Mayworks Kjipuktuk-Halifax

TOIL HERE
2021-06-30 - 2021-07-24 | The Khyber Centre for the Arts, 1880 Hollis St, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3J 1W6, Canada
Works From Rural Mi’kma’ki

Presented in partnership with the Khyber Centre for the Arts

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TOIL HERE is a group exhibition and curatorial collaboration between the Mayworks Kjipuktuk/Halifax Festival and the Khyber Centre for the Arts. Featured in this exhibition are works by artists Alex Antle, Antoinette Karuna, Clara Gough, Curtis Botham, Heather Cromwell, Kim Cain, and Michelle Roy, as well as by Mi’kmaq water protectors Cathy Martin, Gnat Na’pi, and Darlene Gilbert. Using the languages of traditional domestic craft and fine art, the artists explore different facets of rural life, labour and justice, and together disrupt stereotypical notions of what rural “Maritime” art can be and speak to.
A video tour of TOIL HERE will be released at a later date as a complement to the exhibition. The video will contain captioned interviews with each of the artists.

VIDEO TOUR

Video by Keltic Kreative
Artist Interviews
Artist and water protectors discuss the art in TOIL HERE and water protection on Mi’kma’ki.

The Khyber Centre for the Arts · TOIL HERE: Works from rural Mi’kma’ki

ARTWORKS IN TOIL HERE
“Pulp Mill, Abercrombie” by Curtis Botham

TOIL HERE opens with original audio, also available as a transcription, from Catherine Anne Martin, Gnat Na’pi, and Thunderbird Swooping Down Woman (Darlene Gilbert). Upon entering and while viewing the exhibition, and online, visitors can hear or read as these Mi’kmaq water protectors each speak to labour and water protection on Mi’kma’ki.
Alex Antle’s Sple’tk is a watershed map of the Exploits River beaded onto a tan moose hide and hung from a scraped birch tree. The River is located in the central region of Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland) where Alex grew up. This work explores the importance of clean water and the many uses of the River. Both L’nu and settlers have utilized the water for labour and enjoyment.
Antoinette Karuna’s hooked rug wall hangings are part of an autobiographical series. Untitled 1 and Untitled 2 explore the spiritual aspects of erotic love, distanced from the male gaze and existing within the private sphere of the Treaty Relationship, as Karuna is settler and her partner is Mi’kmaq. Untitled 3 examines Karuna’s biracial identity, which is Sri Lankan Tamil (brown) and French Canadian (white), and how despite pressures from monoracial society to choose one racial identity over another, she experiences her biraciality as fluid and complex. Formally, her rugs draw on her background as a filmmaker, mixing the language of textiles with that of cinema––notably cinematographic and storytelling principles.
Detail of “Sple’tk” by Alex Antle
Clara Gough’s life sized figurative basket sculptures present different forms of labour: one a parent carrying a child and the other a depiction of the artist’s father carrying tools. Gough reinvents the traditional basket weaving techniques passed down in her community to depict iterations of labour and the community itself.
Curtis Botham’s Pulp Mill, Abercrombie is a black and white, photo-realistic charcoal drawing as part of his ‘Effluents’ series of drawings that depict worker’s solidarity, economic justice and environmental impact of industry in rural Mi’kma’ki. Drawn from observational sketches, Curtis has illustrated the environmental devastation that can be caused from unsustainable, under-regulated pulp industries.
“Untitled 1” by Antoinette Karuna
Secret Codes by Heather Cromwell is a vibrant series of picture quilts The Dance, Betty Hartley and Grandma’s Hands depicting Black Nova Scotian women, labour, love and stories from the community. This work came out of a project by the Black Artists’ Network of Nova Scotia (BANNS) and the Vale Quilters, where quiltmakers created from drawings made by Halifax artist-curator David Woods, and documented travels to African Nova Scotian communities across the province. Grandma’s Hands will be on view as part of TOIL HERE.
Tilling and burying: Red Earth, Black Death by Kim Cain is a piece about dualities of life/death, growth/pruning, joy/ sorrow. The red earth sets the background for the preparation of the land for planting, with cattle and farmers preparing the soil. Black death is actualized with the central sight of the pallbearers carrying a casket towards a waiting plot.
Michelle Roy’s Mi’kmaq regalia pieces include a toddler’s regalia, a prom dress, and a special jingle dress, in representation and honoring of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit and to celebrate the strength, labour and determination of Mi’kmaq mothers, sisters, aunties, wives, and daughters and the central role of women in struggles for Indigenous justice.

ARTIST BIOS
ALEX ANTLE (she/her) is an emerging L’nu beadwork artist located on the North Shore of Elmastukwek, Ktaqmkuk (Bay of Islands, Newfoundland). She has been learning and practicing beadwork for four years with the guidance of a community of Mi’kmaq beaders. Alex’s art often explores the relationship between tradition and living culture, as well as the importance of land and water.
ANTOINETTE KARUNA (she/her) is a visual artist working in textiles and film. She is Tamil Sri Lankan through her father and French Canadian through her mother. Karuna spent her childhood in London, England, and later a decade each in Montreal and Berlin. She now lives in Antigonish, where she works as a freelance writer and editor and teaches filmmaking at St. Francis Xavier University.
CLARA GOUGH (she/her) is a basketmaker and sculptor based in East Preston. She carries on the traditional basket weaving taught to by her mother Edith Clayton, a renowned African Nova Scotian basketmaker. Though strongly influenced by her mother’s techniques, Gough has imprinted her own unique style on the craft. In 1998 she began creating figurative basket sculptures inspired by her family and community. Clara is a member of the Black Artists’ Network of Nova Scotia (BANNS), a non-profit, multi-disciplinary arts association that seeks to develop the African Nova Scotian arts community.
CURTIS BOTHAM (he/him) is a white visual artist interested in rural Maritime industries. After graduating from NSCAD University in 2017, he spent a year in New Glasgow’s Artist Residency program where he made a series of large-scale charcoal drawings dealing with the impact of industry on the environment and nearby communities.
HEATHER CROMWELL (she/her) is an artist and quiltmaker based in New Glasgow. She grew up watching her mother and grandmother making quilts and took on the craft in her thirties. Heather is a member of the Black Artists’ Network of Nova Scotia (BANNS). She is also part of The Northumberland Quilters Guild, one of the largest quilt guilds in Nova Scotia. In 2007, she joined forces with several African Nova Scotian women in New Glasgow to form the Vale Quilters Association – a group interested in exploring African North American quiltmaking traditions and promoting the heritage of Pictou County’s Black community.
KIM CAIN‘s (she/her) work explores the African Canadian existence here in Canada and how it relates to the larger global African Diaspora. She has been using Art as a means of allowing an African Nova Scotianess to emerge into the black art canvas for over 20 years. She explains that her work begins inside of her, altering her perception of the world, and through that inward glance her creativity is born.
MICHELLE ROY (she/her) is an artist and Mi’kmaq knowledge keeper, a regalia maker, a mother of two daughters, a wife, a sister, and auntie, and a person living with a disability. She lives off reserve on her ancestral homeland of Mi’kma’ki, the traditional territory of the l’nu – the Mi’kmaq. She is an active community member of Acadia First Nation. Michelle has been creating regalia and artwork for the last decade and it has led her to a path to engage in conversations that bring attention to struggles, mental health, and to celebrate Mi’kmaq culture.
CATHERINE ANNE MARTIN (she/her) BA MEd. CM. is a member of the Millbrook Mi’kmaw Community, Truro, NS. She is an independent international award winning director and producer, writer, facilitator, communications consultant, community activist, teacher, drummer, and the first Mi’kmaw woman filmmaker from the Atlantic region. She is a recipient of the Order of Canada in 2017 and is presently the first Indigenous Community Engagement Director for Dalhousie University. She is a past Chair of APTN and served on the board for the first five years of its inception. She has contributed to policy and institutional change to make cultural and arts more accessible to First Nations artists.
GNAT NA’PI (she/her)
Natalie is first, a full time/home educating mother. They decolonize curriculum and advocate for Mi’kmaq sovereignty. They are an anti-homelessness advocate who’s practice is grounded in anti-capitalist, anti-homophobic and anti-racist practices. For MayWorks they hope to utilize the creative space to motivate residents of Mi’kmaki to uphold treaty and collectively dream of a Mi’kmaq led anti-capitalist reality. You can support their work by donating to water and land defenders in your area, and to the Treaty Truckhouse Legal fund (gofundme).
Thunderbird Swooping Down Woman, DARLENE GILBERT (she/her) is from Kjipuktuk, Mi’kma’ki and a member of Annapolis Valley First Nation. Born in 1965, grandmother and Treaty Defender (water protector and land defender). Clan is Toney, beanstalk clan.

POCKETS OF RESISTANCE
2021-07-04 12:00 - 14:00, 2021-07-04 16:00 - 18:00 (America/Halifax) | Wonder’neath, 2482 Maynard St, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 3V4, Canada
A feminist sewing workshop with Emily Comeau

COVID UPDATE:
This event has been rescheduled to July 4th.

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>>> REGISTER NOW
THIS EVENT IS FREE – BUT HAS LIMITED CAPACITY: ONLY 6 PARTICIPANTS PER SESSION
Tired of your clothes not having pockets? Let’s fix that! Join Emily Comeau, textile artist supreme, for a workshop on the basics of adding pockets to just about anything. In this 2-hour lesson you will learn to make a patch pocket, as well as how to modify an article of clothing to include an in-seam pocket. Once you learn this technique, you’ll want to share it with everyone you know, so this workshop also includes a zine and pattern for you to download, print and share. Knowledge is power and so are pockets.
Public Health
Public Health Guidelines will be strictly enforced to ensure everyone’s safety and comfort. Please respect the venue’s instructions for masking, distancing and travel. Stay home if you do not feel well!

Artist Bio
Having earned both a Costume Studies diploma from Dalhousie University and a Fibre Art degree from Concordia University, Emily Comeau has an extensive knowledge of textile techniques that she is eager to share. When she isn’t sewing pockets or fabric masks, she can be found making whimsical glitter art in Montreal.

Workshop content:

2 different pocket patterns will be given to each participant
Participants will learn to make an in-seam pocket and a patch pocket
Participants are asked to bring an article of clothing (pants, shirt, dress, shirt) that they would like to add a pocket to.
Each participant will leave the workshop with a zine summarizing in brief the information in the workshop as well as an iron-on patch pocket.

Materials needed for workshop:
These will be available to participants, but you can choose to bring your own. Any shared tools will be wiped between usages. Each participant will have their own sewing machine available to them.

Iron
Sewing machine
All purpose sewing thread
Scissors
Ruler or measuring tape
Pencil or pen
Seam ripper
Pins
Fat quarter of cotton or cotton blend fabric (approx. 18” square)
Article of clothing that you wish had pockets
Optional: HEATNBOND iron-on adhesive

Presented by

AQUAKULTRE: BGM LIVE
2021-09-03 19:00 - 22:00 | The Seahorse Tavern, 2037 Gottingen St, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 3B1, Canada
Bleeding Gums Murphy: Live Album Concert

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Featuring Aquakultre & DJ Uncle Fester
With orchestration by Erin Costelo
Opening act featuring Kxng Wooz with Superfluid
The legendary Halifax-based DJ Uncle Fester teams up with the renowned Halifax-based rapper/singer/song-writer and Polaris Prize-nominated artist Aquakultre. Together, they blend Hip-Hop, Jazz, Soul and Rhythm and Blues. The entire record will be brought to you live!
Accompanied By:
Andrew Jackson
Matt Myer
Jackson Fairfax-Perry
Jeremy Costello
Ross Burns
Tim Crofts
Lakita Wiggins
Rachael Delano
Donny Milwaukee
Special Guests:
Chudi Harris
Ghettosocks
Shevy Price
Corey Writes
Ambition
Tachichi
Andre Fenton
DJ Okay TK
Sound Technician: Tynan Dunfield
Media Team: Griffin O’toole & Audrey Chan
Public Health
Public Health Guidelines will be strictly enforced to ensure everyone’s safety and comfort. Please respect the venue’s instructions for masking, distancing and travel. Stay home if you do not feel well! The concert will be recorded and the video released at a later date.

Presented by

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Troubling Joy: A Bicycle Puppet Circus
2021-09-05 19:00 - 20:00, 2021-09-06 19:00 - 20:00, 2021-09-07 19:00 - 20:00, 2021-09-08 14:00 - 15:00
Duration: Approx. 40 minutes Audience: Ages 8+
Presented by the Halifax-Dartmouth & District Labour Council
Supported by Susan Leblanc, MLA Dartmouth North & Claudia Chender, MLA Dartmouth South
Sunday, September 5th Noon – Dartmouth Commons (FREE)
[CANCELLED] Monday, September 6th Noon – Halifax South Common
Presented by Halifax Fringe
[CANCELLED] Monday, September 6th 7PM – Cambridge Battery/Point Pleasant Park
Tuesday, September 7th 7PM – Cambridge Battery/Point Pleasant Park (TICKETED – $15)
[NEW] Wednesday, September 8th 2PM – Cambridge Battery/Point Pleasant Park (TICKETED – $15)
The North Barn Theatre Collective is bringing a new puppet show to audiences across Nova Scotia. Being toured entirely by bicycle, Troubling Joy: A Bicycle Puppet Circus will be visiting rural and urban communities across seven counties. This original performance will be performed outside for free at the Dartmouth Commons on September 5th and at the Halifax South Common on September 6th.
Troubling Joy: A Bicycle Puppet Circus features a cast of puppets who, in recognizing their discontent with the social structures that dictate how they live, discover the pleasure of change. Playing within the traditional circus format, the North Barn Theatre Collective uses puppetry, moving image, and song to investigate the promise of happiness, its illusions and our collective capacity to imagine new futures. This show appeals to the senses of all ages.

Presented by

In collaboration with

CHANGE THE GAME: Space Cats Fight Fascism
2021-09-06 16:00 - 20:00 | The Seahorse Tavern, 2037 Gottingen St, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 3B1, Canada
Space Cats Fight Fascism
Game play level – Easy
A rising wave of fascism is sweeping across the galaxy, threatening to throw the Interspecies Galactic Alliance under autocratic rule. To help grow its power, the regime known as The Rat Pack has convinced the powers that be that all cats must be tightly controlled… or forced into feline exile. But everyone knows, cats don’t like to be collared, and they don’t like to be caged.
Space Cats Fight Fascism is a cooperative game where you play as a band of rebel cats trying to stop fascists from taking over the galaxy. It is for 2 – 4 players and takes roughly 45 – 60 minutes to play. Ages 13+

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TICKETS ARE SOLD PER TABLE OF FOUR PLAYERS AND INCLUDE ONE GAME BOX FOR YOU TO TAKE HOME

Gaming will be preceded by a quick how-to-play presentation. You can stay for one game, or two, or more! Just take note that music at The Derby will begin around 7:00PM. Tables can be booked for two to four players and the registration cost includes the game itself. You play with a brand new game which will not have been handled by anyone else, and get to take the game with you after!

Public Health
Your game is yours alone. No one else will have handled it prior. Public Health Guidelines will be strictly enforced to ensure everyone’s safety and comfort. Please respect the venue’s instructions for masking, distancing and travel. Stay home if you do not feel well!

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HOW WE WON
2021-09-17 19:00 - 21:00 | The Seahorse Tavern, 2037 Gottingen St, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 3B1, Canada
A 25th Anniversary Tribute Concert Honouring the Community’s Collective Action in Saving Our Canada Employment Centre

>> Click Here for Required Registration

PUBLIC HEALTH: Health care restrictions will be lifted by this date, however we strongly encourage everyone to wear masks, wash hands regularly and keep distant from those outside your group of friends. If you feel unwell, please stay home.

Finally, on September 17,we’re thrilled to present How We Won.
Join us at The Derby Showbar to hear an incredible story of collective action through the weaving of witness telling, music, and spoken word poetry in tribute to community power. On March 27th, 1996, a collection of activists from the community as well as local union members, joined together in a 133 day protest by occupying the offices of the Canada Employment Centre located at 2089 Gottingen Street in North end Halifax. This remarkable act of worker and community resistance still holds the record as Canada’s longest occupation of a Federal Government office in the history of Canada.

Credit: Lynn Jones African Canadian and Diaspora Heritage Collection

Featuring:
Dr. Lynn Jones & Carolann Wright
Both will share memories of their involvement in the landmark occupation

The evening will also feature stellar performances by
Corey Adams | Keonte Beals | Linda Carvery | El Jones | MAJE

Presented by

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2022 Call for Submissions
2021-11-15
Be a Part of the 2022 Festival!
Mayworks Kjipuktuk/Halifax seeks proposals that will speak of the working class experience. This can be extremely varied and can be contemporary or historical. Both amateur and professional performers may apply.
Submissions need not be directly focused on work, labour or unions. Mayworks Kjipuktuk/Halifax programs works of art that address broad themes of social and environmental justice. Any submissions that address issues of inequality and injustice, or give voice to marginalized communities will be considered.
Under-represented groups and those disadvantaged at work and in society are particularly encouraged to apply. Material is particularly sought from youth, women, people with disabilities, African Nova Scotians, First Nation Communities, Indigenous artists, people of colour, newcomer (immigrant) populations, 2SLGBTQ+ folks, Acadian or other under-represented cultures in Nova Scotia.
Proposals must be submitted in English or French for consideration.
DEADLINE: November 15th, 2021
Download Application Guidelines and Forms: Mayworks-2022-Call-for-Submissions.pdf

Canadian Labour International Film Festival
2021-11-24 19:00 - 21:00
Free Online Screening
7 International Short Films
Once again, we are offering a local satellite screening of short films selected by the Canadian Labour International Film Festival!
The total run time of the event is 96 minutes. The screening will be followed by a short open discussion.
Register and screen the films for free here:
https://watch.eventive.org/cliff2021/play/618b18844d40d7004597da22
Join us at 8:30PM for a post film Zoom discussion:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81767310796?pwd=[REDACTED]
FILM PROGRAM

Class Action (Les Exemplaires)
Guillaume Creton
15 mins | Drama | France
A teacher dies by suicide a few weeks before high school diploma exams and her colleagues go on a strike. (Trigger Warning)
I Stand For Us
Almir Datoo
22 mins | Drama | UK
When hotel cleaners are faced with unfair working conditions, Naomi works to unite the team in solidarity against destructive zero hour contracts.
Longa Distância
Jean-Luc Moniz
14 mins | Drama| Canada
An immigrant housekeeper works to provide for her son back home in Portugal. When she is accused of stealing from a client, she fears that what she’s been working towards will all come crashing down.
MIXI (CHAKKI)
Jyotsna Puthran
6 mins | Animation | India
Pulses, grams and sprouts are used in motion to create scenarios as a metaphorical representation of growth and future of a nation and shows the dark reality behind a favourite dish.
People Show 138: Last Day
Gareth Brierley
15 mins | Drama | UK
A short dreamlike drama about power, loss and loyalty. People Show 138: Last Day, follows HR manager Sidney, who after thirty years of working at an industrial sock factory faces a challenging dilemma that could affect the livelihood of his employees.
Salvage
Christopher Boulton
10 mins | Doc | USA
Salvage questions the allure of old objects by reimagining obsolete tools as reliquaries haunted by the souls of disgruntled workers who resent their new jobs. This hybrid intersectional documentary uses magic realism to critique the inequities of gender, ethnicity, and class that underpin consumer capitalism.
Treaty Walk – A Journey for Common Ground
Brad Leitch
14 mins | Doc | Canada
The film follows a group of Indigenous elders, Healthcare Workers, and others as they embark on a two week long walking journey from Edmonton, Alberta/Treaty 6 Territory to Calgary, Alberta/Treaty 7 Territory to explore together what it means to be treaty people, working and living on common ground.
