HONOURING THE LAND: A STORYTELLING CELEBRATION AT EVERGREEN BRICK WORKS
Living Hyphen turned five in October 2023 and we celebrated in the way we know best – through storytelling! Together we shared stories honouring the precious land, environment, and ecosystems that give life to us all.
Date and Time: Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 2–4 p.m. Doors open at 1:30 p.m.
Location: BMO Atrium at Evergreen Brick Works.
This space is wheelchair-accessible and this event is family-friendly.
As hyphenated individuals who call the nation-state of “Canada” home, but who also have roots elsewhere, how do we connect to the land – the physical, literal earth that we and/or our ancestors have traversed? What is your relationship to the ground that you once walked on (wherever that may be) or that you walk on today?
After a summer of record-breaking extreme heat and of compounding climate catastrophes around the globe, we spent an afternoon honouring our Mother Earth. The intersections of climate and racial justice are undeniable and we hope to spark deeper conversations for change in our communities while celebrating where we are today.
Jennifer Alicia
Jennifer Alicia (she/they) is a queer, mixed Mi’kmaw and settler (German/Irish/Scottish) multidisciplinary artist originally from Elmastukwek, Ktaqmkuk (Bay of Islands, Newfoundland), now residing in Toronto. She is a two-time national poetry slam champion and her work has been featured in Canthius Magazine, NOW Magazine, and CBC. Jennifer Alicia co-edited an Indigenous poetry anthology titled The Condor and the Eagle Meet and has a debut chapbook titled Mixed Emotions.
TITA
TITA is a non-binary drag entitita who honours, dedicates, and embodies the essence of all the empowering Titas in their lifetime who sacrificed their dreams for their children & yet looked sexy while doing it all. TITA is here to remind you to keep doing your best, to prioritize rest & to put yourself first above all life's mess. They are bongga, sosyal at lambot naman. Kumain ka na ba? Kasi Tita is Servin Lewkz.
Emily Jung
Emily Jung (she/her) is an artsworker. Most recently, she was the Projection Designer for Between a Wok and a Hot Pot (Cahoots Theatre), and the co-founder of the conceptual artsworker collective and meme page ‘Labour in the Arts’. Her recent creative essay, Korean Seniors Don't Care for Bingo is available online at Choa Magazine. She works at The Theatre Centre as Director of Communications. Emily is working on various plays on themes of climate change, labour, language, Korean-ness and aging.
Jennifer Park
Jenn Park is a writer, currently working in production for children's animation at Brown Bag Films. Collaborating on Emily Jung's "Dead Korean Girl Comedy Show", she attended the Polyphonic Translation Residency with Rice and Beans Theatre in Vancouver.
Oy Lein Harrison
Oy Lein (a.k.a Zimmi Poetry) is an emerging Chinese and Jamaican storyteller, poet, community worker, and activist based in Tkaranto. Her writing explores identity politics, decolonialism, misogynoir, generational trauma, and the radical acts of love that heal these experiences. She has a B.A. in writing from the University of Toronto and is a librarian by trade.
Sarrah G. Malek
Sarrah G. Malek is a Palestinian writer and spoken word poet living in T’Karonto, Canada. She writes on colonization and resistance using creative performance and magical realism. She is co-editor of Min Fami: Arab feminist reflections on space, identity, and resistance published in 2014 by Inanna Publications.
Khushu
Khushu is a spoken word artist, mental health advocate, and community engagement professional. Born and raised in Hyderabad and Jamshoro, Sindh, Khushu calls Karachi her home.
Khushu writes and performs to make sense of everything around her and to take charge of her big, brown and beautiful narrative.
Jose Miguel Esteban
Jose Miguel (Miggy) Esteban is a dance/movement artist and educator based in Tkaronto/Toronto. Currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Social Justice Education at University of Toronto, Miggy’s research is oriented through disability studies and dance/performance studies to reimagine educational praxis. Influenced by disability arts and culture, Black radical traditions, Indigenous storytelling, and queer performance, Miggy’s dissertation project engages in embodied practices of improvisation to re-interpret curriculum as a choreographic site for inspiring pedagogies of/through dance.
kiwêtinotahk pihêsiw
kiwêtinotahk pihêsiw is an unapologetic nêhiyaw + Métis man (with Tsilhqotʼin, Haida, Secwépemc and settler/Scottish ancestry) living in Tkaronto. He is a grad student, teacher, researcher, academic, writer, storyteller, activist, dog lover, video game character, shit disturber, and a pretty decent bannock maker. He is passionate about sharing the stories of Indigenous people though various forms, whether it's academic writing and research, life-writing, plays, or orally sharing around a fire. His stories and research also unveil the truth that Canadians don't want to see.
Rebeca Araniva
Rebeca Araniva is a Toronto-based standup comedian who also happens to be an IT professional. She writes jokes and SQL scripts!
Rebeca has a dry yet wholesome comedic style and enjoys challenging assumptions about the immigrant experience, identity, and fake nails.
Devina Lookman
Devina is a Tkaronto-based artist, peacebuilder, community facilitator, creative storyteller, and social innovator. She is deeply invested in the work where peacebuilding meets the fine arts, and is grateful to share space with other storytellers by bringing her crafts of pottery, music, and writing to this event. Sharing also in the hyphenated identities of this community, Devina holds a deep awareness for where her feet lands, and hopes to offer an experience that evokes the joint feeling of pain and privilege as a way to honour the land together.
EXPLORE THE PERFORMANCES
ABOUT Evergreen Brick works
Evergreen Brick Works is Canada’s first large-scale community environmental centre. It is a dynamic venue in the heart of Toronto’s Don Valley exploring ideas and leading-edge green technologies, and a vibrant public space where visitors can engage in a broad suite of hands-on environmental programming. Transformed from a collection of deteriorating heritage buildings into a global showcase for green design and urban sustainability, Evergreen Brick Works is both a stage and incubator for Evergreen’s programs.
TREATS PROVIDED BY MADE BY MREE
Made by Mree is a creative outlet for Filipina-Canadian nurse and artist Maria Iscel Bulatao Ngooi. She shares her love of food and flavours from the Philippines in treats she's enjoyed growing up. Maria believes that food is a medium to spark conversation and create memories, and is grateful to be able to share this with the community through Made by Mree.