[Image descriptions. Photo above: Amal, a brown skinned person, looking at the camera with their head resting on their hand. Background image: a blue, white and red duppata billowing in the wind on a sandy beach]
I’m now in my second year of the three year arts residency for Changing the Conversation! Time goes by fast!
First a bit about the project:
This 3 year project examines how public spaces and public art can facilitate a healthier discourse about housing in the community that prioritizes the perspectives of those with lived and living experience of housing insecurity. Through arts-based engagement, the project aims to develop new narratives around housing and the importance of community coming together to support affordable housing for everyone.
Recap:
2023 was the first year of the residency. I worked with incredible Community Action Network (CAN) peer leaders from the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, all of whom have current experiences of housing insecurity. We met weekly in Moody Park for art creation sessions and then had our work displayed at the Anvil Centre. We also had an incredible panel on site and a reception.
Some of the art was exhibited next at Wildfires Bookshop, an incredible BIPOC owned community hub. We had another panel on racism, the arts and housing justice with CAN peer leaders and Chinatown Together organizers.
Exhibit at New West City Hall:
The full exhibit with new additions opens at City Hall on September 13, 2024! Below is the full didactic for the exhibit and artist bios.
Context:
The lives and stories behind the housing crisis are often obscured by sound bytes, sensationalist headlines and faceless statistics. For structural change to occur shifts must happen at a policy level, but what about the day to day realities of those on the frontlines of housing injustice? How do we connect with the nuanced stories of single mothers, racialized and disabled people, queer community members and many others?
This collection of analog and digital collage art, photographs and poetry broadsides features the work of Changing the Conversation Artist in Residence Amal Ishaque, Marpole Mutual Aid Network members as well as Community Action Network (CAN) peer leaders with current experiences of housing insecurity.
The exhibit offers an invitation to bear witness to these stories and reflect on how we might help to build a future where justice is not just an aspiration - it’s a fact.
Art Work:
Analog Collage Art. Artists: Monica Deng, Kelly Teal, Margaret Wanyoike, Richard Schabler, Tina Carl
This collection of analog collage pieces features the work of Community Action Network (CAN) peer leaders with current experiences of housing insecurity. The pieces were created over a series of weekly art creation sessions in Moody Park, facilitated by Changing the Conversation (CTC) Artist in Residence Amal Ishaque.
Poetry Broadsides. Artist: Amal Ishaque
These poems touch on the wide spectrum of experiences that come under the umbrella of housing injustice.
Poetry Broadsides. Artists: Monica Deng, Kelly Teal, Margaret Wanyoike, Tina Carl
Over the course of several creation sessions facilitated by CTC Artist in Residence Amal Ishaque, CAN leaders wrote poems in response to the prompt “Speak to me of freedom”. The prompt was inspired by a track by Legends & Lyrics called “Speak to me of justice” featured on an Indigenous Futurisms mixtape by RPM and kimiwan zine. The poems invite us to reflect on what freedom means to people facing housing injustice and other intersecting forms of oppression.
We Found Love In A Hopeless Place. Artist: Amal Ishaque
This series of digital collage portraits honours the beautiful sense of community and sisterhood that built between participants of weekly creation sessions in Moody Park.
The name is inspired by Rihanna’s song “We Found Love”. The CAN leaders featured in these portraits embody the transformative power of love and collective care in even the most challenging situations.
Trespassing Humanity: Series of Three Photos
In January 2024, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure evicted unhoused community members from an encampment in Marpole on land managed by the ministry. The piece of land was located on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories. Many of the residents had been told by City of Vancouver staff to relocate from the DTES to the Marpole encampment. Marpole Mutual Aid Network worked with Stop the Sweeps and encampment residents on eviction defense on site over several days. Provincial government agencies claimed that the residents were offered housing but it turned out in most cases that the support was only for a day or two in shelters where encampment residents felt they wouldn’t be safe. Others were not made any offers of housing, including seniors. Residents were evicted.
Artist Bios:
Amal Ishaque
Amal Ishaque is a Pushcart nominated poet, arts educator and interdisciplinary storyteller. Their writing has appeared in multiple journals and anthologies including: The World that Belongs to Us: An Anthology of Queer Poetry from South Asia, Writing the Walls Down: A Convergence of LGBTQ Voices, The Puritan – What Does It Mean to Be A Muslim Writer, Room Magazine, The Feminist Wire and more.
Amal has curated numerous arts showcases and facilitated hundreds of interdisciplinary workshops centering narratives that are often hidden or forgotten. In 2019, they completed a year-long arts residency with Carnegie Community Centre.
Amal’s past lived experiences of housing and food insecurity as a queer youth inspired them to co-found Marpole Mutual Aid Network at the beginning of the pandemic. In 2022, the network won an award of excellence from the City of Vancouver. Their art practice is informed by years of grassroots community organising and the foundational belief that together we can create the liberatory futures of our dreams.
Community Artist Bios:
Margaret Wanyoike is a Black single mother of three who immigrated from Kenya and is living in New West. She is a peer leader in the Community Action Network. She is involved in the community in many ways. Margaret works to combat anti-Black racism in schools, housing and daycare centres.
Monica Deng is 47 years old. She is a Black woman from South Sudan. Monica has two daughters and one granddaughter. She has lived in New West for 13 years. Monica has been working in her church for many years and is a peer leader with the Community Action Network.
Kelly Teal is a 48 year old queer disabled woman and long time New West resident. She works with children and is on disability benefits. Kelly is a peer leader with the Community Action Network.
Richard Schabler is a local community leader involved with the Community Action Network (CAN) which focuses on poverty reduction. He has been involved with many community organisations in New Westminster over the past two decades. Richard continues to champion the rights and voices of those who are often marginalised and overlooked.
Tina Carl is a native of Montreal. She has lived in New West for three decades. Being a peer leader in the Community Action Network has given her the opportunity to show compassion for those in need. She is tenacious in her commitment to raising awareness about healthy food, animal welfare and rental justice.
