LIVING QUEER HISTORY: A STORYTELLING CELEBRATION AT THE PEEL ART GALLERY, MUSEUM & ARCHIVES
Join Living Hyphen and PAMA as we celebrate stories of Peel’s 2SLGBTQIA+ community, inspired by the theme of community and place-making in PAMA’s exhibition Stories of Home: Finding Community and Belonging in Peel.
In this open-mic style event, storytellers from across Peel Region will examine the intersections of queerness and space, and how we can foster belonging and connection. Through diverse personal narratives and nuanced lived experiences, we honor the power of placemaking and the stories that remind us why queer spaces, in all their forms, are essential.
When: Sunday, June 22nd from 2-4 p.m.
Where: Peel Art Gallery, Museum + Archives on 9 Wellington St. East in Brampton.
PAMA is an accessible facility, including ground-level entrances and elevator access to all floors.
In celebration of this community event, performance access is included with pay-what-you-can admission to PAMA. Funds raised will support PAMA's Creative Access Fund to help cover the cost of a workshop or program at PAMA for individuals facing financial obstacles, making creativity accessible to all.
RSVP to Join Us
Walk-ins are welcome, but we do encourage you to register to secure a seat.
Our Performers
Ajhani Azure
Ajhani "Jahaz" Azure is a 24-year-old independent singer, guitarist, producer, and vocalist from Brampton, Ontario. With a passion for crafting Little Worlds in his music, Jahaz blends Latin pop, reggaeton, jazz, and R&B into a genre-defying pop sound that breaks boundaries. Committed to growth, Jahaz has participated in esteemed artist development programs like Soundstock Academy (2023), R.I.S.E.'s L.C.A. Program (2023), VIBE Arts' nEXt Mentorship (2024), and CHMSTRY (2024). His dedication has landed him major opportunities, including opening for Our Lady Peace (2024) and M.I.A. (July 2024), while selling out venues like Bampot House and The Baby G.
hayotha
hayotha is cool!
SelectaSarah
SelectaSarah (she/her) is an educator, performer, and creative from Brampton. She graduated with her Bachelors in Linguistics and minor in Dramatic Arts. She’s passionate about performing and connecting with people. She writes poetry and plays, and has directed her own shows. She’s become enthusiastic about teaching voice skills and aims to empower others. By taking up space in her creative disciplines, she hopes that to inspire others to do the same and unapologetically share their voice.
Andrea Josic
Andrea Josic is the City of Mississauga Poet Laureate and is an award-winning poet, journalist, and arts educator. Her work has been featured on CBC Radio, the TTC, Global News, and more. She has over a decade of global slam poetry experience in cities like Vancouver, Houston, and Berlin, and was the champion of the 2020 Toronto Poetry Slam. Andrea channels her passion into classrooms and workshops across Canada, inspiring others to find belonging, healing, and joy.
KL Sison
KL Sison is a writer and advocate born and raised in Mississauga, now living in Toronto with her partner and their dog. Her creative writing often explores the complexities of spirituality, queerness, and the Filipino diaspora. She's published creative work in various magazines, including Living Hyphen, Broadview, Ricepaper, and Inheritance. KL strives to write stories and poems that aim to make space for communal vulnerability and catharsis. When she's not writing her feelings, she's cooking and/or eating them, usually with dear friends.
Jewels Talisayon
Jewels is a multidisciplinary artist who often finds themself exploring what it means to find your place, your people, and your time. Through poetry, they are able to convey their innermost thoughts and fears more comfortably than with regular speech. Intention and effort are always at the forefront. Taking the time to say what needs most to be said is everything.
TITA
TITA (he/she/they/siya) 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 and 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.
Vale
Vale is a queer, mixed-race weirdo in Toronto, Canada. They write poetry about small happinesses, the making of community, mental illness, and questions of identity. Their have been published in Room, FEELS Zine, Living Hyphen, QT Lit Mag, and Blabaloo. They have also presented their work at open mics, schools, the Art Gallery of Mississauga, Verses Festival, PinkDot Toronto, the Emerging Writers Reading Series, Probably Poetry, and Juxstaposition Poetry Collective. Vale enjoys weird electronic music, fashion, and Chinese noodle soup.
Brandyn Leo
Brandyn Leo is a Toronto-born, Jamaican-raised
artist who has focused his art as a singer-songwriter. He is a graduate of Randolph Academy College of the Arts, where he graduated top of his class with the Triple Threat Award in singing, acting, and dance. After performing in professional theatre productions around the country, he set his sights on music and joined a hip-hop group named Iambic where he learned to hone his skills as a studio vocalist and songwriter. His aim is use his career to bring people together from all walks of life, spread love and good vibes, while encouraging queer, PoC, and Indigenous voices.
Theodore Walker Robinson
Theodore Walker Robinson (they/them) is a Black, low-vision, hard-of-hearing, nonbinary singer, weaver, and executive arts administrator. They are a creative consultant based in Toronto and the recent Executive Director of Local Arts Service Organization Lakeshore Arts in South Etobicoke. As a consultant, Theodore focuses on providing recommendations to arts and culture agencies on accessibility for people with disabilities based on lived experience and sector innovation. They are a regular host on the Luminato Festival Toronto’s LuminoCity and an ambassador for Brampton Arts Organization. As a singer, Theodore researches and explores transgender voices in multiple genre applications. In their textile practice, they explore African Diasporic contemporary weaving, creative repair and visible mending and climate justice. Theodore is Board Chair of The Disability Collective and Board Co-Chair of Moyo Health & Community Services in the Region of Peel. As an academic researcher, Theodore focuses on Deafblind pedagogies for creative practice.
About the Peel ARt Gallery, Museum & Archives
PAMA is an accessible, safe space for the diverse communities of the Region of Peel (Brampton, Caledon and Mississauga) to come together and celebrate arts and culture. We strive to be a place where you can see yourself reflected and actively contribute to building a “Community for Life”.
It’s a place to explore and learn about Peel's culture and heritage, as well as use conversation, questions and stories to help make new and fascinating connections to the surrounding community. PAMA offers a variety of workshops and programs for all ages, families, and adults. There is something for everyone.
