Toronto is ready for its artistic renaissance

mostly, they gather at places that are free.

they gather at places where they may have to buy a cup of coffee or a piece of cake, but then they might bring out some fruits picked from a garden. someone has potpourri.

t-dot renaissance, the brainchild of amanda parris, is being raised in the nooks and crannies of toronto and the proud aunties and uncles - using these terms interchangeably at times - are raising it urgently, politically and with integrity. t-dot is a nickname for the popular canadian city of toronto and renaissance is a focused, political, artistic resurgence.

more specifically, it is a coming together of voices of people of colour – people of colour who are working on a multi-disciplinary arts installation talking about diasporic journeys. when they speak of diasporic they talk about the layers of what it means to move here, have moved here, moving back here. here metaphorically and actually means the desire to find and form ‘home’.

the journeys are deliberate and furious. common themes of home, hybridised identities, generational security, lost and found spirituality move through visual art, dance, spoken word and film. the installation is interactive. visitors will be invited to travel through the stories of those who are a part of the t-dot renaissance artistes.

they prepared for the final installation piece by having artistic play dates. at these gatherings, one artist leads a workshop where everyone can explore a new art form. the benefit of these play dates not only produced art, ideas and discussion, it created the necessary bonds that artists need when exploring the journeys of the diaspora. they also created sacred space by inviting community elders to share their experiences of home, identity and the transnational in an elders dinner.

they have used their reverence for culture and ancestors to eke out their collective purpose:

• to make purposeful time for play
• to collaborate and build collective multi-arts installations
• to learn from collective mentors
• to mobilize resources for artistic opportunities for us all
• to create healing spaces for artists to push limits
• to redefine ritual and community and build solidarity between our villages

each point in t-dot renaissance’s collective purpose is important, but the last point being more unique in action and in merit around integrating varied cultural indigenous rituals to form community solidarity. it is a careful balancing act where the artistes come together not only from various cultures, but genders, races, spiritualities, sexualities and languages.

the show will feature work of artistes:

amanda parris
colanthony humphrey
natasha daniel
neil ‘logik’ donaldson
quentin ‘vercetty’ lindsay
nayani thiyagarajah
kim crosby
myk miranda
ciel lauren
keisha-monique simpson
david delisca
alana lowe
kayla carter
jamiena shah
alix muyoti

every thought manifested in action has been put through a rigorous process of collectivism. the final installation of this t-dot renaissance will be at Loft404, 263 Adelaide Street West, Toronto, Canada - December 3, 2011 and December 4, 2011. For more information on the installation and the artistes please visit tdotrenaissance.

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