Description
Panelist Biographies:
Gisel Vergara and Gary Kirkham
Gisel Vergara is a Mexican artist, contemporary dancer, cultural manager and producer. Founder of the artistic management and production platform Altracorpo and coordinator of the Department of Art and Culture of Future Team Mexico. Gisel is part of the “Rage Against Violence” project, co-produced by Canada, Mexico and Turkey.
Gary Kirkham is an award-winning playwright and video artist. His scripts include Falling: A Wake and several plays with the MT Space including The Last 15 Seconds. His plays have been translated into French, Italian and Arabic and performed in over 100 theaters internationally. He’s created video installations for CAFKA, Cambridge Galleries and NightWatch.
Holly Schmidt
Holly Schmidt engages processes of embodied research, collaboration and informal pedagogy to explore human relations with the natural world. Her recent exhibitions and residencies include: COV Engineering AIR (2020-2023), Vegetal Encounters Residency (2019-2023) UBC Outdoor Art Program, Vancouver, Quiescence (2019) Burrard Arts Foundation, Vancouver. Schmidt is grateful to live and work in Vancouver, the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̍əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
The Odeimin Runners
The Odeimin Runners is a collective of Ogimaakwe– women warriors, Indigenous and Caribbean- inspired by the traditional teachings of the strawberry or ‘heart’berry. Together, members Adrian Kahgee (Saugeen First Nation), Rebeka Tabobondung (Wasauksing First Nation), and Debbie Ebanks Schlums (Turtle Island/Jamaica) exhibited at the Durham Art Gallery, Agnes Etherington Gallery, Nuit Blanche, and Images Festival.
