HOWL!

Brahja Waldman's Quartet - album launch poster

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:09:29 -0400

Poster by Kevin Lo for the upcoming double album launch of Brahja Waldman’s Quartet, who will release Cosmic Brahjas and Closer to the Tones. Launch will take place on May 31 at Résonance Cafe, 5175a avenue. du parc, event page.

‘Le fond de l’air est rouge’ - Montreal launch

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 00:39:00 -0400

booklet by Stefan Christoff on Quebec student uprising (facebook event)

Wednesday, May 8, 2013
6pm / free!
Concordia Community Solidarity Co-op Bookstore
2150 Bishop Street, Montreal, Quebec

Le fond de l’air est rouge is a collection of texts about the 2012 Quebec student uprising by Montreal artist and activist Stefan Christoff. Written between spring 2011 and summer 2012, this series of articles includes first hand accounts of the incredible street protests in Montreal and reflections on the student strike within the context of Quebec revolutionary history.

Published by the Howl! arts collective, this zine brings movement-based reporting originally published online into a physical format. The goal of this zine is to create a piece of cultural documentation on a key moment in Quebec popular history.

cover design by Nazik Dakkach
including photography by Thien V.
including graphics by Kevin Lo & École de la Montagne Rouge
screen printing by Jesse Purcell - JustSeeds Artist Cooperative
layout / printing Sabine Friesinger - KataSoho

texts included in Le fond de l’air est rouge originally published @

rabble.ca / Media Co-op / The Link / Al Jazeera

Brahja Waldman’s Quartet - album launch

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 01:25:00 -0400

support an independent jazz project in Montreal (photo by David Vilder)

Friday, May 31, 2013
doors 8:30pm
Résonance Café
5175a avenue. du parc
(facebook event)
Montreal, Quebec

Join us for the Montreal launch of a double album by Brahja Waldman’s Quartet - two unique and beautiful recordings exploring contemporary boundaries of music, invoking the creative spirit of art beyond the corporate radar, created by uncompromising musicians who play from the heart.

Indiegogo campaign

Brahja Waldman’s Quartet

Brahja Waldman’s Quartet is a Montreal/New York-based jazz conspiracy dedicated to the transmutation of swing and timeless soul. Two years after the group’s debut release, Brahja Waldman’s Quartet is back again with Cosmic Brahjas and Closer to the Tones.

The double-album will be launched in partnership with Howl! Arts Collective, on May 31st at Café Résonance in Montreal, and will feature the work of Montreal graphic artist, Kevin Lo.

Cosmic Brahjas was recorded in an abandoned/partially renovated old high school in Cherry Valley, New York; it has an expansive, sparkling sound to it. Closer to the Tones was recorded in a tiny sound-proofed room in Parc Extension, Montreal; the recording quality itself conveys closeness, having been played in such a confined space. The result is a warm and earthy sound. Together they total to eighteen new compositions by the quartet.

Cosmic Brahjas

Brahja Waldman - alto sax
Shadrach Hankoff - piano
Martin Heslop - bass
Daniel Gélinas - drums

Closer to the Tones

Brahja Waldman - alto sax
Adam Kinner - tenor sax
Martin Heslop - bass
Daniel Gélinas - drums

all five musicians will be present at the launch.

co-presented by CKUT radio

Howl! arts collective

info@howlarts.net / @howlarts / facebook.com/howlarts

Le fond de l'air est rouge

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 07:43:00 -0400

Le fond de l’air est rouge is a collection of texts about the 2012 Quebec student uprising by Montreal artist and activist Stefan Christoff.

This booklet / zine will be released in April 2013, the first launch event will take place at the Interference Archive in Brooklyn, New York as part of the U.S. premier of Insurgence, a film on the strike by Épopée collective, on Friday, April 5 (event page).

Written between spring 2011 and summer 2012, this series of articles includes first hand accounts of the incredible street protests in Montreal and reflections on the student strike within the context of Quebec revolutionary history.

Cover design by Nazik Dakkach, tribute to Chris Marker (29 July 1921 – 29 July 2012). screen printed by Jesse Purcell (Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative)

Kaie Kellough / —isery

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 07:27:00 -0400

Listen to —isery by Kaie Kellough, featuring Jahsun via Kalmunity Vibe Collective on percussion, from the album Vox: Versus. Kaie is based in Montreal and is celebrated for exploring the sonic boundaries of poetics.

Kaie’s last collection of poetry is Maple Leaf Rag. This track being featured by Howl! was recorded in 2010 at Hotel 2 Tango studios by Radwan Moumneh.

Kaie will be a featured artist at the upcoming Mile End Poets Festival in Montreal, for more information visit mile-end-poets.ca

photo taken at Artists Against Apartheid concert by Mariel Rosenbluth

A K U A - G r a v i t y

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 21:29:00 -0500

“G r a v i t y” by A K U A, first single off o n e ’ s c o m p a n y ’ c o l l e c t i o n.

Howl! is sharing this beautiful track in the lead up to A K U A’s performance at Sala Rossa in Montreal on 21/03 with Detroit hip-hop artist Invincible (event page).

Produced by: Akua Carson, Andy Bauer and Martin Rodriguez (Turnt-Out)
Sound Engineer: Pascal Shefteshy (PM Studios)
Mixing: Jeremy Page
Mastering: Kevin Blacker

Sounds : Jean-Sébastien Truchy

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 13:21:00 -0500

Listen to “You Display A Wrathful Form To Subdue Evil” an excerpt from Jean-Sébastien Truchy’s new tape on Digitalis.

Music on this tape explores spiritual tones, “for me it has to do with the relationship between fear, hate and compassion,” writes Jean-Sébastien. Listen and enjoy, Howl! is sharing this beautiful excerpt. Photo is a winter sky in Montreal shot by Thien V.

“Though Never Stirring From The Dharmadhatu You Display A Wrathful Form To Subdue Evil“released by Digitalis (DIGI LTD#133).

Street poster for Invincible !

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 02:00:00 -0500

Striking silk-screen poster for Detroit hip-hop artist Invincible’s concert in Montreal at La Sala Rossa on March 21. Poster design/printing via artist Jesse Purcell via JustSeeds’ Artist Cooperative.

In this photo, the poster appears on a wall just off St. Laurent blvd. in Montreal. Beyond the energy captured by the poster, it also serves as a reminder of the importance of fighting for our city streets as urban canvasses, not as a spaces controled by corporate advertizing firms.

Howl! - Invincible ! A K U A

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 23:33:00 -0500

Thursday, March 21, 2013
doors @ 8:30pm
$10 advance - $14 @ door
La Sala Rossa, 4848 St. Laurent
Montreal, Quebec

Join Howl! arts collective invites you for an evening (facebook event) of inspiring sounds featuring Detroit based hip-hop artist, educator and activist Invincible!

Opening the night is A K U A, mixing contemporary soul sounds with the experimental edges of electronic music.

Howl! presents this concert in collaboration with the 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy, extending our concert collaborations featuring women and queer artists presenting ground breaking cultural work while exploring the many intersections of art and activism.

performances by

Invincible

It is truly rare to find an artist like Invincible. Their spitfire wordplay has received acclaim from fans all across the world, while their active involvement in progressive social change has taken their music beyond entertainment toward actualizing the change they wish to see.

As a co-founder of EMERGENCE Media, they released their debut album ShapeShifters (2008) and produced award winning videos like The Revival (2009) about women in hip-hop, and Locusts (2008) exploring displacement and gentrification in Detroit. They have performed on stages and in clubs, community centers, campuses, pride celebrations, and festivals around the world for over a decade, both as a solo artist, and featured as part of the anti-misogyny Hip-Hop collective ANOMOLIES. They teamed up with longtime producer Waajeed in 2010 to release a limited edition 7” single “Detroit Summer/Emergence.” Invincible is a fellow of Kresge Arts in Detroit, and the Ellen Stone Belic Institute for Women and Gender in the Arts and Media.

In addition to their work as a performing artist, for the last decade Invincible has worked with Detroit Summer, a multi-racial, inter-generational collective in Detroit that is transforming communities through youth facilitative leadership, creativity and collective action. They were also the co-coordinator and co-founder of the Detroit Future Youth network to support social justice and media-based youth projects throughout the city.

http://www.emergencemedia.org/invincible

A K U A

With emotion and texture at the center of her songwriting there’s reason AKUA’s music has been so warmly received by the few that have happened upon it: it’s real and it’s raw.

Having already opened for a wide variety of notable performers and accepted invitations to play both local and international music festivals, it’s safe to say that AKUA’s career as a solo artist is off to a promising start.

Born to an immigrant father from Ghana and a Canadian mother, Akua Carson was raised in a relatively uneventful suburb of London, Ontario. As a biracial child in a culturally homogenous community, Akua’s childhood would bear a certain uneasiness surrounding identity and categorization; a theme that has persisted its way into her music and undoubtedly influenced the diversity and ambiguity one hears in her sound today.

http://www.soundslikeakua.com/

opening music selections from DJ Aaron Maiden !

Aaron Maiden is a DJ, journalist, and host of Roots Rock Rebel, heard every Wednesday night on CKUT radio from 10pm-12am. He is trying to map the constellations between reggae, soul, and a world without borders and bosses.

co-presented by / cet événement est co-présenté par :

2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy
CKUT Radio, 90.3fm Montreal
Cinema Politica
Coop média de Montréal
Emergence Music
Imaging Apartheid
JustSeeds’ Artist Cooperative
Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG), McGill University
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), Concordia University
Suoni per il Popolo
Tadamon!

Tickets à l’avance disponibles aux endroits suivants:
advanced tickets available at the following locations:

Casa Del Popolo / Sala Rossa / Administration Sala
Entre 12h00 et 20h00 tous les jours.
Tél. : 514-284-0122

Atom Heart
364-B Rue Sherbrooke
Tél: 514-843-8484

Cheap Thrills
2044 Metcalfe St. 2e étage
Tél : 514-844-8988

L’Oblique
4333 rue Rivard
Tél: 514-499-1323

Phonopolis
207 Bernard Ouest
Tél: 514-270-4442

Howl! arts collective aims to build bridges between struggles for social justice and the arts. Howl! highlights artists rooted in Montreal’s fiercely creative independent arts community at cultural events, while also organizing projects, actions and interventions that support social justice, while expressing resistance to the environmental, social and political injustice inherent in the capitalist system.

Le collectif d’artistes Howl! est un groupe basé à Montréal qui travaille à créer des liens entre pratique activiste et artistique, et ce à travers l’organisation d’événements culturels dédiés à la célébration des luttes pour la justice sociale.

Howl! arts collective

Temps Libre | Brahja & Christoff

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:51:00 -0500

Listen to a duet with Brahja Waldman on saxophone and Stefan Christoff on piano from Temps Libre, an EP released by the Howl! arts collective in Montreal.

Temps Libre is a musical exploration on free time, liberated time expressed in sonic tones, a celebration for the moments that empower our collective opposition to capitalism. Revolutionary spirit is central to creative music and arts, a spirit key to Montreal’s creative energy. Temps Libre features Brahja Waldman (sax), Peter Burton (bass) & Stefan Christoff (piano). Recorded by Adrian Roy Taylor at La Sala Rossa.

Temps Libre EP - lancement @ Casa del Popolo !

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 02:36:00 -0500

Jeudi le 7 Février / Thursday, February 7, 2012
Ouverture des portes / doors @ 20h30
$8 advance/l’avance, $12 à la porte/door
Casa del Popolo, 4873 St. Laurent
(facebook event)
Montreal, Quebec

Howl! arts collective is launching “Temps Libre” a first release from the St. Laurent Piano Project, a recording series initiated by musician Stefan Christoff.

Featuring Brahja Waldman on sax, Peter Burton on contrabass and Stefan Christoff on piano, “Temps Libre” is a jazz-inspired musical exploration, recorded at La Sala Rossa in late summer 2012 as Quebec’s student uprising continued to echo across the city.

“Temps Libre” is a musical exploration on free time, liberated time expressed in sonic tones, a celebration for the moments that empower our collective opposition to capitalism. Revolutionary spirit is central to creative music and arts, a spirit key to Montreal’s creative energy.

Join Howl! arts collective for the launch of “Temps Libre” at Casa del Popolo, featuring a live performances of the recording and also a solo special performance by musician Amir Amiri on the santur.

Le collectif Howl! lance l’album “Temps Libre”. Il s’agit du premier chapitre du “Saint-Laurent Piano Project”, une série d’enregistrements initiée par le musicien Stefan Christoff.

Avec Brahja Waldman au saxophone, Peter Burton à la contrebasse et Stefan Christoff au piano, “Temps Libre” est une exploration musicale inspirée par la tradition du jazz. Par ailleurs, les pièces ont été enregistrées à La Sala Rossa vers la fin de l’été 2012, alors que le soulèvement étudiant au Québec continuait à résonner dans la ville.

“Temps Libre” est une exploration musicale qui questionne la notion du temps. Le temps libéré par la musique, mais aussi le temps libéré dans le contexte d’un soulèvement politique. Le projet est aussi sans aucun doute, un hommage au boulevard Saint-Laurent et à l’esprit contestataire de Montréal.

Joignez-vous à Howl! pour le lancement de “Temps Libre” à la Casa Del Popolo, avec une performance spéciale du musicien Amir Amiri au santour en ouverture.

performances by :

Stefan Christoff is a Montreal-based piano player, dreamer and revolutionary. In 2012 Stefan released Duets for Abdelrazik.

Brahja Waldman is a jazz-inspired saxophonist, drummer and composer who has lived in Montreal since 2003, and currently plays in various Montreal-based projects, including Brahja Waldman’s Quartet, You Yourself & i, Xi-fu Sagas, Land of Kush, and Brahja Waldman & Friends of Freedom - the latter serving as a catch-all name for Waldman’s collaboration with an ever-rotating roster of Montreal improvisers. These projects, as well as his long-lasting partnership with a number of poets, have brought Waldman on tour around North America, and to the historical bandstands of St. Mark’s Church, Town Hall, Cornelia Street Cafe, and the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City, as well as Montreal’s own Suoni Per Il Popolo, the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the old L’Envers, and the new Café Résonance.

Peter Burton is a Montreal based community arts organizer and excellent contrabass player with a focus on contemporary free jazz modes. Burton is also deeply involved in the Suoni per il Popolo festival, an inspiring community based alternative musical festival working to deepen connections between the arts and social justice struggles.

Amir Amiri was born in Tehran, Iran, where he studied the Santur, a 72 string hammer dulcimer. He specialized in the radiff system of Persian classical music His principle teachers included Meheran Ghalaee, Majeed Kyanee. He also studied Indian classical music (Regas) with teachers Ravi Shankar and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Since arriving in Canada and has welcomed the opportunity to work with western classical musicians with Bob Becker, Edgar Meyer and David Takeno, and has also collaborated with Hugh Fraser, Darcy Phillip Gray, Mike Murly, John Stetch and Bill Cahn. He was awarded the 2003 Artist of the Year from CBC Galaxie Rising Stars Program. He is a recipient of Betty Mitchel award for outstanding sound composition for Helens necklace.

Stefan Christoff pianiste, rêveur et révolutionnaire, basé à Montréal. Il a sorti en juin 2012, son premier album « Duets for Abdelrazik ».

Brahja Waldman est un saxophoniste jazz, batteur et compositeur, qui vit à Montréal depuis 2003 et joue actuellement dans divers projets montréalais, y compris le Brahja Waldman Quartet, You Yourself & I, Xi-fu Sagas, Land of Kush, et Brahja Waldman & Friends of Freedom - ce dernier faisant office de nom fourre-tout pour les collaborations de Waldman avec une liste sans cesse en rotation d’improvisateurs de Montréal. Ces projets, ainsi que son partenariat de longue date avec plusieurs poètes, ont permis à Waldman de se produire dans un certain nombre de salles à travers l’Amérique du Nord, incluant l’église Saint-Marc, le Cornelia Street Cafe et le Bowery Poetry Club à New York. Il a également participé à divers festivaux, tels que le festival Suoni Per Il Popolo, le Festival international de jazz de Montréal ainsi que les shows du défunt l’Envers et du café Résonnance.

Peter Burton est contrebassiste de jazz contemporain et organisateur communautaire issu de la scène artistique de Montréal. Burton est également très impliqué dans l’initiative Suoni Per Il Popolo, un festival de musique alternative qui aspire au renforcement des liens entre l’art et les causes de justice sociale.

Amir Amiri est né à Téhéran, en Iran, où il a étudié le santour, un dulcimer (instrument à cordes frappées) à 72 cordes. Il s’est spécialisé dans le système Radiff de la musique classique persane. Ses professeurs principaux incluent Meheran Ghalaee et Majeed Kyanee. Il a également étudié la musique classique indienne (Regas) avec l’enseignement de Ravi Shankar et Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Depuis son arrivée au Canada, il a pu travailler avec des musiciens classiques occidentaux comme Bob Becker, Edgar Meyer et David Takeno, et a également collaboré avec Hugh Fraser, Philip Darcy Gray, Mike Murly, John Stetch et Bill Cahn. Il a reçu le prix de l’artiste de l’année 2003 de la programmation Rising Stars Program de CBC, et il est récipiendaire du prix Betty Mitchel pour une composition sonore exceptionnelle pour Helens Necklace.

advanced tickets available at the following locations
vous pouvez vous procurer des billets d’avance aux endroits suivants

Casa Del Popolo / Sala Rossa / Sala Office
12h-20h
Tél. : 514-284-0122

Atom Heart
364-B Rue Sherbrooke
Tél: 514-843-8484

Cheap Thrills
2044 Metcalfe St. 2e étage
Tél : 514-844-8988

L’Oblique
4333 rue Rivard
Tél: 514-499-1323

Phonopolis
207 Bernard Ouest
Tél: 514-270-4442

concert organized by the Howl! arts collective in collaboration with
Suoni per il Popolo festival http://www.suoniperilpopolo.org/ and CKUT Radio http://www.ckut.ca/

info on Howl! arts collective at

http://www.twitter.com/howlarts
http://www.facebook.com/howlarts

Illustrating Gaza from the heart

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 21:20:00 -0500

A growing community of artists are joining the Palestinian solidarity movement, including artist Sam Kerson currently exhibiting Gaza, Punishing the Innocent, a striking series of linoleum block prints, at Z Gallery in Montreal. Printed at Atelier Presse Papier in Trois Rivières, Québec by collaborator Katah, the prints detail the human dimensions of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza in the winter of 2009.

Utilizing strong lines and minimal text, the works speak to the urgency of the Palestinian condition in Gaza. Direct and communicative, the works send visual alarms on the deteriorating conditions of life in Gaza.

The piece Despair (pictured above) points to the collective trauma that Palestinians in Gaza face, utilizing striking white lines on a black background, the work draws your attention to an unimaginable reality, that all families in Gaza have lost at least one relative to Israeli airstrikes over recent years.

Another piece, Torment, points to the collective suffering in Gaza, a territory that continues to struggle to survive under an Israeli military siege that has now lasted years.

In this exhibition Kerson illuminates the power of art to touch our consciousness and inspire us to act collectively against injustice, beyond the noise of TV reporting shaded by political tones.

“Having watched the recent massacre in Gaza we have created this series of images to pinpoint Israel’s violations of the rules of war,” writes artist Kerson on the exhibition. “The images are specific and point to real events that occurred during the assault on Gaza. Real events that are war crimes under the conventions of war.”

Compose of works responding to the winter 2009 Israeli bombardment of Gaza, the exhibition captures a key moment in global consciousness, a moment where there was clearly a major shift in global opinion and activism toward the Palestinian struggle for freedom. Created in response to the Operation Cast Lead military campaign by Israel that destroyed large parts of Gaza, leaving over 1,400 Palestinians dead, the exhibition also speaks to a critical juncture for the global boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli apartheid policies as a way to apply international pressure on the Israeli state.

Gaza, Punishing the Innocent is more important than ever as Gaza today is recovering from another Israeli attack last month. According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza, 158 Palestinians were killed during the Israeli military operation “Pillar of Cloud” in November 2012. Additionally over 1,000 Palestinians were wounded, many seriously, including almost 250 children who were injured during the violent Israeli bombardment.

In Gaza, one of the most densely populated territories in the world, around 50% of the population is under 18 years of age, while the majority in Gaza are refugees displaced from their lands by the creation of Israel during the 1948 war.

In this exhibition you see and feel the voice of an artist standing with Palestine, utilizing inspiring artistic capacities to communicate the quickly developing global artistic movement in solidarity with Palestine.

— Stefan Christoff, Howl! arts collective, 12-2012

Intimate Distance: The Photography of Thien V

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 08:18:00 -0500

by Tarek Sherif

“I’m in the business of translating what cannot be translated: being and its silence.” - Charles Simic

The Student Strike inspired an effervescence of creative works and artistic expression. The ubiquitous nature of the music, the posters, the interventions, the literature suggests that the arts played a central role in galvanizing the movement. But what exactly is the relationship between art and the politics of the moment? It’s easy to say that art is important to politics or to society in general, but how often do we actually explore what that means? Is the role of art to offer abstracted symbols of the movement, such as the carré rouge or the casseroles, around which to rally? Or is its role rhetorical, to convince its audience of the validity of a particular position? Although these two artistic modalities are important parts of a social movement, I believe the role art has to play can potentially be much deeper. Alain Badiou has written that “Art is pedagogical because it produces truths and because education (save in its oppressive or perverted expressions) has never meant anything but this: to arrange the forms of knowledge in such a way that some truth may come to pierce a hole in them.” By this understanding, art is a naturally destabilising force, puncturing the status quo and established modes of thought, and allowing us to see the potential on the other side. And it is through this action, I believe, that art is inherently political, and that it is political in a way that only art can be.

I wish to explore the potential that art has as a political force by examining the work of photographer and Howl! Arts Collective member, Thien V. Thien was heavily involved in the Student Strike and documented it since its inception. His prolific output is maintained on his blog, quelques notes. The images he captures are rich in political imagery, but the politics are never presented ideologically. The focus of his work remains squarely on the human beings involved in the strike, while the politics act as a context to this humanity, permeating it as atmosphere. A key aspect of Thien’s work is that it does not glorify. It does not create heroes or villains. In fact, what is most striking about his work is that his subjects seem to be thrust forth in all their fragile humanity. Even photos of large groups are rarely presented as such. What we see in them, rather, is what one might consider their fundamental truth: the power of our collectivity is built of individuals and their solitudes. His subjects stumble, eat, doodle, chat, get lost in thought while surrounded by red flags and protest signs. And the integrity of Thien’s perspective is even more apparent when it is applied to enemies of the movement, notably the police. While it would be tempting for some to simply revel in the brutality of the police, which to be clear was very present throughout the strike, Thien never quite lets us forget that they are human as well. And through this lens, we see the confrontations between strikers and the state for the tragedy that they truly are.

The fundamental unit of Thien’s work is, I believe, the human solitude. This is most apparent, of course, in images of individuals. These individual subjects can sometimes be seen lost in an inordinate amount of empty space:

They are often unaware of the camera, lost in thought or distracted:

Even the framing of images will often accentuate this solitude. By excluding the ground on which his subjects stand, for example, he allows them to seemingly float in space:

These human solitudes are at the heart of Thien’s work, but if its focus were strictly on individuals, it would remain outside the political. The political, after all, is a collective dynamic, defined by our interactions with one another. And the power of Thien’s work lies in the fact that the political emerges naturally through the composition of these individual solitudes.

The ability of Thien’s work to overlay solitude and collectivity is a result, I believe, of the moments he chooses to capture. What is fascinating about Thien’s choices is that they tend to avoid Moments as such, but rather fall in between them, into a void. A breath being taken, a step, a drawing half-finished, images of the buildup towards something critical or its dénouement, but never quite there. This in-betweenness allows us to see the political imagery and the collective, while at same time exposing the cracks that show the individual humanity that lies underneath:

One might worry that exposing these cracks in the collective would reduce the political weight of the images, but I would argue that it is, in fact, the opposite that occurs. Taking the last photo as an example, it would likely have been possible to capture an image of two men chanting, yelling or, at the very least, in a more combative stance. Thien chooses, however, to present them to us in a moment of quiet distraction. Furthermore, the red flag, the most visually striking and most explicitly political element of the image, is not the focus of the action. But if the flag had been the focus of the image, say if the two men were looking at it, one would see the flag acting as a centre to which the movement in the image is flowing. It would become a point. Without that focus, the movement from the flag is outward, permeating the scene and moving beyond the frame. It becomes context. Images like this remind us that the political is not a moment or an act; it is a surrounding atmosphere to our lives that envelops us whether we are aware of it or not.

As a final note, I wish to explore how Thien’s work handles a more difficult subject: the state and in particular, its police force. It is in dealing with this subject, I believe, that the way Thien’s work functions as political art is most strikingly apparent. I’ll start with a powerful image that strays somewhat from the humanizing approach underlying most of his work:

One key element of this image, in light of the previous discussion, is that it does not show any solitudes. The group is presented as a homogeneous mass. The only truly discernible elements are the vests and helmets: the uniforms. And I would argue that, oddly enough, this is how the police force itself wishes us to see them: as a solid, impenetrable force acting in the name of order and the public good. But there is another aspect of the image through which it speaks to a deeper truth. Note the ghostly quality of the officers in their glowing uniforms; one might almost expect them to fade into the night from one moment to the next. They seem unreal, ephemeral. The truth being spoken here is that the police force is an illusion. The power of those uniforms that separate the police from average citizens is inscribed by the state and accepted by its people, but it does not exist outside human convention.

So if the police force is not the homogeneous mass it tries to claim to be, then what is it? It is, like us, a collection of solitudes that have come together. And again, by capturing the police in between Moments, showing us the cracks in that collectivity, Thien’s work allows us to see this:

Note the awkwardness of their positions. They seem imbalanced, unstable, clumsy. The image of a homogeneous force that the police attempt to portray breaks down in these images. The attempted signification of the uniforms almost seems laughable in these moments. But this awkward humanity cannot overshadow the brutality of the police, and Thien does not let us forget this:

The police in this image may be human: we see their faces, their confusion. But the humanity of these men does not make the outcome of their actions any less brutal. Nothing in this image outweighs the terror on the face of the young man they are arresting. The illusion of the police force has caused these men to, as a collective, forget their humanity. Whatever humanity we see through the cracks of that collectivity, the fact remains that as a collective, it is something profoundly inhuman.

This clash of humanities is even more striking in what I consider one of Thien’s most powerful images:

Here we are allowed to see directly into the eyes of an officer, and there seems to be a certain sadness there. But again, as human as that presence might be, we cannot escape its effect, which in this case is the terror seen in the eyes of the girl reflected off his helmet. We see here an interplay of many of the elements previously discussed. The officer is humanized by the intimate framing. But the uniform acts as a dehumanizing force. It hides part of his face, erasing his identity. The faceguard reflecting the girl’s face acts as a barrier between his humanity and hers. And finally, the end result is the terror we see in her face.

So we can’t deny the humanity of the police, nor can we deny their brutal presence. Where does that leave us? I believe the central truth being expressed by these works is that although we must fight against the brutality of the police, although they are our enemies, we are not fighting against them, but rather for them. This movement is not a hockey match, where the goal is to win and make the other team lose. When we fight to make a more just society, we are fighting to make it so for every single person in it. Even if our enemies don’t realize it, we fight for them too. We fight so that they and their children can, for example, have access to education and live free of discrimination. We’re fighting for everyone, even those who don’t realize it yet.

Thien’s work presents us with powerful truths about the Student Strike, and more generally about ourselves, and it does so by avoiding the stock narratives that are available. It can be tempting, and perhaps even useful, to glorify ourselves, to demonize the other side, but these perspectives hide the truth, dilute it in order to make it easier for all sides to swallow. We say we are fighting for justice against a brutal state, they say they’re protecting order from forces of chaos. The danger of stopping at this superficial level is clear. Neither of these statements is false, but they are completely incompatible. We must puncture through these superficial interpretations of the situation if we are to strike at its more fundamental truth: that each of us, every single one of us, remains in the end a fragile human being. This applies to us, as well as to our enemies. And it is fundamentally this truth that Thien’s work never lets us forget. The beautiful collective story of the Student Strike is built up of thousands of delicate individual stories. It is those stories that gave the movement its humanity, and that humanity must be protected at all costs.

Photos : Colonial discord at Grassy Narrows

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 18:47:00 -0500

On December 2, 2002, two young Anishinaabekwe from Grassy Narrows Asubpeeschoseewagong went out to the woods in the snow to start what is now one of the longest running indigenous blockades in the recent memory of Turtle Island.

In the decade since the blockade began, the community continues to maintain a moratorium on clear-cutting on their traditional territories. Despite the ongoing threat of logging, grandmothers, mothers, trappers and youth have held off some of the world’s largest paper corporations. The community has also taken the Ontario government to task for inaction on the ongoing effects of mercury poisoning on their families and ecosystems.

These photos by Winnipeg-based photographer Jon Schiedewitz, posted to mark the 10th anniversary of the Grassy Narrows blockade, show the defiant, anti-colonial spirit of the people of Grassy Narrows, a spirit that has inspired indigenous communities across the Americas.

A spirit fueling the continuing indigenous challenge to the massive environmental destruction central to Canadian economic policies. From attempts to clear-cut forest lands in Grassy Narrows, to the ongoing expansion of tarsands oil patches on traditional Dene lands in Alberta, these policies, often enacted without any meaningful consultation, are rooted in a history of colonialism and systemic racism against indigenous peoples.

These images contribute to and remind us of the counter-history of indigenous anti-colonial resistance, made even more pertinent with the launching of the Idle No More campaign.

photography Jon Schledewitz.

Promiscuous Infrastructures ou la lutte pour l’invention de possibles

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 15:40:46 -0500

The Montreal-based Artivistic collective, of which Howl! collective member Kevin Yuen-Kit Lo is also a member, has guest edited the upcoming issue of FUSE Magazine. FUSE Magazine is an arts and culture quarterly that publishes at the instersection of contemporary art and social justice. This first bilingual issue emerges out of the Artivistic’s engagement with the Québécois student strike and social uprising of the past spring and summer, in relation to its ongoing project on “promiscuous infrastructures.”

Alongside his editorial role, Kevin produced a series of graphics for the issue, visually translating some of the collective’s favourite chants from the nightly demonstrations. Created and composed primarily on a photocopier (and later digitally coloured), these typographic images attempt to viscerally convey the auditory aspect of the protests.

The issue also prominently features a selection of photographs taken during the strike by Howl! collective member Thien V.

The issue will be launched at Skol Centre des arts actuels, Friday, Dec. 14th. More information can be found here.

Photo : Apartheid wall in occupied Palestine

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:44:59 -0500

Barbed wire encircles Israel’s separation wall in the Palestinian village of Bil’in in the West Bank. In 2007, following years of weekly demonstrations, the Supreme Court ruled that Israel must alter the wall’s route around the village and return 700 dunams of land. Residents of Bil’in continue to hold weekly protests to halt further construction and dismantle the existing wall.

photo + text by Zahra Moloo 2012

photos : d'bi.young anitafrika in Montreal.

Sun, 25 Nov 2012 18:44:00 -0500

artist d’bi young anitafrika performing live at La Sala Rossa in Montreal at Howl! photo Brian Kinzie.

A series of photos taken at a Montreal performance by d’bi.young anitafrika in Montreal at La Sala Rossa. Howl! arts collective organized the concert as part of HTMlles Festival (a Feminist festival of media arts + digital culture) and presents a series of beautiful photographs by Brian Kinzie and Thien V.

storytelling artist d’bi young anitafrika live at La Sala Rossa photo Brian Kinzie.

d’bi young anitafrika at La Sala Rossa in Montreal at Howl! photo Thien V.

d’bi young anitafrika hands in motion at La Sala Rossa in Montreal photo Brian Kinzie.

d’bi young anitafrika outlining revolutionary words in Montreal photo Brian Kinzie.

performing to a sold out aaudience in Montreal d’bi young anitafrika at La Sala Rossa photo Thien V.

Quelques mots sur l'École de la Montagne Rouge

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 21:13:00 -0500

a text by Howl! arts collective on École de la Montagne Rouge written for a retrospective from November 22 - December 9, 2012 at Centre de design de l’UQAM.

On the streets of Montreal art played a major role in the 2012 Quebec student uprising that sparked a historic protest movement. From the iconic presence of the carré rouge, to the protest banners on the streets, to the raw poetics of protest chants on the streets, an artistic spirit was central element to the strike.

École de la Montagne Rouge inspired the movement with their collective expression of this artistic spirit, through the beautiful graphic work they printed by hand at UQAM, a geographical heart to the strike movement.

Howl! arts collective collaborated with École de la Montagne Rouge for Rêve Général Illimité, a creative intervention that took place on the perimeter of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.

Shortly after the Liberals imposed Law 78, locking out striking students from college and university campuses, and attempting to quell mass popular protests using repressive police tactics, we took over public space at métro Saint-Laurent, reclaiming, if only for a couple hours, our collective commons in the heart of downtown Montreal. As thousands flocked to a globally celebrated Jazz festival that is being overtaken by corporate funding and the capitalist logic of “tourism”, we responded by showcasing what art can and should be, what art can and should do.

At Rêve Général Illimité, École de la Montagne Rouge printed postersand t-shirts for the public while local musicians played and artists engaged the crowds in street theater. Hundreds gathered to show collective defiance of Law 78s attack to our rights of public assembly and voiced continuing solidarity with the student struggle.

Art enacted through the spirit of the gift worked as outreach to the many tourists passing by, in an attempt to balance the bias of mainstream media coverage through genuine interaction with those involved in the movement. Rêve Général Illimité spoke to the spirit of a historic uprising in Quebec that has reshaped a generations ability to dream beyond the realm of cynical state power, of politicians driven by capitalist economics and consider our endless dreams of a different tomorrow rooted in our collective struggles today.

— Howl! arts collective

École de la Montagne Rouge printing posters at Rêve Général Illimité. via Thien V.

Photo : Gaza, je me souviens.

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 11:38:47 -0500

photo : Gaza, je me souviens à Montréal. Thien V.

Photo : Kalmunity Vibe Collective !

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 14:30:47 -0500

Photo taken at live performance by Kalmunity Vibe Collective at Howl! concert on 08/11 featuring d’bi.young anitafrika. Photo with dub-poet Zibz “Black Current” ! taken by Thien V.