See more Portraits of Brief Encounters.
photos // dutil.’s #FadeFebruary2014
A few snaps from dutil.’s denim contest on Saturday, February 20. Thanks to dutil. for the invite and thanks to Hush Magazine and Rawr Denim for sharing your judging expertise with us. Congrats to the winners and a special thanks to sadall the participants for showing us their butts. 
Portraits of Brief Encounters // Cole Nowicki
Small prairie towns are no place for a fervid skateboarder. “The roads are crappy and there are no hills,” says ColeNowicki of his hometown Lac la Biche, Alberta.
The 24-year old came to Vancouver four years ago in pursuit of greener pastures (AKA smoother concrete) and settled in the Commercial Drive neighbourhood—in great proximity to the city’s skateparks, but also in prime people-watching territory.
In September 2013, Cole started documenting his “run-ins, pass-bys and overhears” with Vancouverites—capturing their quips and quirks, using them as a platform for reminiscence or introspection. He posts 2 or 3 original sketches each week on his Tumblr, “Portraits of Brief Encounters.” It’s what might happen if you placed Humans of New York in Vancouver, and replaced its photos and overt sincerity with a sharpie and a healthy dose of irony. Cole’s keen observations and wry sense of humour make Portraits a resonant visceral experience. The result is poetry, both written and visual.
“I’ve always liked making things—drawing painting, making figurines out of twist ties. And I like storytelling so this combination of art and text seemed like a natural progression,” he explains.
Inspired by fellow skateboarder and contemporary artist Ed Templeton, Cole loves the connection between skateboarding and art: “Skateboarding is my passion—the longest relationship I’ve ever been in—but it’s also where I gather creative inspiration.” He combines the two on his skate/art site: sundaydrivedigest.com
Cole will be creating an original sketch for Sad Mag once a week, but in between you can follow his Brief Encounters project on Tumblr and Instagram.
Designer Beats // Beyonce Edition
Get ready for our Beyoncé Tribute Party with this mix I found while cleaning my apartment! No, it’s good, I promise. Though, there is no actual Beyoncé on it but that shouldn’t matter because Beyoncé is a frame of mind.A maven of music, a food snob and a stickler when it comes to good design, those of us who know Pam regard her as a passionate person for all things creative. Pam received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University of Art& Design in 2006 and her diploma with honours in Illustration and Design from Capilano University’s IDEA Program.
When Pam isn’t doing her design magic for Sad Mag, she enjoys being a soprano diva in the Kingsgate chorus, making elaborate meals and then eating them, and making daily playlists for your listening pleasure.
Finding the Perfect Jeans // An Interview with dutil
It’s difficult to find a pair of jeans that work for all your wobbly bits without giving you saggy bum, mom waist or love handles. Dutil denim helps you avoid asking your partner with the struggle by finding the perfect pair for your body type. Specializing in both women and men’s jeans, they have become a leading supplier of quality denim in Canada with a Vancouver store that opened in 2006, and a Toronto store that opened in 2011. They carry various types of cuts such as skinny, straight and boyfriend, in addition to different types of styles like low-rise and high-rise. The best part is that they come in different raw and washed denim colours, so the options are legitimately endless! You can see over 25 brands such as Levis, Cheap Monday, Naked and Famous, Baldwin, and more at the Gastown location on West Cordova and Cambie.
I got to chat with Thalia Stopa from dutil denim to discuss everything behind everyone’s favourite material. (Make sure to read til the end—there’s a contest down there!)
Sad Mag: Why did you decide to focus solely on denim?
Thalia Stopa: To focus on one thing gives us the ability to know so much about it. When people shop here, it’s almost like a personal shopping experience. We know so much about denim and how everything fits, so we can easily steer people in the right direction.
SM: Tell me about the shopping experience at dutil.
TS: Everyone comes in for something different so we try to have something for everyone. Someone will come in, they’ll have an idea of what they like. We’ll grab a bunch of brands for them to try. They come out, and we give them our honest feedback on what works and what doesn’t. Everyone’s has his or her body issues, so we’re really good at trying everything on beforehand. The only way to know if something really fits is to have it on your body. We have all that knowledge, and we use it to help people.
SM: What are some of the more unique brands that you carry?
TS: We tend to give start up brands a chance. Like Wood and Iron, it’s a brand new brand from a little mining town out of Quebec. It’s their first production run ever. Same with Tortoise, a brand out of LA that has limited quantities. The jeans are made by hand.
SM: What are the best selling jeans at the moment?
TS: For women’s, it’s boyfriend cut jeans, they’re back with a vengeance. We have a boyfriend/skinny hybrid, which I love! For men, a longer rise and a tapered leg is in but with a lot of room in the thighs.
SM: What is the upcoming trend in men and women’s denim?
TS: I’m definitely seeing a lot more tears, distressed, and repair details. In the past few years, it’s been steered clear from due to liability issues when people are trying on the jeans. For men’s, it’s more washes. Our store used to be mostly raw denim, but now it’s 50/50.
SM: What should we look forward at the Saturday February 22nd event?
TS: There’s still a strong subculture of denimheads that are devoted to buying the smallest size possible, breaking them in and never washing them. The jeans are customized to their body. For example if someone has had a wallet in his or her back pocket for years, you’ll see an imprint of that. Basically we’re gonna see people who are passionate about the whole process, people who are proud of their subculture and what they’ve done. It’s wearable pieces of art.
With hopes of adding tailoring and additional artists on their record label, dutil denim is on the way to becoming a pioneer denim supplier for North America, and maybe even the world. Make sure to follow dutil denim on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more denimhead filled fun! Make sure to stop by their store on Saturday Februrary 22nd to either enter the Fade February contest, or watch our awesome Sadmag judges decide which top three denimheads win a free pair of jeans.
There’s also a contest! Share your favourite style of denim (skinny, highwaisted, bellbottom—the options are endless!) in the comment section on this post (with your email too), and you’ll have a chance to win a $100 gift card from dutil. Winner will be announced on Sunday, February 23.
Mr. Gay Canada chats with Sad Mag
Christepher Wee, Mr. Gay Canada 2014 is an energetic and amazingly positive guy. He thinks of himself primarily as an educator and uses his success in modeling, acting and pageantry as a vehicle for his activism. Shannon Waters caught up with Christepher to talk about his new title, what he thinks about the Olympics and what he plans on doing next.
Sad Mag: Who are you?
Christepher Wee: I’m just a collective contribution of everything since my childhood—my parents, teachers, education, upbringing, the things I’ve learned. That’s who I am today. And every time I experience something, like this competition and the people I meet — well, you grow a little more every day. I live life just as a normal human being, doing the best I can, being a humanitarian. I’m going through life being the best human I can. Christepher Wee is a collective being of all of the positive things that have gone through my life.
SM: Tell me about the Mr. Gay Canada competition.
CW: I didn’t actually know there was a Mr. Gay Canada. Since I was young, I’ve always loved pageants. I always watched them with my mom—Ms. Universe, Ms. World, and all that. I was watching pageants on YouTube and I’d always known these ladies have a platform for charity and I wondered if I could do something like that. You see, as a teacher, I knew I could influence my students but the range kind of stops outside of your class or your school. I realized as an actor my voice was more powerful and I could influence more through my TV shows or as the spokesperson for a particular cause. I watched Ms. America and the winner, you know, was of East Indian descent and the runner up of Chinese descent, and I thought, wow, what a change! What a celebration of diversity! And then I watched Ms. World and I wondered…so I Googled Mr. World. And I found out they do have one and I was kind of blown away. So I wondered, do they have a Mr. Gay World? And they do. So I applied and the next thing I knew, I was in the Mr. Gay Canada pageant. I didn’t really expect anything of it—I thought I could use it as a platform to do what I wanted to do. I thought it would be a good place because the press would be there and lots of different organizations would be there and I could make connections and network within the community to do what I wanted to do.
SM: And you came out on top!
CW: I came out on top! I’m the first Asian winner of Mr. Gay Canada. I’m also the first competitor to win all of the accolades. I won Best National Costume—the winner wears their costume at the Mr. Gay World competition. I won with a Chief Justice costume (from the Supreme Court of Canada). I thought it would be a good costume because Canada is so progressive in its human rights; we’ve always been a leader in that, that it would be great. You know, instead of the usual, like a Mountie or a hockey player. The Supreme Court Justice costume speaks to a national philosophy, a belief behind what we’re striving for in the world. I didn’t expect to win—there were so many other amazing costumes—but I did.
I also won Mr. Congeniality. All of the guys were so great so the fact that I was voted Mr. Congeniality was really touching.
And then there was People’s Choice award. I was a bit worried about that because, having just come back to Canada, I didn’t think I would have Vancouver or BC voting for me. My group of friends is mainly in Asia so I messaged them to tell them I was a finalist in Mr. Gay Canada and asked them to vote for me and to get the word out and I was overwhelmed. My Facebook account had maybe 800 or 900 people on it and then every day it would increase by 100, 150. And I received messages and messages. I had so many messages from Asia, from strangers, from people I didn’t even know. And then I received messages from people in Saudia Arabia and Venezuela and all over the world—messages of support saying, “You represent us,” “You are our voice,” “You are our hope.”
Like I said before, I try to live my life just as a human being. I’m not doing this because I’m Asian, to benefit the Asian community, or even to benefit the LGBTQ community. I’m doing it because it will benefit all humankind. So it really hit me when I realized that I am a representative for people.
SM: So now that you’ve got the title and the platform, what are you looking to do with it?
CW: My platform has always been with youth because I teach. In Canada, we have the Gay/Straight Alliance and in BC, we have Out in Schools. But I’d like to build on that—I think we need support programs in every school. I bet every school has an annual club and every school has a student council and now, pretty much every school has an anti-bullying campaign with the pink T-shirt day. So why not make a club in every school that celebrates diversity?
I would like to start High Five Diversity. Little kids are taught to high five when they do something good—it has a positive association. The word diversity also has positive associations and lacks the stigma of, say, tolerance or inclusiveness. Instead of saying, ‘Let’s be inclusive,’ let’s celebrate our diversity. Let’s learn from our diversity, let’s educate each other on our differences and let’s celebrate them. Diversity should be a part of everyday life. And I think we’re at the point where we can make that shift and make diversity a part of education and let kids feel safe and secure and be who they are.
I’ve started Hi5Diversity on Twitter—@WeeChristepher and #hi5diversity—but I want to see it in schools. I’d like to create a Facebook page as well, where people, especially kids, can upload artwork or poems or whatever that celebrate diversity.
In the meantime, I’m in touch with GSA and Pride Education and Out in Schools, to see how they can use my sash for their cause. Because this is something that I want to do long term and a year is just going to fly by. After a year, when you’re no longer Mr. Gay Canada, how loud is your voice? I want to spend this year being very active.
As soon as I got back from Whistler, I emailed Tim Stevenson (Vancouver City Council member) in Sochi and told him, “I’m the new Mr. Gay Canada, I want to see how I can contribute.” I didn’t think he would respond. But within hours, Maureen Douglas responded and said, “Tim got your email, he’s really busy right now but he’s interested in getting in touch with you when he gets back from Sochi.” So I’m really excited about that!
SM: Let’s talk about the Olympics. Have you been watching them?
CW: I watched a bit of the opening ceremony yesterday with friends. One of my friends asked me a really good question. He asked me if I support the Olympics. I said I do support the Olympics and the athletes, especially the athletes. Because they have worked so hard and this is a time for them to show their excellence, their unity and what they’ve worked so hard for. This is something we need to celebrate. But I don’t support what’s going on in Russia. Those are two different things. I actually think the fact that the Olympics are being held there is fantastic as previously there was talk of a boycott. I don’t think boycotting is the right route, necessarily, especially in this case. Here you have the global media on site at the location of horrible repression. What better way to draw attention, to get it out into the world, than to have the world’s athletes there and the press that goes with that? Maybe the world unified and all of those voices unified can change a few politicians’ minds, can change the country. Maybe. But at least it’s better than having a boycott. I think when we have social issues, they need to be addressed and out there. We need to build awareness for it and build a discourse in every country for it.
Sometimes I think we kind of forget that our pioneers got us where we are today. That’s why I can sit here and have that freedom to say what I want and to wear a sash that says Mr. Gay Canada. We’ve moved a long ways but that doesn’t mean we can take it for granted. Depending on who is in power, things can regress very quickly. I don’t think we can take it for granted at all, that freedom, and I think we need to be very aware of what is happening with our global neighbours because what’s happening to them could come around and affect us. And these days, with social media, we are so interconnected that we can make a difference in each other’s countries.
SM: Have you seen some of the athletes at the Olympics sporting LGBTW supportive gear?
CW: It gives me goosebumps, all the way to my head. It’s exciting. That’s why I said; we need to have presence there. Those rainbows—the world knows what the rainbow means, what it represents. And they know what pink represents and what the red ribbon represents. We all know those symbols and when they see them, people make that connection. That’s why I think it’s great that we’re not boycotting the Olympics. We should celebrate what these athletes are doing. We shouldn’t condone what’s going on in Russia—we need to speak up—but the athletes are there to show their dedication and their excellence. They’re great ambassadors. It just goes to show that we can be united and maybe we can get a few politicians to change their mindsets so that our brothers and sisters in Russia can have the freedom to live. Just the right to live and not be beaten up or spat on. I think it’s about more than just the LGBTQ community. It’s also about bullying. Because if it can happen to the LGBTQ community, it can happen to other communities too. Whoever is living in a country and is identified as not belonging or fitting in. specific criteria.
SM: You’ve moved around a lot—tell me about your travels and your time in Asia.
CW: I traveled a lot as a kid. My parents made a point of taking us on a trip pretty much every summer. It ‘s something I’ve always been interested in: traveling and seeing different cultures. When I left Vancouver and went to Asia, I was teaching International Baccalaureate Art and I wanted to go and study Asian art to be able to incorporate Asian art and art history into my program. So I took a leave of 6 months…that then turned into years. While I was in Asia, I was discovered for modeling. And then the modeling took off and led to TV. TV took off and led to film and I found a whole new existence I’d never thought about it. I found that what I could do with it was amazing. As an educator, you always have that inner drive to influence and have an impact. I know that kind of sounds cliché, like world peace, but I think that’s the way I was brought up. It’s been my mentality since I was young: to make a positive difference and to be a role model. So when I found a bit of fame and found that I could use my voice to impact so many, it drove me to become even more involved.
SM: It sounds a bit as if you saw modeling and acting as a means to an end, so to speak. Was that always how you saw it or did that change over time?
CW: It was that way from the start. At first, I was doing my art research and doing a bit of modeling and it was good, the money was good. But when you’re modeling, people don’t really know your name—they associate you with a brand. I knew people recognized me and there was an element of celebrity there but it wasn’t until film, when my name was out there and people started saying, “That’s Christepher Wee,” that’s when I realized that they really knew me. That’s when I started to do a lot of interviews. I’d done interviews before as a model, but these were much more intimate and I realized that I had a lot of options. Then I started to be approached by local newspapers to write as a guest journalist about social issues. I was approached by Teen Magazine! Charities would ask me to just show up to their events. Some people would get really excited about going to the fancy parties and stuff but to me it’s just a job. I go to the shoot because that’s my job. I’m in a TV show because that’s my job and I want to do the best I can at every job I have. I don’t think, “Oh, I’m famous, I’m better than you,” because I’m still Christepher Wee. Before I started doing any of this and who I am now, it’s still Christepher Wee. Nothing has changed in the core. But now I have the ability to use my name to do something and so I’m going to use it.
SM: Do you have any particular role models for your activism?
CW: So many! So many people have gotten us to where we are today. People in science and arts and languages and technology, humanitarianism and social work—it’s taken people in all of those areas to get us to where we are today.
I love quotes. When I find a quote that really speaks to me, I Google who wrote it or said it to learn about them. I find out about their contributions and so I’m always finding new role models.
Chris Morrissey of the Rainbow Refugee Association, was at the Mr. Gay Canada Competition. She spoke to us about refugee issues and international LGBTQ issues. That’s someone who has done amazing work! And Ellen DeGeneres or even Obama, those are the people that I hope to emulate. They’re my ah-ha! moments. I’m hoping that soon I will be able to be someone’s ah-ha! moment. I think I’m getting there, some of my former students have told me I’ve inspired them. I told my students that I was a finalist in Mr. Gay Canada. At first, I didn’t but eventually it got out – and they all gave me their support!
I think if I can leave some kind of impression on people, they way that all of these other people have left an impression on me, that’s a worthy goal. If everyone can leave ah-ha! moments for others, instead of negative impacts, I think our world would be so different. In terms of what’s going on in Russia right now, people are spreading these videos of violence against LGBTQ people around, trying to raise awareness. But some people who see those videos won’t be educated – they may go the opposite way and think, if others are doing it, why can’t I? I think there are two sides to the activism coin – why not be on the positive side?
SM: So it sounds like you’ve got a lot on your plate as Mr. Gay Canada this year. Do you know what comes next?
CW: Well, Mr. Gay World is coming up in August so I have to prepare for that. It’s not just about your good looks or nice body—it’s about what you bring to the organization and what you can do. The past Mr. Gay World’s have been amazing ambassadors for their platforms—they’re inspirations. The winner for this year will have big shoes to fill so I’m working towards that, towards making the judges know that I’m doing this for more than glamour. I’ve done that, I know what it’s like to have celebrity and to be in the papers. It’s irrelevant to me. It’s what you do behind the name and the title that matters. So I want to be really prepared for that and, regardless of the results, I know that, being on the world stage, my voice will be bigger. And if I win? Wow, that’s another sash that will launch me to a different level in terms of what I can do. I’m excited! I’m not getting my hopes up that I can win because, regardless, just making it there to the world stage is a win and it already gives what I want to do a bigger platform.
You can follow Christepher Wee on Twitter (@ChristepherWee) and on Facebook. He also holds the Twitter handle @WeeChristepher as a platform for his hi5Diversity program.
Vancouver Notables // Jordanna Hardy
With her unique ivory silk dress featured in our latest Fantasy issue, Jordanna Hardy is hitting the fashion market by storm at the young age of 22. Recently featured in pRIZE Magazine, FaceON UK, and The Scene PG, this Prince George native decided to move to Vancouver after being accepted into the Blanche Macdonald Fashion program. First fearful of the big city, Hardy excelled in the Fashion diploma program and released a line like no other.
This talented designer decided to take the historic tale of King Arthur and his Knights at the Round table to a whole new level. She refurbished the idea of chain mail with modern flare. The fantastical line features evening gowns that have a gothic romanticism about them you can only dream of. She puts an emphasis on combining her European heritage with history, film, and fantasy, while using contrasting fabrics and textures.
Hardy has plans to hit the Vancouver fashion scene head on by releasing a second line in the near future. I had the chance to sit with the inspiring artist to discuss her past, present and future:
Sad Mag: What inspired you to create designs based on King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table?
Jordanna Hardy: That’s a good question! I actually have British heritage, I’ve always been a big fantasy and literature buff. I’m not sure why, but I wanted to do something with chainmail. Coincidentally, there was a TV show at the time called Merlin, It featured young King Arthur and of course, Merlin. Looking at the costumes inspired me to do more reading.
SM: We honestly love all your pieces, especially the dress featured in the latest Fantasy issue. What materials do you usually look for when you’re in sewing designs?
JH: Even though I’m starting a new collection right now, I try to be consistent. I look for 100% silk and 100% wool. I don’t like chemical blends, the quality isn’t always there. I try to keep it simple with those types of fabrics.
SM: What does the future hold for you, an up and coming designer?
JH: Hopefully good things! There is so much going on at the moment that I’m taking it one day at a time. I really want to get my own line off the ground, that’s definitely my primary goal.
After a two-hour sit down with Hardy, I knew it wouldn’t be the last time. Her kind-nature and friendly smile made me excited for her future. She is a gem of a person, and I can’t wait for her next collection. If you’re interested in finding out more about Jordanna Hardy, check out her website, or Facebook.
Dispatches // Talia Tanaka of Love Medals
Handcrafted in Vancouver and featured in our latest Fantasy issue of Sad Mag, Talia Tanaka puts a new twist on luxury and environmentally friendly.
We all have heroes in our lives that we admire immensely. It’s hard to give a gift that expresses how much someone means to you—be it your grandmother who mails you hand-knitted socks every winter even though she lives in Florida or your best friend who shows up to your house with Ben and Jerry’s, and the latest George Clooney movie because you had a bad day. These people are heroes in your eyes and you love them endlessly. Love Medal celebrates the people you love most in your life with a simple “thank you.”
Creator Talia Tanaka graduated from Emily Carr University of Art and Design before founding Love Medals. After a few years of researching jewelry ideas in Japan, Tanaka came back with the idea of Love Medals, pieces that “[celebrate] relationships amongst family, friends, lovers, and even ourselves.” Love Medals combines luxurious Japanese ribbons with ethical Canadian diamonds to create the most distinguished pieces of jewelry that are cast in 14k gold, sterling silver or bronze. She uses the highest quality materials for all her medals, necklaces, earrings, bracelets and pins while staying eco-friendly.
What first began as a company out of her parent’s basement has become a socially conscious jewelry line Tanaka is proud of. Love Medals is located in a 100-year-old studio space that is well equipped with a recycling program where materials such as wax, solutions, and metal scraps are reused, and packaging is either recycled or biodegraded. To top it all off, Love Medals refuses to use any animal based products, and plans to use reclaimed metals in the future.
Sad Mag: Your designs are very unique; we’ve never seen anything like them! How did you come up with the idea to incorporate medals in your line?
Talia Tanaka: Thank you. Well the medals are actually the core of my line and everything else is inspired from those designs. The idea for the medals came about quite simply, but grew into something much more meaningful and profound. I was living in Japan at the time and decided to start my own jewelry line. It was important for me to try and create something different and unique. I came across these vintage war medals and was instantly drawn to them. The inner ‘hippie’ in me thought, “These are great. But they should be Love Medals!” I made some quick sketches in my book, and when revisiting them later, began to see a much larger intention behind the idea.
I truly believe love is what makes the world go ’round. We are all here to learn how to Love, which is not necessarily an easy thing to do! Love is not just a romantic notion, but also one of acceptance, patience, peace and understanding. Love Medals are a special way to acknowledge appreciation for all those things with the people we care about.
SM: We noticed you donate some of your profits to Invisible Children why is this foundation important to you?
TT: There are many, many issues that are important to me, but Invisible Children was a good place to start. Part of Invisible Children’s objective is to stop the abduction of young African children for use as ‘child soldiers’. These children are forced to do horrific things and many suffer completely meaningless deaths. There’s a natural alignment between what Love Medals stands for and what Invisible Children hopes to achieve.
SM: Your line celebrates heroes, who do you consider the hero(es) in your life?
TT: That’s a great question! My personal definition of a hero is someone who actively and continuously challenges themselves to evolve past their own mental, physical and/or spiritual ‘limitations’, and is successful in doing so. I believe life presents all of us with opportunities to accept that challenge, and it’s not any easy task should we choose to accept. So I have great respect for anyone who takes on that journey. They are my heroes and inspiration. And of course my partner and my son, who motivate me to be the best I can be.
Love Medals has a blog called ‘Love Medal of Valour’ that reveals local heroes in the community who are socially conscious. In honour of all their hard work and outstanding help, they are awarded with a Love Medal Star lapel pin. If you have someone in your community that is deserving of a prestigious pin, please visit the Love Medals website or follow Love Medals on Facebook, and Twitter
Q and A // Vancouver Book Award Winner Amber Dawn
After attending the 2013 Mayor’s Arts Awards in December, Sad Mag correspondent Shazia Hafiz Ramji caught up with the fiery but modest writer, Amber Dawn, to discuss her genre-crossing memoir How Poetry Saved My Life, which won the 2013 Vancouver Book Award. Having garnered numerous awards, including the Lambda Award for her previous book, Sub Rosa, and an award-winning docuporn, Amber continues to achieve more—by retaining a candid, engaged stance in How Poetry Saved My Life. Read on to share Amber’s thoughts on what it means to be a “Hustler,” ways of living and healing in Vancouver, and the role of genre in being “emotionally accurate.”
Sad Mag: In a recent article about The Vancouver Book Award in The Globe and Mail, you told the Globe: “I usually don’t say I want to win something, but I really want this.” Congratulations on having your desire come true! Why did you really want to win the 2013 Vancouver Book Award?
Amber Dawn: I’ve had some dark days in Vancouver, and I made a promise to this city that if it took care of me that I’d take care of it. I’m keeping my promise in the ways that I know how: using my voice, volunteering, activism and ongoing learning. How Poetry Saved My Life shows aspects of this city that not everyone sees directly; however, I believe issues of sex work, risk and violence against women are palpable in every Vancouverites’ mind. We know that the number of missing and murdered women in this city is inexcusably high. We know that the city is changing in ways that causes homelessness to continue to rise. We all wonder what to do, and how to heal from the traumas we collectively feel or witness. I wrote my book in part because I wanted to remind Vancouverites that there is always something we can do, there is always some way we can heal.
SM: Even though your book is categorized as a memoir, you employ many genres. Why did you decide to use many genres?
AD: I did not start of by saying, “I want to write a mixed-genre prose and poetry book.” But as I wrote, I came to understand that my story couldn’t be told through a single prosaic “confessional memoir” chronological narrative—from inciting moment, to so-called rock-bottom, to redemption. Whose life is really like that? That memoir formula is far too tidy to tell most of our life stories. To be emotionally accurate and true to my experiences I needed to use poetry, essay and short memoir. I needed the dynamism of all three.
SM: Please discuss the decision making process around using the word “hustler” in the title of your book.
AD: I love the term “sex worker.” I love the history of that term—the history of explicitly naming sex work as work. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Margot St James and Carol Leigh, aka The Scarlot Harlot, two early San Francisco-based sex work activists who have taught me to take pride in the history of our movement. But my book and my identity are about more than just sex work. Class, survivorship and queerness are prominent themes in the book too (they can’t be separated). I felt “hustler” encompassed more of who I am. “Hustler” can mean to move through something or to take a gamble, a risk. Sure, I hustled as a sex worker. I also hustled my way through university. I’m hustling my way up the class ladder. I’ve hustled French women in a Parisian dyke bar …
SM: How do you feel now that you’ve won the 2013 Vancouver Book Award?
AD: What does it say about our City to name a scrappy, queer, sex worker memoir as the 2013 Book? I hope it says that Vancouver wants to be inclusive, broad-minded and vocal. I hope it says that Vancouver wants to hear from under-represented peoples—and that we’re not afraid of topics like sex, poverty and survival. With this hope, I feel awesome about winning. I want to high five everyone I see.
SM: What are you currently working on?
AD: I’m working on a magical realism novel called “Sodom Road Exit”—set in Crystal Beach, Ontario (the former site of Crystal Beach Amusement Park) during the years 1990 and 1991. After dropping out of the University of Toronto and racking up significant financial debt, my protagonist, Bailey, moves home to Crystal Beach to live with her mother. Her arrival coincides with the aftermath of the amusement park’s bankruptcy and closure, which leaves Crystal Beach a ghost town, both financially and literally. It’s a ghost story. Magic and ghosts (and a few sex workers, too).
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Follow Amber Dawn @AmberDawnWrites, keep apprised of independent publishing at Arsenal Pulp Press, @Arsenalpulp, and visit Shazia to keep cool @Shazia_R
Phantoms in the art world (and the front yard) // Interview with Jonathan Sutton
Phantoms in the Front Yard is an arts collective dedicated to the pursuance of figurative, representational forms. This is a unique intention today as contemporary artists flourish into new mediums, embracing abstraction, fragmentation, and concepts that live behind veils—or sometimes duvets.
Lots of people who aren’t interested in art tend to posit themselves as victim, expressing the naïve and arrogant ideals expressed in “my kid could do that”. There is a cultural aversion to artwork which does not obviate itself to the viewer straightforwardly.
While Phantoms in the Front Yard chooses to work with forms considered more traditional (figurative, representational paintings), they by no means slander the non-traditional forms and approaches that have largely come to define contemporary art today. They’ve simply worked to create their own place in it, hearkening to the potential in the ideals and approaches of times past. They attempt to breathe freshness into the recognizable figure, one that modernism deemed passé and left in its wake.
The group includes Jonathan Sutton, Jay Senetchko, Marcus Macleod, Michael Abraham, Jeremiah Birnbaum, Paul Morstad, in collaboration with curator Pennylane Shen. They just opened up a show at Leigh Square Community Arts Village called Phantoms, a sort-of retrospective which takes advantage of this large venue to reflect on their work as a collective in seven different shows over the past four and half years. Check it out before it closes on February 17th.
Sad Mag: What did it feel like to realize that your artistic expression was changing mediums, from theatre and performance to painting?
Jonathan Sutton: I was drawing and painting all along, and meanwhile acting was becoming less of a means than I had thought it was to express the things important to me. It had seemed an obvious way to enter into an imagined space was to perform in it. I find though, that more space exists for me in the solitary arena of my small studio, and with far fewer stops between ideas and their developed expression.
SM: How did the group come together?
JS: Jay Senetchko and Marcus Macleod initiated the idea and fairly soon there was a core group. We are also committed to working with other artists in both the short and long term.
SM: The group’s artist statement mentions, “Figurative art has become the phantom of the fine art world, haunting Modernism and Postmodernism with its ties to a classical tradition, refusing to be dismissed, ignored, or forgotten.” Can you speak a little more about the current status of the figurative and representational in contemporary art from your perspective?
JM: It would be easier—for any of us in the group—to speak a lot more about that! Here goes a little …
We all have wide-ranging tastes and references, but a common thread is our respect for artists who reckon with history and traditions as they pave new directions in their own work and era. Jay Senetchko has written eloquently on the over-rating of originality as an end in itself, and we believe the more profound contributions are to be made by artists who distinguish their own voices within the larger dialogue of art history, and in doing so move the whole dialogue forward. It is counter to this process to accord any particular status to the figurative or representational per se—whether over-prioritizing these forms or shunning them. Our particular collective has gathered around an existing interest in figurative work and within this we have a very broad mandate, but this is not to say that we place it above other approaches in our appreciation of art in general. Our decision to embed the figure in our mandate is that there is much territory still to explore here—and create—and we are excited to share our discoveries. Now this position happens to have much counterpoint in contemporary trends that would dismiss the figure, or painting and drawing altogether. We didn’t decide to commit to figurative work to create a reaction to this line of thinking though; we were doing this work in any case and couldn’t find substance in trends that would place it outside contemporary art.
Representation will continually reinvent its own aesthetics because people and our surroundings are changing quickly enough—not to mention artistic media and technologies—that even straight journalistic depiction will continue to reflect novelty. Brian Boulton’s graphite portraits, to name one example, and a local one, reflect accuracy and fidelity of rendering, while looking arrestingly current and familiar by virtue of the very contemporary figures they examine.
SM: This idea is quite noticeably linked to the name of the collective. Can you tell us about the inspiration for the name? Why “the Front Yard”?
JS: We recognize these tendencies that would hold figurative representation, and traditional media associated with it, as phantoms in the art world. Even within this reading, which isn’t everyone’s, and certainly not ours—we’re interested in ushering such phantoms into full view.
SM: Part of your philosophy as a group is based on the idea that representational, figurative art is easier for people to find connection with because the elements are familiar and easily identifiable. However, lots of this kind of work also comes equipped with strong concepts and compositional complexity. How do you deal with the challenge to make people see as far as possible into the work?
JS: One aspect of the work in this collective that really impresses me is how often I see a balancing of immediate visual impact against dense underpinnings of suggestion, narrative, reference, concept, and philosophy. I’d say we find in figurative art an irrepressible history, and in the best cases, universality, without necessarily finding or seeking ease of connection. Aquinas held wholeness, harmony, and radiance to be requirements of beauty; these would strike a viewer as strongly upon the first impression as through prolonged scrutiny. We work to weave complex and diverse thinking into one image whose first impression is complete and integrated. We admire the kind of conceptual and compositional complexity you mention, in all manner of art forms whether figurative or not; in fact another layer to our mandate is to incorporate non-representational influences in our own representations. The act of depicting one or more bodies is constantly invigorated by ever-new responses that non-figurative works invite, be they abstract expressionism, collage, photo-conceptualism, or anything else.
SM: Since 2010, Phantoms in the Front Yard has been developing shows based on themes initiated by one of the members, which then prompts the creation of works by each of the others. There is also a lecture component, where you bring in an expert on the topic at hand. Why is dialogue important to you as a group?
JS: There is a beautiful solitude in creating and beholding a piece of art. We also want to include viewers, beyond this, in the spirit of dialogue and exchange that we invest in our processes as a collective. The development of each show starts and continues around our own conversations, research sharing, critiques of works as they progress, and general interaction, even while most of the time we spend on the pieces themselves is solitary. We want these parallel lines of private engagement and public interaction to run through the whole exhibition experience.
SM: What do you hope to achieve with this show?
JS: This particular grouping of pieces, in this space, with the artists, viewers, and interactions that create the exhibition will only come together in this way through this event. Our intention is to do the same thing a single work of art should do – create a lasting impression of a fleeting moment.
Phantoms is on now and runs until February 17th at Leigh Square Community Arts Village. Gallery hours are Mon, Wed 10:00am to 6:30pm; Tue, Thu 10:00am to 7:00pm; Friday 9:30am to 6:30pm; and Saturday 2:00pm to 4:00pm; Closed on Sundays. 1100-2253 Leigh Square (Behind City Hall) Port Coquitlam, BC, V3C 3B8. Call 604-927-8442 for more info. Please note the show is displayed in two adjacent buildings.