Poet-in-Residence
Farhia Tato
This year’s iteration of the residency will be programmed alongside exhibitions as a series of sessions titled, Tender Possibilities.*
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Artist Statement:
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Tender Possibilities is a participatory poetry exploration and creative placemaking initiative. We aim to create a meditative environment where individuals can listen and freely express their thoughts and feelings without over-intellectualizing the poems. Each gathering offers a supportive and inclusive cultural experience that creates imaginative space for participants to not only read and be exposed to poetry, but to also locate themselves within the poetry. Through curated theme-inspired poems, participants are encouraged to listen, reflect, and respond, resulting in deeper communal experiences, community building, and exemplifies the enduring resonance of power, people and place.
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Image courtesy of the artist.
Programming
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Defiance
Saturday, May 18, 2 pm - 3:30 pm
For the spring session of the residency, we will explore the theme of defiance. Inspired by Jane Jin Kaisen’s exhibition, Burial of This Order, the curated selection of poems highlight collective empowerment, illustrating how individual and community rituals ignite processes of transformation.
Tender Possibilities will commence with a live meditative soundscape by Chuk Fent, inviting participants into a space of contemplation and introspection. Together, we'll reflect on how poetry can challenge traditional norms and unveil alternative narratives, echoing the exhibition's exploration of dismantling oppressive systems.
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Capacity is limited; please register below.
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Inheritance
Saturday, January 27, 2 pm - 3:30 pm
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For the first session of the residency, we present 'inheritance' as our central theme. Through a curated selection of poems, we will delve into questions of personal agency, inherited trauma, and intergenerational transmission. Inspired by Meera Margaret Singh’s exhibition, What We Hold, the poems will serve as conduits of remembrance, bridging the gap between the past and present, and delving into generational trauma, familial histories, inherited memory and intergenerational connections.
Enhanced by a live meditative soundscape from Chuk Fent, this session provides a space for contemplation and introspection, inviting a deep and reflective exploration of the emotional and historical significance of inheritance and its impact on our present experiences.
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Farhia Tato is a poetic writer, community organizer and cultural curator. She is interested in the processes that undergird black conception, representation and sociality. Tato contrasts this exploration with a perspective of creolization, examining the ways in which cultural mixing and hybridity shape the experiences of individuals and communities. She is the founder of Tender Possibilities, a poetry reading group and placemaking initiative based in Toronto.