Proud of Pride in Art

BASYA LAYE

Vancouver is known for its vibrant and diverse gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and, each B.C. Day long weekend, boasts a Pride Parade celebrating queer culture that draws crowds of more than half a million people. For the last decade, also in August, queer artists have had the opportunity to represent their community through their craft as part of the 18-day multidisciplinary Pride in Art Festival.

The festival began exclusively as a venue for visual artists to show their work. Since 2006, it has expanded to include performance art, both to expand the appeal and increase the participation from the broader community.

According to festival director, participating artist and Jewish community member Shaira Holman, Vancouver is "one of maybe six [cities] in the world where there are queer arts festivals like this that are happening," and believes that the festival "is putting Vancouver on the map for this kind of work."

In a phone interview with the Independent, Holman, a 20-year veteran of the art world, described preparing for this year's showcase of work by 28 artists.

"I got involved really to do what we've done, which is become a society and have the artist get a fee, rather than paying to put your art up. We're the only cultural workers that are expected to pay when we make work," said Holman. "Then you have to make work that is saleable – not necessarily work that is about arts, or about politics or about community involvement. The work that I do, which is not really that sellable – you know, when I'm dead my work will sell – but it's not something that people necessarily put up on their wall."

The theme for the 2009 festival is "Faerie Tales: Telling our Stories." According to the promotional materials, it serves as a challenge both to local artists and to audiences "to explore the symbols and archetypes that help to build queer identities and stories ... whether dark or light, serious or whimsical."

The festival promises to showcase work that is provocative and inspiring and provide space for discussions on identity, gender, sexuality, community and self-expression.

As to the personal nature of art, Holman admitted, "It's difficult sometimes, to be really out there, because my work is very personal and I have the feminist perspective of the personal is political and.... Because I consider myself a photo-based artist and not a photographer, where I'm not trying to do objective work, I'm a participant-observer. I do a lot of self-portraiture.... You know, there's putting yourself out there in a really big way that you don't necessarily want to do to others. It's really so much about my life and the life around me."

Holman's interest in art and the belief that art provides fertile ground for exploration is life-long. " I'm interested in everything and I think art is about everything. It's about our world – art is the first key to revolution; art is expression.... Everything can become art. So, I think I've always been an artist.

"I'm a bit of a moving target, I do acting and photo-based work, some video, I sort of do a whole bunch of stuff.... The acting started when I was a child, theatre got me through high school – it was my sanctuary as a child."

Born in Hollywood, Holman grew up in Los Angeles and settled in Vancouver several years ago. Holman expressed the hope that people of British Columbia would continue to embrace visual and performance-based art. "I love Vancouver. In some ways it's very supportive and some ways it's very provincial, I'm very you know, outside the box, so there is – Vancouver is small.... I always feel a little bit suspect here. In L.A., they can tell that I'm artist, not a gangsta.... Here, I'm somewhat suspect."

Not surprisingly, Holman's collection of Hebrew tattoos turns many a head. "I'm very attracted to the tribal stuff and I want to get something that's from my people and so the first one is the first 10 letters, which is the first 10 numbers, so it's symbolic of the tree of life." Holman continued, "I'm very proud of being a Jew. I'm not very interested in the religious part ... the rules and regulations, but I am very much a proud Jew in terms of my heritage and my culture, it's very much who I am. I think it informs my life all the time, but.... Much more as a culture."

Jillian Deri joins Holman as another Jewish artist featured at this year's festival. As an aerial silk artist, Deri combines dance and the circus arts to perform while hanging from long pieces of material rigged and suspended 20-30 feet from the ceiling or from a tree-branch for outdoor performances.

It was the "beauty, the physical challenge and the playfulness" that attracted Deri to aerial silks in the first place. "I think of it as a self-propelled rollercoaster, since we build and produce our own exhilarating rides, " she said. "The first time I saw aerial silks performed, I cried from awe and knew it was exactly what I wanted to be doing. Training on the aerial silks is a time when I can play -- and adults often don't devote enough time to truly playing.

"One of the beauties of aerial silks is that the practice pushes my physical limits of strength, grace and creativity.... Being able to conquer certain fears and complexities that come up through dangling makes other challenges in my life a little bit easier. Having this playful creative outlet certainly reinforces my gender and sexual identity and makes me glad to be exactly who I am. Improving my physical strength also helps me feel more comfortable as a rather petite woman. Anyone who doubts how strong women can be should spend a day with me and my circus friends! You'd be amazed."

As to her Jewish identity, Deri told the Independent, "I absolutely identify as Jewish! My Jewish identity and history are extremely important to me. I do not know how my Jewish identity informs my aerial practice, but I do believe that practising an art that I am truly passionate about, that pushes me to develop physically and creatively, that brings infinite joy to my life must be some kind of mitzvah."

Holman is certain that Pride in Art has something for everyone. "The festival is fabulous, the festival is very non-commercial.... I want to be humble about it, but I really feel that this is really the most exciting thing that's happening for queer artists in Western Canada, if not all of Canada." Musing about some of the difficulties in getting Vancouverites into galleries to experience art, Holman explained, "We're moving so fast, we're kinetic and to get people to stop for a moment, to look at something that is still," can be tough. "Art is about now, art is about what's going on in our lives and is a commentary on that."

The festival runs July 28-Aug. 14 at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre. For more information, visit prideinart.ca.

Basya Laye is a freelance writer living in Vancouver.

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