By: Alison Wick, Arts Editor

Indian Summer Festival at Woodward’s, July 9 and 10

The Indian Summer Festival, of which SFU is a founding partner, runs annually at the beginning of July and features both local and international South Asian artists. Three events will be held at SFU Woodwards this week: a presentation from author Amitav Ghosh on July 9, a lecture from author Deborah Baker the evening of July 10, and a comedy show the late evening of July 10. 

Amitav Ghosh recently published a non-fiction work titled The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable, which calls readers to think critically of the legacy and world we are leaving for our future generations. This event is held in conjunction with SFU Vancouver’s 30th anniversary celebrations. Ghosh’s presentation will be followed by a conversation with Maureen Maloney, a professor in SFU’s School of Public Policy.

Deborah Baker is an American non-fiction author whose lecture recounts the stories of a series of American writers who traveled to India in the 20th century. The talk, called The Beats in India, refers to the literary generation of young people in the 1950s and 60s interested in anticonformity and personal freedom, called the “Beat Generation.”

Following her talk, the separately ticketed Trigger Me This brings together Canadian comics to discuss the complexity of offensive comedy. Half stand-up and half audience participation, comics discuss the lines between humorously offensive jokes and toxic speech in the world of comedy.

Amitav Ghosh on ‘The Great Derangement’ is Tuesday, July 9, at 8 p.m. and advance tickets are $25 for the public and $15 for students. The Beats in India with Deborah Baker is July 10 at 6 p.m., advance tickets are $30 for the public and $22 for students. Trigger Me This is July 10 at 8 p.m. and advance tickets are $20 for the public and $15 for students. 

All tickets can be purchased online through their respective Woodward’s event pages. Prices for all three events will be higher at the door.

Medicine for a Nightmare (they called, we responded) Exhibition Responses July 9 and 10

Nep Sidhu’s travelling exhibition opened a month ago at SFU’s Audain Gallery and has been received with both praise and controversy. SFU Galleries have been putting on lectures and performances in conjunction with the show and this week the last two performances will be held in the Audain Gallery. These are co-presented by the Indian Summer Festival.

On July 9, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., Toronto-based musician Gurpreet Chana will be giving a talk and performance, Omnipresence Through the Instrumental. Using a multimedia mix of instruments from different cultures and time periods, Chana “invokes sounds of time-honoured traditions for infinite possibilities of the ancient and the now,” according to SFU Galleries.

The next day, July 10, from 6 to 8 p.m., Chana will be returning to the gallery to perform a response to the exhibition. This performance, entitled Kirtan, is a participatory musical performance in response to both the historical context of the exhibition and the exhibition itself. SFU Galleries writes that the title comes from traditions in the Sikh faith: “Kirtan is a means of musically transforming a community gathering into a sangat, which is a form of fellowship specific to the Sikh faith that is open to all, for all.” This gathering of people and cultural connection is what this performance hopes to do in connection to the exhibit.

Talk and Performance: Omnipresence through the Instrumental with Gurpreet Chana is Tuesday, July 9, at 6 p.m. and Kirtan (exhibition response): Come As You Are / Medicine for a Nightmare with Gurpreet Chana is Wednesday, July 10, at 6 p.m. Both performances will take place in the Audain Gallery and neither require tickets or RSVP.

A Learning Circle on Indigenous Graphic Novels, Art, and Storytelling July 11

This Friday, the Indigenous Reconciliation Council and Equity Studies in Education Program from SFU’s Faculty of Education is sponsoring a free evening of Indigenous graphic novels at the Aboriginal Friendship Centre. Indigenous graphic novelists will be present to talk about the art of storytelling through comics, including Cole Pauls, Leena Minifie, and others to be announced. 

Cole Pauls is a Tahltan artist interested in language revitalization and community connection through comics. He has written the zine-become-book-soon-to-become-movie Pizza Punks as well as the language revitalization comic series Dakwäkãda Warriors. In this second series, Pauls creates two Indigenous superheroes whose aesthetic and style draw from both sci-fi and Tahltan Culture.

Leena Minifie is a Gitxaala and British film and video artist who has worked across Canada for APTN, CBC, and other independent productions. She curated the exhibition and book When Raven Became Spider which, as she says in a curatorial statement for the exhibition, “blurs the line between modern oral stories and contemporary pop art” and reimagines Indigenous tricksters and other beings through the visual language of superhero comics.

A Learning Circle on Indigenous Graphic Novels, Art, and Storytelling will be held at the Aboriginal Friendship Centre at Hastings and Commercial on July 11 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. It is free but RSVP is required as there will be sushi, snacks, and door prizes. All are welcome to attend but Indigenous Youth are especially encouraged.