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Join our panel discussion on the intersection of new media, health, and community, emphasizing community-led strategies for wellbeing and cultural access. Through critical discussions on digital harm reduction and cultural revitalization, guest panelists Amanda Amour-Lynx, Anélia Victor, Mel Compton, and Sapphire Woods will explore approaches to nurturing health and fostering resilient communities in new media spaces.

Amanda Amour-Lynx (they/she/nekm) is a Two Spirit, neurodivergent, mixed urban L’nu (Mi’kmaw) interdisciplinary artist and facilitator currently living in Guelph, Ontario. Lynx was born and grew up in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) and is a member of Wagmatcook FN. Their art making is a hybridity of traditional l’nuk approaches with new media and digital arts, guided by the Mi’kmaq principles netukulimk (sustainability) and etuaptmumk (two-eyed seeing). Lynx’s artistic practice discusses land and relationality, environmental issues, navigating systems and societal structures, cultural and gender identity, (L’nui’smk) language resurgence, quantum and spiritual multiplicities. Their facilitation work focuses on designing community spaces committed to creating healthy Indigenous futurities, guided by lateral love, accessibility and world-building.

Anélia Victor is a Toronto based mixed media textile artist. They revisit the methods and discourses from the past to better innovate a new trajectory for the future to give life through texture and feel, to give people a vision of the future. They rely on the act of re/membering; talking and feeling the body in the present about the past and the connections to self and others. Their work seeks to explore the depths of their own identity and culture to tell stories that have been tucked away and bring it into the light. Their founding themes are identity, herbalism and Africanfuturism with a focus on Black & Queer Histories, Caribbean history, textile sustainability and food cultivation.

Mel Compton is a multilateral urban L'nu/Scottish artist who uses lived experience, artwork and therapeutic skills to develop, facilitate and guide specialized youth programs. Mel's knowledge comes from lived experience and a vast amount of program/workshop development and facilitation that allows for skill development, positive Identity and engagement. Her work as a Peer Support worker, Frontline case manager, Anti-Human trafficking worker,Program/Curriculum Specialist and Program Manager has enhanced her ability to develop and provide programming that infuses Child and youth care perspective and Cultural perspective through the lens of Etuaptmumk (two-eyed seeing); a concept/teaching held by elder Albert Marshall.

Sapphire Woods (they/them) is a Black of Caribbean descent shapeshifter, storyteller, Virgo sun and Aquarius moon living in Tio’tia:tke (Montreal). Inspired by their grandmothers to bridge the gaps in accessing land-based knowledge and medicine, Sapphire’s ongoing work engages barriered Black and Brown communities through accessible education. IRL, Sapphire is involved in land-based arts and herbal medicine collectives in Montreal, enjoys reading, and taking naps.

About the Event

This event is presented jointly as part of two projects: Terra Firma and Conversas.

Terra Firma is a project co-led by InterAccess and Tangled Art + Disability, dedicated to strengthening the technologically mediated relationships between arts organizations and Black, Indigenous, and Disability Justice (BIDJ)-centred communities. It seeks to support, amplify, and learn from the stated communities’ techno-cultural knowledge stewardship, accessibility, and harm reduction models. It aims to apply such learnings by prototyping and implementing organizational tools in close consultation and collaboration with the stated communities, distributing resources and sharing knowledge throughout artistic, cultural, and technological ecosystems on Turtle Island and beyond.

Conversas: Who’s Missing In This Room? is a project by FEZIHAUS™. Supported by the Canada Council for the Arts’ Strategic Innovation Fund, this series of conversations aims to address pressing issues in the arts sector throughout 2024. Given current challenges, including scrutiny on DEI investments, understanding equity within the context of decolonization is crucial. However, defining equity beyond compliance measures remains a challenge. To address this, "Conversas: Who’s Missing In This Room?" delves deeper, unpacking the multifaceted nature of equity across artistic practices and organizational structures, fostering a more inclusive and equitable Canadian arts sector.

About the Presenting Partners

FEZIHAUS™, founded in 2020 by Samito, is a Montréal-based enterprise that utilizes music to bring creators together, focusing on exploration, fairness in ownership, and well-being. It's often described as a "label-inspired workroom" or "civic effort."

The creative workroom draws from various industries and fields of practice to bring its projects to fruition, counteracting the idea that Canadian artists of colour should be limited to certain genres, disciplines, and narratives.

With each project, FEZIHAUS™ continues to evolve, pushing the boundaries of what is possible through its pluridisciplinary approach, making it a unique player in the Montréal creative scene.

https://www.fezihaus.com

InterAccess is a gallery, educational facility, production studio, festival, and registered charity dedicated to new media and emerging practices in art and technology.

InterAccess’s mission is to expand the cultural significance of art and technology by fostering and supporting the full cycle of art and artistic practice through education, production, and exhibition.

https://interaccess.org

Tangled Art + Disability is a Canadian registered charity dedicated to connecting professional and emerging artists, the arts community, and a diverse public through creative passion and artistic excellence. Tangled’s mission is to support Disabled, d/Deaf, chronically ill, neurodiverse, k/crip, Mad, sick & spoonie artists; to cultivate Disability Arts in Canada; and to increase opportunities for everyone to participate in the arts.

https://tangledarts.org

Funding Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.