BSAM Canada Starts Waterfront Residency

POSTED: NOVEMBER 24, 2020
By: Chloe Catan
 

BSAM Canada, the inaugural Waterfront Artists in Residence, recently made waves as they launched Earthseeds: Space of the Living through a series of Instagram takeovers. Throughout the month of November, BSAM Canada’s work was specially featured on several Instagram accounts including Waterfront Toronto, The Waterfront BIA, Culture TO and The Bentway. 

Earthseeds: Space of the Living is a public art project that focuses on creating community healing spaces for people to consider the seeds they are planting in their own lives. This project was inspired by Octavia Butler’s Parable series which BSAM Canada describes as a way of living that embraces change as a universal force for growth.

Stills from BSAM Canada’s Instagram takeover. From left to right: The Elder, The Youth and The Adult. Visit our Instagram page to see the posts and comment in response to the prompts on each.

Each of the three posts included in these takeovers feature a different question to prompt introspection:

1. What are you doing to change the way that you take care of yourself and your relationship to the earth and its waters?
2. How can we begin to create alternative possibilities that foster bridges for connection to Toronto’s waterfront?
3. During this pandemic, what are things to consider for the waterfront that encourage solution-based discussions to address fractures across our communities?

These Instagram takeovers come as BSAM Canada prepares to host a virtual panel discussion on December 10. Members of the panel include visionaries such as award-winning artist, curator and writer Anique Jordan, Black Indigenous community educator and activist Andréa Williams and Dr. Ayana A. H. Jamieson, scholar and founder of the Octavia E. Butler Legacy Network. 

This free event will also feature performances by Toronto trans activist and artist Levyi-Alexander Love and hip-hop artist Zakisha Brown. Attendees will also have a chance to speak about their connection to the Toronto waterfront and provide feedback on what the Earthseeds project should address.

BSAM Canada artists Queen Kukoyi (left) and Nico Taylor (right).

BSAM Canada was selected following a jury review of 32 applications as the inaugural Waterfront Artist Residency, an opportunity made possible through a partnership between Waterfront Toronto and the Waterfront BIA. Through the residency, these artists plan to explore ideas of healing through various events and multimedia art along Toronto’s waterfront. They plan to use this opportunity to create works that focus on fostering connection, harvesting restorative energy and opening spaces for introspection to plant seeds of change. 

Stay tuned as the artists continue to transform the waterfront through their art into next year during ArtworxTO: Toronto’s Year of Public Art 2021.