Poetics of Arrival

5:00 pm - 6:30 pm | Panel

With speakers Anahí González, José Andrés Mora, Luísa Cruz, and Derek Sands.

Moderated by Francisco-Fernando Granados.

Arrival, a fracture between a here and a there, a then and a now. As the body is displaced, so are the stories it fosters, the values it embodies, the networks it can aspire to be a part of. In these processes of transformation, expectations and desires are re-calibrated through encounters with others, and languages become tools for the mediation of difference. Artist José Andrés Mora’s text-based practice, through which he seeks to build a sense of belonging and home, will enter into conversation with Anahí González’s photographic work, which delves into the representation of Mexican immigration and labour in North America. Filmmakers Luísa Cruz, from Brasília, and Derek Sands, from Walpole Island First Nation, will present their collaborative work which contemplates the possibilities of coding newcomer experiences through a lens of Indigenous land ethics.

The panel will be moderated by artist Francisco-Fernando Granados and will tackle notions of belonging, self-representation, opacity, and arrival. What are the implications of self-identifying or embracing the label of a diasporic artist? To what extent do our nationalities frame our practices within an interpretative lens, and how can we play around stereotypical representations of otherness? What forms of language (oral, written, corporeal, affective, visual) lay the ground for dialogues between newcomers and locals?

The conversation will run for approximately 60 minutes, followed by 30 minutes for Q&A.

This event is free and open to the public. Please register in advance.

About the speakers

Anahí González (she/her) is a Mexican artist based in London, ON. Her practice explores visual narratives about Mexican labour for/within Canada to decenter the United States narrative concerning Mexican migration. She is a Research Associate of The Creative Food Research Collaboratory, contributor editor of The Embassy Cultural House, and an Art and Visual Culture Ph.D. candidate at Western University. Her work has been included in exhibitions and screenings in Mexico, Canada, Norway, Spain, and France.

José Andrés Mora (he/him) is a Venezuelan-born artist living in Canada. Mora graduated from the Nova Scotia College of Arts and Design (2013, BFA in Interdisciplinary Arts) and the University of Guelph (2020, MFA in Studio Arts).

Mora’s work elicits a sense of disconnect deeply tied to his experience as a member of the Venezuelan diaspora. He has exhibited across Canada since 2013 in notable galleries and public programs such as Nuit Blanche (2014), Birch Contemporary (2019), Trinity Square Video (2020), Dalhousie Art Gallery (2020), Artspace Peterborough (2022), Art Metropole (2022), the Digital Arts Resource Centre (2022), and The Plumb Gallery (2022). Recently, Mora presented a solo exhibition show at Maison de la Culture (Montréal, 2023) and group projects at TAP Artspace (Montréal, 2023) and Latcham Arts Centre (Stouffville, 2023).

Luísa Cruz is a filmmaker and producer from Brasília, Brazil. Her films, informed by her lived experiences in South and North America, aim to be critical and poetical intersections on migration and settlement, nature and culture, and memory building, both in the documentary and experimental genres. She has a BFA in Film Production from York University and is an incoming MA student at TMU’s Communication and Culture program.

Derek Sands (Ojibway, Potawatomi, and Miami) is a Walpole Island First Nation member and an Indigenous filmmaker. His film journey started when he realized the teachings, language, and elders were disappearing and found purpose in documenting what remained. His first documentary film Ziidbaatogeng (2020), featured an Aamjiwnaang First Nation family teaching and sharing the Sugarbush traditions. The film also featured narration from the remaining fluent Ojibway speakers from Bkejwanong. His current project, All Sacred Things (2023), focuses on a group of indigenous college students and their journey of reconnecting to their culture, which inventible leads them to experience the once almost extinct Ojibway Spirit Horses. The short documentary has been nominated for the Art Film Spirit Award from Toronto Film Magazine and has been selected in three film festivals since its first screening on June 4, 2023. Derek was recently accepted into the Media and Design Innovation Ph.D. program at Toronto Metropolitan University, where he was one of six successful students. Derek has been in a mentorship program with legendary documentary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin. He has worked as director observer/BTS and director for the upcoming Crave original comedy series The Trades. You can find Derek on Instagram @indigital_films and his website: www.indigitalfilms.com

About the moderator

Francisco-Fernando Granados was born in Guatemala and lives in Toronto, Dish With One Spoon Territory. Since 2005, his practice has traced his movement from convention refugee to critical citizen, using abstraction performatively, site-specifically, and relationally to create projects that challenge the stability of practices of recognition. His work has developed from the intersection of visual arts training, working in performance through artist-run spaces, studies in queer and feminist theory, and early activism as a peer support worker with immigrant and refugee communities. This layering of experiences has trained his intuitions to seek site-responsive approaches, alternative forms of distribution, and the weaving of lyrical and critical propositions. His exhibition project ‘who claims abstraction?’ is currently on view at Simon Fraser University Galleries in Vancouver. An accompanying book created with SFU and Publication Studio Vancouver, titled ‘who claims abstraction (with a difference)?’ will be released in July 2023.

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of our funders, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Department of Canadian Heritage.

LAMAS has been generously supported by the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration Program (CERC Migration) and the WhereWeStand Project at Toronto Metropolitan University; the George Brown School of Media and Performing Arts; The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University; the Image Centre at Toronto Metropolitan University; Hemispheric Encounters; Sensorium: Centre for Digital Arts and Technology, School of the Arts, Media, Performance, and Design at York University; Performance Studies (Canada); OCAD University; Onsite Gallery; the University of Toronto Centre for Culture and Technology; the Latin American Studies Program at the University of Toronto; the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC) at York University; and Lokaal.