Credit: Mark Vonesch
Farming meets justice and sustainability with conversation, performance, and artmaking
Surrey Art Gallery is pleased to announce the media arts symposium Roots of Resilience on Saturday, November 23 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Gallery.
Surrey, BC – Surrey Art Gallery is pleased to announce the media arts symposium Roots of Resilience on Saturday, November 23 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Gallery. This event will speak to the history of farmworker movements, working conditions of migrant workers, and sustainable practices in the face of climate change in the Lower Mainland from the 1970s to present. Admission is free.
The afternoon begins with presentations by University of the Fraser Valley’s Director of South Asian Studies Dr. Satwinder Bains and media artist Craig Berggold. Dr. Bains will share the importance of the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive and why it is crucial to collect and preserve these stories. In particular, Dr. Bains will speak to South Asian Canadian labour history and the struggles of labour activists and leaders in the 70s and 80s. Berggold worked as an artist-in-residence with the Canadian Farmworkers Union (CFU) and will share his photographs used to campaign against discriminatory health and safety laws excluding farmworkers. Berggold is the lead researcher at the CFU Project housed at Simon Fraser University.
Bringing together his passion for music and nature, local artist Tarun Nayar of Modern Biology will perform plant music using analog equipment and the natural vibrations of time and place through plant bioelectricity. Trained from childhood in Indian classical music, he uses the system of Indian raga to mold his musical choices for time of day and season. His performances are an effort to bring the listener into the present moment through vibration, space, and connection.
Rounding out the event will be a conversation and poetry performance by Mercedes Eng and Cecily Nicholson. Eng is the author of four books including the recent cop city swagger, a threat assessment of Vancouver's police, and Prison Industrial Complex Explodes, winner of the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize (2018). Nicholson, a past recipient of the Governor General’s Literary Award for poetry (2018), is the author of five books including Harrowings, a study in Black rurality stemming from her experience growing up on a farm. The authors will speak to their recent years volunteering with an agricultural social enterprise that employs survivors/victims, ex-offenders, and offenders in the Fraser Valley.
Throughout the day, participants can create flower eco prints with Justine Redila. Eco printing, also known as tatakizome, is an ancient Japanese technique involving transferring plant pigment to create intricate patterns on paper or fabric.
South Asian Studies Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley and Indian Summer Festival are the community partners for this event curated by Surrey Art Gallery Associate Curator Suvi Bains.
About SASI
The South Asian Studies Institute at University of the Fraser Valley fosters interdisciplinary scholarly research, studies, community, and public engagement on issues related to South Asia and the Canadian South Asian Diaspora.
About ISAS
Indian Summer Arts Society is a not-for-profit secular arts organization and registered charity. They present some of Vancouver’s most distinctive arts and culture events as part of the annual Indian Summer Festival, and ISF+ events are presented in collaboration with community and cultural partners. ISAS strives to be loving and fierce, with an audacious curatorial punch that dismantles walls, plays with ideas, and provokes necessary dialogue and debate. In doing this, ISAS believe in the transformative power of the arts and their ability to offer society’s most renewable resource: hope.
About Media Arts Symposium
Roots of Resilience is the 16th edition of Surrey Art Gallery’s annual media arts symposium. While the first decade of the symposium focused on sound art, aural experience, and audio cultures, recent symposia have examined international video poetry, dance, the Covid-19 pandemic, and new digital arts practices.
About Surrey Art Gallery
Founded in 1975, Surrey Art Gallery presents contemporary art by local, national, and international artists, including digital and audio art. Recognized for its award-winning programs, the Gallery engages children through to adults in ongoing conversations that affect our lives and provides opportunities to interact with artists and the artistic process. The Gallery is located at 13750 88 Avenue in Surrey on the unceded territories of the Salish Peoples, including the q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie), q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen), and Semiahma (Semiahmoo) nations. Surrey Art Gallery gratefully acknowledges operating funding from the City of Surrey, Province of BC through BC Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and the Surrey Art Gallery Association.