Biographical Statement
SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Centre) organized three artist-led community workshops throughout the spring of 2010 that examined the 2009 Tamil diaspora demonstrations in Toronto. Participants explored how these events relate to ideas of multiculturalism, transnational and diaspora political models, and other similar demonstrations in Canada and around the world. The workshops aimed to activate the voices that get lost in the dominant representations of the protests, and create a broader dialogue around the political and performative aspects of the protests. Facilitating artists considered photographic and documentary practices; public space, ownership, citizenship; the use of language by spectator and participant alike; sound and the body as a device of resistance. The roundtable discussion will involve SAVAC creative staff Haema Sivanesan and Koko Kurunathan and artist facilitators Gitanjali Lena (poetry/spoken word) and Nahed Mansour (performance art), as well as workshop participants who discuss the experience of and the outcomes from the artistic process.
