Writing Mentorship Program
LAUNCH EVENT
Saturday, July 22 from 2-5PM
REPLY ALL is a writing mentorship program facilitated by Y+ contemporary, which ran February to May 2017. Five emerging writers were commissioned to produce short texts that respond to critical issues surrounding Y+ contemporary’s programming, under the mentorship of established arts writer Philip Monk. The inaugural program ran February to May 2017.
The writers selected were Desmond Miller, Marina Fathalla, Genevieve Flavelle, Lauren Lavery, and Olivia Wallace.
Marina Fathalla | The Architecture of the Museum
Marina Fathalla is a multidisciplinary artist and writer currently based in Toronto. Her projects are fueled by a particular sensitivity to site, at the intersection of its poetics and its politics. She explores modes of preserving land history, and strategies for preservation in conversation with museology. She has published writing in Kapsula Magazine, CMagazine and currently sits on the board of SAVAC.
Fathalla’s text was produced in response to the exhibition Logs, on display at Y+ contemporary from October 29 – November 19, 2016. Curated by Tak Pham, the exhibition featured artists Rouzbeh Akhbari & Ash Moniz, Benny Hunter, and Mariam Magsi. Download PDF.
Genevieve Flavelle | Peeling Objects for Queer Play
Genevieve Flavelle is an independent curator and writer. She holds a BA in Art History from NSCAD University, and recently completed a MA in Art History at the University of Western Ontario. Genevieve’s research and curatorial interests include contemporary art, feminist curatorial strategies, curatorial interventions in museums and archives, and queer theory. She is interested in art as a meeting ground for political praxis, intergenerational exchange, community building, agitation, and worlding.
A version of the text produced in this program was published in issue 91 of esse arts + opinions.
Lauren Lavery | VE-TSIN
Lauren Lavery is a visual artist, writer and curator currently based between Vancouver, BC and Guelph, ON. Her interdisciplinary practice consists mainly of sculpture, painting, collage and installation. She is interested in the concept of the female body and corporeality through the absence of the human form as well as through its engagement with gender-defined domestic environments. Her work has been exhibited throughout Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, and is also the co-editor of Peripheral Review, a Vancouver and Toronto-based online platform of exhibition reviews. She holds a BFA with honours from Simon Fraser University.
Lavery’s text was produced to accompany Accent, an exhibition by Shellie Zhang which ran May 20 – June 10, 2017 at Y+ contemporary. Download PDF.
Desmond Miller | Review of In the Shadow of Paradise
Trained primarily as a researcher and mostly self-taught as a pattern-maker, Desmond Miller’s work explores themes of race, masculinity, identity, archive and the spaces in between. His writing can be found in the online publication No More Potlucks and in the exhibition No Vacancy (Scarborough Arts, 2017).
Miller’s text reviews the exhibition In the Shadow of Paradise, on display at Y+ contemporary from March 4 – 25, 2017. Curated by Tiffany Schofield, the exhibition featured artists Annie Onyi Cheung, Anique Jordan, and Deirdre Logue.
Olivia Wallace | Artistic Priorities: Valuing Toronto’s Youth
Olivia Wallace is an artist and curator from Brampton, Ontario who is passionate about public and community-based art. She has a Bachelor of Arts with a specialization in Arts Management from the University of Toronto Scarborough. Olivia has worked with Mural Routes, the Living Arts Centre Gallery and her current curation project is Chroma/Chronicle. The exhibition will be on display at Cedar Ridge Creative Centre, May 2017.
Wallace’s text highlights the work of Toronto-based, community-engaged artists and educators Carlos Delgado, Nadijah Robinson, and Annie Wong. Download PDF.
ABOUT THE MENTOR
Philip Monk is Director of the Art Gallery of York University in Toronto. Previously he was curator at The Power Plant (1994 – 2003) and the Art Gallery of Ontario (1985 – 1994). From 1977 – 1984 he was a writer and in the early 1980s a free-lance curator. He has written twelve books, including Glamour is Theft: A User’s Guide to General Idea (2012) and Is Toronto Burning?: Three Years in the Making (and Unmaking) of the Toronto Art Scene (2016). As well as scores of articles, reviews, and essays, he has written dozens of catalogues on international and Canadian artists. In 2009, he was the inaugural recipient of the Ontario Association of Art Galleries Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2011 he received the Hnatyshyn Award for Curatorial Excellence.
REPLY ALL is part of Dialogues+, a multi-faceted project that brings together three peer mentorship programs facilitated by Y+ contemporary. Our aim in developing these programs is to provide access to meaningful professional development opportunities for young artists and arts professionals within the Scarborough community, encouraging investment in the arts community outside of the downtown Toronto core. All programs are offered at no charge to the participants.
Dialogues+ is supported by the Ontario Arts Council, the Doris McCarthy Gallery and the Office of the Vice-President and Principal, University of Toronto Scarborough.
