Diaspora
Curated by Sonia Pelletier

Kinga Araya
Constanza Camelo
Flutura & Besnik Haxhillari
Myriam Laplante
Vessna Perunovich

FADO is pleased to present Diaspora, a performance art event that examines the experiences of dispersed and exiled populations. The event will feature five performances followed by a public discussion. Diaspora presents artists from various cultures, now living in Canada, whose performances consider their 'foreignness'. Developed by Montreal curator Sonia Pelletier and touring with support from CALQ, Diaspora features performances modified from an initial event presented in 2003 at Galerie Clark in Montreal. A fifth project featuring local artist Vessna Perunovich will be included for this Toronto version of Diaspora.

Sonia Pelletier writes in consideration of the project:

Performance art [is] surely the most immediately expressive way to depict survival, resistance and the accommodation of differences. This commingling, driven by the artists' concerns with identity issues, leads us to consider how the precarious state of the artist in a foreign land reverberates on one's own culture, as well as the status of the artist in general...
   
A major portion of the project is devoted to reflection, with a focus on the identity issues of cultural transformation, hybrid cultures, belonging and cultural transference. ... We are also attempting to refashion and re-view the word 'Diaspora.' Performative acts convey cultural evidence, but to what extent can one assert one's belongingness in a world so polarized between Western and non-Western culture? And in the art world, haven't the concepts of globalization and internationalization gotten confused as well?

Diaspora will also be in Hamilton on Thursday, January 29, 2003 at the Staircase Café & Theatre under the auspices of the Art Gallery of Hamilton. For details contact Katja Canini, (Acting) Media Programmer, at (905) 527-6610 ext. 257 or by email at katja@artgalleryofhamilton.com.

Presented in cooperation with Blank Slate with support from the Conseil des art et des lettres du Québec.