An Evening with Monia Mazigh and Barâa Arar

“Being a person of colour, being a Muslim woman who wears the hijab, or being anyone who identifies publicly with a minority group, that identity becomes politicized by others whether you like it or not.”—Barâa Arar

The more one knows about author Monia Mazigh, the more inspiring she becomes. Since her groundbreaking debut, Hope and Despair: My Struggle to Free My Husband, Maher Arar (translated by Patricia Claxton and Fred Reed) in 2008, she has gone on to publish two novels and edit a third (written in French) while writer-in-residence at Historic Joy Kogawa House this summer. Monia will read from her second novel, Hope Has Two Daughters.

Spoken-word artist Barâa Arar joins Monia Mazigh to share stories and poems that consider the reciprocal and inextricable relationship between our narratives and our lived experiences. Sarah Kay writes in her poem “The Paradox,” “When I am inside writing, / All I can think about is how I should be outside living. / When I am outside living, / All I can do is notice all there is to write about.” Barâa will use her time on stage to think through these ideas.

When: Wednesday, September 5, 7:30 to 9:00pm

Where: Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue

Cost: By donation ($15 would be wonderful to cover the cost of cleaning and refreshments)

RSVP: info@kogawahouse.com

Anna Wong: Traveller on Two Roads
August 31-November 3, 2018
Opening Reception: Thursday, August 30, 7pm

Canadian master printmaker Anna Wong (1930-2013) was born and raised in Chinatown in Vancouver, BC. In her early twenties, Wong worked at her family’s business, Modernize Tailors. After studying Chinese brush painting in Hong Kong and graduating from the Vancouver School of Art with a degree in creative printmaking, she continued on to study and teach at the Pratt Graphics Center in New York City.  In the 1960’s her original prints received several international prizes. She has represented Canada in a number of international print biennials, and was featured in a solo exhibition at the National Art Gallery of China in Beijing in 1979. This exhibition features over seventy works of art by Anna Wong, including over 70 original artworks, including paintings, drawings, hand-pulled prints, and large-scale textile pieces.

This exhibition, organized and circulated by the Burnaby Art Gallery will be on display at the gallery from August 30-November 3, 2018 before travelling across Canada over 2019-2020.

Accompanying the exhibition is a full-colour, hardcover publication in two bilingual editions (English/French/Chinese). With essays from notable scholars Keith Wallace and Zoë Chan, this catalogue includes over 70 of Wong’s artworks from a lifetime of travel and cultural influence: from Vancouver’s Chinatown to New York City, and from Quadra Island to Beijing.

Public Programs

Opening Reception: Thursday, August 30, 7pm
Free, everyone welcome
Join us for the opening of Anna Wong’s Traveller on Two Roads at the Burnaby Art Gallery. The evening will feature opening remarks, followed by a reception.

Curator’s Tour: Sunday, September 9, 2pm
Free, everyone welcome
Join curator Jennifer Cane on an in-depth tour of Anna Wong’s exhibition Traveller on Two Roads.

In the BAG Family Sundays: Sunday, September 16 & October 21, 1-4pm
Free drop-in, all ages welcome
Come and make art! Get your minds humming with a visit to the gallery and then into the studio for family-friendly art projects. On September 16, learn all about nature prints and on October 21 explore Chinese Brush Painting. This program is sponsored by ABC Recycling.

Culture Days: Multilingual Tours of Anna Wong: Traveller on Two Roads
Saturday, September 29 | Free, everyone welcome 
Join our knowledgeable guides for French, Mandarin, Cantonese and English tours of the Anna Wong: Traveller on Two Roadsexhibit. For tour registration, please call 604-297-4422.

Culture Days: Panel Discussion: The Art & Life of Anna Wong
Sunday, September 30, 2pm | Free, everyone welcome
Join us for a moderated panel, including writers, Zoë Chan, Keith Wallace and artist Steven Tong with curator Ellen van Eijnsbergen, focusing on the life and artistic practice of Anna Wong.

Hope-Princeton Roadcamp Legacy Sign Unveiling & Tashme Museum Expansion Opening

Fri., Sept. 7, 2018, 11 am

Location: Chain up pull-out on Hwy 3, 10 km East of Hope

Followed by Ribbon-cutting at Sunshine Valley Tashme Museum & lunch reception

If you are interested in bus transportation and or attending, please RSVP Nikkei National Museum Linda Kawamoto-Reid – lreid@nikkeiplace.org or Laura Saimoto lsaimoto4@gmail.com

EXchanges Series 2018 with Gabriel Dharmoo

Occupying Chinatown
??????/??????/Haam Sui Fow Wun Goh Wah

July 13 to September 23, 2018

OCCUPYING CHINATOWN is Paul Wong’s year-long artist residency at the Dr. Sun Yat- Sen Classical Chinese Garden that launched in Spring 2018. Wong will be creating a series of multidisciplinary artworks based on 700 letters in Chinese sent by 90 writers to his mother Suk-Fong Wong.

This residency will evoke memories and loss for the generations of Chinese-Canadians who built a community within a segregated Chinatown. OCCUPYING CHINATOWN throughout the seasons will feature collaborative contemporary works of art with various artists, and will engage visitors and community with diverse programming, workshops, performances, events, and a book.

The first new site-specific work to be created as part of this residency is ??????/??????/Haam Sui Fow Wun Goh Wah (Saltwater City-Vancouver). These two text pieces acknowledge Chinatown’s Toisanese settlers, and are presented at the Garden: one “wooden” and the other neon.

In addition, there is an exhibition of LAIWAN’s film Movement for Two Grannies: Five Variations in the Scholar’s Study. This piece features two Chinese grannies engaged in a moment of intimate and affectionate friendship. Paul Wong has been creating daring work for over 40 years, pushing the boundaries of conventional cultural stereotypes and art. He has produced large-scale interdisciplinary artworks in unexpected public spaces since the 1970s. His work subverts stereotypes in form and content. Many works are bilingual and trilingual, meshing English, Cantonese and Mandarin codes. Works include: Ordinary Shadows, Chinese Shade(Cantonese and English) (1988); Chinaman’s Peak: Walking the Mountain (1992); Blending Milk and Water: Sex in the New World (1996); Widows 97 (1997), Wah-Q: The Overseas Chinese (1998) and Refugee Class of 2000(2000). www.paulwongprojects.com

OCCUPYING CHINATOWN is a public art project commissioned by the City of Vancouver Public Art Program in partnership with the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. With support from The Audain Foundation.

Occupying Chinatown Summer Programming
Gender Roles Playing on Stage: Traditional Chinese Opera with Contemporary Asian Drag

Date:Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Time: 7:00-9:00pm, with performances at 7:45pm and 8:30pm
Fee: Advance tickets $15. Limited tickets available at door and by donation

• BUY TICKETS

Celebrate Pride in Chinatown! The Garden welcomes a magical one-night cross-cultural and community event highlighting artists of Chinese opera, drag, and alternative music. Audiences will be treated to a mashup of these gender-bending genres in a celebration of the rich history of Cantonese Opera as a folk-art form in Chinatown and other Chinese communities.

In classic Chinese Opera, all roles, including female ones, were originally performed by men; more recently, when the stage was opened to women, they often played both gender roles as well. For Paul Wong, Cantonese Opera was part of growing up in Chinatown, with his mother singing karaoke at home and music from shops and rooming houses spilling out into the streets.

This special evening will feature performances by Yuk Fung Cheung, Hoi Seng Ieong, Rose Butch, and Maiden China, with Shay Dior as emcee and music by DJ Ian Widgery (Shanghai Lounge Divas).

GENDER ROLES PLAYING ON STAGE is presented by Paul Wong Projects with community partner Vancouver Art and Leisure Society as part of the Alternative Pride Festival.

OCCUPYING CHINATOWN is a public art project commissioned by the City of Vancouver Public Art Program in partnership with the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. With support from The Audain Foundation.

MOMENTS: Life As We Live It

Ted Nodwell

Exhibition Date: August 12 – September 14, 2018
Opening celebration: Saturday, August 18, 2018 | 3:00 pm-4:30 pm

“I look for human moments spiced with elements of humour. I turn my camera toward ordinary people doing ordinary things in extraordinary ways. In this age of the ‘selfie’ fad, I would rather create photographs that I call ‘whimsies’. For me, the whimsical moment tells us a lot about ourselves.”

Ted Nodwell
photographer

What defines us?

Few accomplish great things that go down in the historical records of humanity. For most of us, we are defined by our everyday life. What we did today. Where we went. Who we met and what we discussed.

These human moments are constant. They are ubiquitous. On any day in any part of the world, we all weave a tapestry of activity that defines us. Yet because these moments are in plain sight we rarely see them.

Moments: Life As We Live It is an exhibit by Vancouver-based photographer Ted Nodwell that brings us face to face with ourselves. The images were made in Canada, China, Japan, Vietnam, France and Argentina. While wide-ranging geographically, the collection nonetheless portrays human moments that can occur anywhere. The images literally stop people in their tracks. By freezing small moments in everyday life, the exhibit reveals the ‘oneness’ of us all no matter where we live or what we do. Taken together, this collection of images tells our story.

For Ted Nodwell, his camera lets him observe and share the marvels and mysteries of everyday life that he experiences. His goal is to distil the essence of each situation and to create images that take on a life of their own.

www.nodwell.zenfolio.com

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
578 Carrall Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6B 5K2 Canada

CURRENT EXHIBITION

Germaine Koh

Home Made Home

June 17, 2018 – August 26, 2018

Curator: Nan Capogna

Home Made Home: LuluLiving will be open to the public on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 12:00 – 4:00 pm, or by appointment

Vancouver artist Germaine Koh contributes to the current housing discourse through her exploration of small-scale dwellings and “social sculptures” in her solo exhibition Home Made Home. An advocate of creative space design, accessibility, sustainability, and self-sufficiency, Koh’s compact structures probe many of the complex housing issues relevant to the Lower Mainland.

Germaine Koh is a Canadian visual artist based in Vancouver. Her conceptually-generated work is concerned with the significance of everyday actions, familiar objects and common places. Her exhibition history includes the BALTIC Centre (Newcastle), De Appel (Amsterdam), Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Para/Site Art Space (Hong Kong), Frankfurter Kunstverein, Bloomberg SPACE (London), The Power Plant (Toronto), Seoul Museum of Art, Artspace (Sydney), The British Museum (London), the Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), Plug In ICA (Winnipeg), Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), and the Liverpool, Sydney and Montréal biennials. Koh was a recipient of the 2010 VIVA Award, and a finalist for the 2004 Sobey Art Award. Formerly an Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Canada, she is also an independent curator and partner in the independent record label weewerk.

Richmond Art Gallery

Richmond Cultural Centre
7700 Minoru Gate
Richmond, BC  V6Y 1R8