VANCAF showcases local comic creator community

VANCAF, the Vancouver Comic Arts Festival, is a free two-day celebration of comic and graphic arts held at the Roundhouse Community Centre May 19–20. With a line-up full of Vancouver artists, as well as international artists, the festival shines a light on the growing comic book community here in Vancouver. This year’s festival features local…

Putting the light on inequalities

UBC’s Museum of Anthropology (MOA) introduces Arts of Resistance: Politics and the Past in Latin America in May. “It’s going to be an uncomfortable show,” says the curator, Laura Osorio Sunnucks, PhD, who believes that this is an exhibition that will turn heads and shed light on something that the community, nation and world need to start…

Story in a suitcase

The Evergreen Cultural Centre will host Suitcase Stories, a one-woman show about the journey of Maki Yi who immigrated to Canada from South Korea with nothing but a single suitcase, May 17–19. Suitcase Stories is a story of identity and of finding her way in a foreign land, which Yi relays with both humorous and thought-provoking anecdotes.…

Chichaklar Dance Company: tradition meets innovation

Chichaklar Dance Company will be performing their own variations on Azerbaijani folk dances at the Turkic Festival on May 27 at the North Vancouver Shipyards. “One of the first [goals] has always been to share the culture with the audience… we really wanted [to try] to be a little more innovative and outside of the…

Persian artist Azadeh Emadi is being haunted by pixels

Working in conjunction with the SFU School for Contemporary Arts and the Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies, grunt gallery is presenting Azadeh Emadi: Motion Within Motion, the first Canadian exhibition by Glasgow-based artist Azadeh Emadi from May 2–12. The unique vision of the Persian artist and visiting scholar unveils the hidden depths of pixels. “We were…

Author lets flow a few goosefeathers of emotion

As part of the Pick Your Poison: Writers’ Reading Series, author Naomi Steinberg, along with guests, will be reading from her Goosefeather manuscript at The Generative Nest on April 22, May 6, May 20 and June 3. Steinberg, a well-traveled storyteller from Vancouver, took off on an adventure in December of 2014 and never looked back. Fascinated…

Assembling the new Some Assembly play

Valerie Methot is addressing youth issues through theatre with The Release Party, which will be presented by Some Assembly Theatre Company. Methot tells a sad story about our youth. As described by her, young people today have to face many struggles, including issues with mental health and bullying as well as thoughts of suicide or self-harm. But,…

Music with a message

“We’re kind of like a family band at this point. These people have been in my life musically and personally for a long time,” says Malcolm Aiken, trumpeter and co-founder of Mazacote. Mazacote is performing at the Vancouver World Music Festival on April 26, 2018 at Guilt & Co, GroundUp at 10 p.m.–1 a.m. Who…

Accidental tattoo artists

The Vancouver Tattoo and Culture show will be at Vancouver Convention Centre in Canada Place, Hall C on Apr. 20–22. With almost everyone nowadays having at least one tattoo, it is hard to believe a time when being a tattoo artist was not seen as a good profession. Two artists who saw the possibilities in…

More than just plants

“I like introducing people to plants they’ve been walking past – sometimes for years –but never really seen or met before,” says Rebecca Graham, facilitator of the Urban Food & Fibre walk, which will be taking place Apr. 14 at Coquitlam Heritage. “Most of us are completely disconnected from nature these days – and even…

A conversation with Lee Maracle

As part of the New Legends of Vancouver Author Readings, author Lee Maracle will be reading from her latest book, My Conversations with Canadians, at the Vancouver Public Library (VPL)’s Central Branch on Apr. 22. Written in the Notes application on her iPhone, this collection of prose essays started as a pipe dream for Maracle that…

Unleash your best: fundraiser for Rohingya refugees

The first photography exhibition of Marco Francesco Lilliu was unveiled April 5 in the cultural playground of Commercial Drive at The Drive Coffee Bar and runs the rest of the month. Lilliu, a family and business lawyer, is a Vancouver-based photographer showcasing his work after long time encouragement from friends and admirers. Lilliu’s donation of…

Complex characters drive a whodunit

Nine Dragons, a play set in 1920s Hong Kong, traces the journey of Tommy Lam, Hong Kong’s best detective, as he struggles against both the criminals and the colonial system that shape his job and his life. The show runs at the Gateway Theatre April 12–21, and is a co-production with Vertigo Theatre and the…