ART and ACTIVISM: RAGING, RESISTING, REJOICING
With Fireweed
Sunday, Feb. 20. 6pm Vegan Potluck, 7pm Presentation. Back Hall. Admission by Donation
Inside and outside of gallery walls, on the streets and in the landscape, art reflects and influences the way we see and experience life. The exciting merger of art and activism is a growing phenomenon today- confronting the status quo, encouraging dissent, and revisioning our world. In her audiovisual presentation, Art and Activism: Raging, Resisting, Rejoicing!, local activist Fireweed explores this widening culture of creative societal transformation. With International Women's Day right around the corner, Fireweed will be highlighting the work of women artists and activists in her slide show (although not exclusively so).
An honors grad from the Emily Carr College of Art and Design (Vancouver, BC, 1982), Fireweed has exhibited as a multi-media artist across Canada as well as internationally. Currently working in graphic design and digital photography, she founded BC’s Women and the Earth, a conference and workshop series dedicated to women’s personal empowerment through activism, in 1991. She has participated on the frontlines of numerous logging blockades, in solidarity with First Nations, anti-biotech activists, and in anti-G8 protests. Fireweed coordinates regional actions opposing Canada’s commercial seal hunt, other marine mammal slaughter, local rodeo, etc.
In 1993 she initiated the Community Vegan Potluck Series on Denman as another form of animal advocacy, environmental and social justice activism, and enjoys combining her art and politics in part through the creation of nutritious plant-based cuisine that all may share. As a keynote speaker or workshop facilitator on the topics of ecofeminism, art and activism, animal rights and/or feminist earth-based spirituality, Fireweed has addressed numerous women’s events over the years, as well as college classes, environmental gatherings and community groups. With her partner she currently co-hosts a weekly activist-oriented pirate radio show called “Connections”. Also an impassioned writer, Fireweed is a contributing ecofeminist author in the newly released anthology, “Call to Compassion: Religious Reflections on Animal Advocacy” (Lantern Books, 2010). She lives with her partner and feline family in the woods on Denman Island.
