A scream for tolerance – Tsang Kin-Wah’s Canadian debut

“Everyone wanna be accepted and adored” is one of the sentences on the walls of the Onsite/Offsite Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition where Tsang Kin-Wah displays his anti-racist ideologies in elegant flower patterns. The Hong Kong-based visual artist is famous around the world for his so-called “wall paper art,” in which he weaves his messages into…

Vesak: A festival of new beginnings

Buddhists all over the world are celebrating the Vesak festival this month, in which they commemorate the Buddha’s birth and passing into Nirvana. Vancouver’s Tisdall Park will be the stage of the third BC Vesak Festival on May 28, organized by a joint committee of representatives from 50 Buddhist temples across the world. Surrey-based Buddhist…

Learning Through the Arts (LTTA): a refuge for refugees

Maher Bahloul, University of British Columbia (UBC)’s visiting linguistics professor from The American University of Sharjah, Dubai, has constructed a Learning Through the Arts (LTTA) proposal for refugees. The concept of Bahloul’s proposal Meaningful Integration of Syrian Refugees: Targeting the Artists is based on several factors, including the recent arrival of Syrian Refugees in Canada…

A little bit of Vienna in Vancouver

A touch of Vienna social housing is coming to the Museum of Vancouver. Starting May 17,the Vancouver Viennese artist collective Urban Subjects are collaborating with Austrian curators Wolfgang Förster and William Menkin to install a new two-month long exhibit at the MOV. The Vienna Model: Housing in the 21st Century will present a glimpse into…

Vancouver’s heritage shaped by many faces

The public lecture series Shaping Vancouver 2017: Reshaping Conversations on Heritage delves into the diverse cultures that shape our experience of place in Vancouver. “It’s these diverse cultures that influence the growth of Vancouver,” says Bill Yuen, one of the talk organizers and the manager for Heritage Vancouver Society. “Our heritage is shaped by living…

Documentary shines light on repair cafés

FIXED! is a short documentary that was inspired by the rise of ‘repair cafés’ in local communities around the world. The movement initially began in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and quickly became a phenomenon. At a repair café, volunteers gather to fix broken items from the public for free. These items include electronics, small appliances, jewelry, clothing…

Looking for identity through history

Deconstructing Diaspora: Institute of Asian Art Inaugural Symposium will be taking place at the Vancouver Art Gallery May 18–19. As part of the Marking Place Speaker Series, artist Jin-me Yoon will be giving a talk traversing the 26 years of her practice, exploring ideas of diaspora, nationalism, migration and displacement. Yoon is a visual arts…

Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia

An upcoming exhibit at the UBC Museum of Anthropology (MOA) explores the significance of written and spoken word across diverse cultures in Asia. Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia, which runs May 11–Oct. 9, encompasses a variety of written forms reinterpreted into visual art and includes works ranging from the ancient Sumerian cuneiform…

Celebrating Tagore’s confluence of cultures

The Vancouver Tagore Society is hosting its 3rd annual spring festival at Surrey City Hall on Saturday May 20 to pay tribute to Bengali Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. The festival includes dance, music and poetry and will feature many different multicultural performances. Some of the performaces include Carnatic vocal music by Lakshmi Menon with Sayenden,…

Different cultures, different brush styles

For artist Winifred Lee, painting has always been an interest but she didn’t have the opportunity to pursue her dream in her native Taiwan. Lee, who moved to Canada in 1977 with the intention of providing a better education for her three sons, says there weren’t many Chinese artists or painting clubs in Richmond at…

Kid’s science show shines lights on Indigenous science

Coyote’s Crazy Smart Science Show stands out from competitors, especially for First Nations youth, with its central focus on Indigenous audience. The show, created by Loretta Todd and team, is broadcasted on Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) television network from Feb. 11 to May 6,2017. Todd is an independent Indigenous filmmaker who also produces television…

Book Unlaunch: The Muslimah who Fell to Earth

Saima S. Hussain, editor of The Muslimah Who Fell to Earth started collecting stories on Muslim women after a work colleague suggested she was her only Muslim friend.  “Our conversation made me realize that we don’t really know each other,” says Hussain. “We live side by side, but we don’t really live together in Canada.…

Searching for home

A diner threatened by corporate takeover. A group of youths determined to keep the place they see as an integral part of their community.  This is the setting of Home, a new and original play from the Some Assembly Arts Society that will be performed from May 3-6. Written and performed by youth, it is…