part of Afis life. They are a queer and gender queer, multi-disciplinary visual and performing artist and community worker who is committed to social justice. They are engaged in doing anti-violence work with youth and community organizing with many grassroots organizations such as the art collective R3. Afi donates a lot of their time and effort to many organizations facilitating workshops and organizing campaigns. Afi is most passionate about integrating the arts with their community work as the arts can be used to bring about healing in individuals and communities. In 2011 they started a crafting skill share for queer and trans people called Krafty Queers. They formed Krafty Queers because they realized that though there are many spaces and events throughout the queer and trans community centered around music and performance and fuelled by alcohol there was a need for sober inter-generational spaces where queer and trans people could connect and make art.

You can holler at Afi by emailing them at aficbrowne@gmail.com

Find out more about Krafty Queers by clicking https://www.facebook.com/groups/krafty/

Nicka Noble:

For four years, short but transformative, Nicka Noble lived in Washington, DC while attending Gallaudet University for the Deaf where she discovered her identity as a Culturally-Deaf Queer person. After experiencing so much audism during her pre-Gallaudet years, Nicka decided to return back to her roots to Ontario to fight the systems of oppression.

Rachele Clemente:

Rachele is a 26 year old story teller of mixed heritage from a small industrial town across the ocean. she is a woman of action and you can be sure that all her "art" and her words are backed ten fold with feet on the ground and fists flying. she is a woman of her word as a story teller and a rebel.

acoustic set by

RUSTY JEAN:

C.J Clark is a Canadian singer, songwriter, producer, rapper and experimental multi-instrumentalist who performs under the moniker Rusty Jean. Her introspective, reflective lyricism and songwriting often explores themes of trauma, survival, dreams and hope.

visual art by

Emily Glaas Art

Emily is a multidisciplinary self-taught visual artist who shows her inner self through her work, focusing on raw emotion and non-judgment of the inner mind, visions and feelings.

H. Jordyn Taylor:

Jordyn, having studied traditional drawing and painting techniques, uses her work to explore themes of body integrity and challenges societal notions of disability and autonomy.

magic by

quinto, bio to come

accessibility

trinity st. pauls has ramp access to a barrier-free entrance. there is an all gender accessible washroom. it is large enough to accommodate both manual and power wheelchairs and it equipped with grab bars.

the closest accessible subway station is spadina station spadina and bloor on the bloor-danforth line. from spadina station travel south to bloor and spadina. turn right on to bloor street and travel two blocks west to walmer street. trinity st. paul is on the south side of bloor at walmer street.

asl interpreters have been booked from 6-10pm. interpreters will be interpreting during the show and will also be available to interpret during socializing. all digital stories will be captioned.

the event will be alcohol free. we ask people to respect that this is a drug and alcohol free event but no one will turned away if they have been using/drinking prior to the event.

we ask that people do not wear scents to this event. however we cannot guarantee that everyone will refrain from wearing scents. there will be separate scent-free seating.

children are welcome at the event. however, we ask that care-givers practice their own discretion.

content warnings will be provided be provided before each piece.

admission is $5-10, pay what you can & no one turned away.

we gratefully acknowledge the assistance from:

Sba HuronSt

Opirg Toronto

Opirg York