Friday, July 23 | 12—1:30 PM EST
Online via YouTube Live
FREE (no registration required)

In the wake of a pandemic that kept us reliant on virtual networks to foster intimacy, Vector Festival hosts community-engaged digital artists Danielle Braitwaithe-Shirley and Kim Ninkuru in conversation to explore the possibilities of “post-pandemic” togetherness. Through the lens of each artist’s practice, Braitwaithe-Shirley and Ninkuru will explore the potential for digital platforms to facilitate (and suppress) connection; virtual modalities of communal care; what it means to grieve in digital space alone, together; and the power of virtual archives as safe spaces and records of collective memory. This conversation will be moderated by artist, curator, and cultural worker Roya DelSol.

This event was presented as part of Vector Festival 2021. A recording of the event can be viewed here.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley is an artist who explores their experience and survival as a Black Trans person. They have presented video work at Tate, Barbican, Les Urbains, ICA and given talks about their work at The Photographers Gallery and Royal Academy School.

Kim Ninkuru is a multimedia artist from Bujumbura, in Burundi, currently residing in Toronto. She uses performance art, digital art, spoken word and movement to create pieces that give her the chance to explore and express rage, love, desire, beauty, or pain in relation to her own body and mind. Her work heavily questions our preconceived notions of gender and sexuality and is grounded in the firm belief that blackness is past, present and future at any given moment. She started creating performance pieces in 2014 and in late 2015, began to experiment with digital art. Since then, her work has been exhibited in art galleries around Toronto and she has performed on many stages in both Montreal and Toronto. She is dedicated to creating spaces where trans and gender non conforming people of color can thrive, and to the liberation of black women, especially black trans women, around the world.

Roya DelSol is Black media artist based in Toronto.  Working primarily as a lens-based artist, she aims for her work in all spheres to centre and uplift the experiences Black, queer, and marginalized peoples.  As a photographer, she has worked on projects for NXNE, Spotify, Adidas and Maggie's: Toronto Sex Workers Action Project; with work published in outlets such as FLARE, Lez Spread the Word, West End Phoenix and NOW! Toronto. Creating motion work ranging from experimental video art pieces to music videos, her video content has been featured in online outlets such as the Globe & Mail. She is currently in pre-production for her first VR project, which is scheduled for completion in late 2021.
 

ABOUT VECTOR FESTIVAL

Vector Festival is a participatory and community-oriented initiative dedicated to showcasing digital games and creative media practices. Presenting works across a dynamic range of exhibitions, screenings, performances, lectures, and workshops, Vector acts as a critical bridge between emergent digital platforms and new media art practice. The festival was founded in 2013 as the “Vector Game Art & New Media Festival” by an independent group of artists and curators: Skot Deeming, Clint Enns, kris kim, and Katie Micak, who were later joined by Diana Poulsen and Martin Zeilinger.