Alliedoscope Collective Presents:

MIXED FEELINGS

TORONTO - Alliedoscope is proud to present its inaugural event Mixed Feelings, at The Tangled Art Gallery Vitrines, on Saturday, April 29. An interactive exhibition Mixed Feelings features two multidisciplinary, local Toronto artists' works; Amber Williams-King and Wy Joung Kou.

The new, female-run collective Alliedoscope is launching Mixed Feelings with the kind support of Tangled Art + Disability and in partnership with Storywave Collective. Mixed Feelings takes place at Tangled Art Gallery's Vitrine space: The Tangled Vitrines, S-30 (basement level), 401 Richmond St W, from 6:00pm to 9:00pm, on Saturday, 29 April.

Mixed Feelings is a multidisciplinary showcase centred on themes of inclusivity, storytelling, and perseverance. The collective's primary goal is to feature the work of artists with physical or mental disabilities, facing trauma. The event presents pieces of two local artists; Amber Williams-King and Wy Joung Kou. Mixed Feelings offers its visitors the opportunity of an interactive experience through different communication points: a short music performance by Subpac (a small vibrating pack that allows people to feel music), a confession booth and a communal mural where audience members may share their own stories through painting, writing, and spoken word. The artworks on display will require various interactions as well such as viewing, listening and touching. Artists will be present during the event to speak with guests and describe their pieces. The exhibition aims to encourage visitors to engage with the artists and participate in the works. Through this interactive and joint creative process, Alliedoscope believes in the possibility of a sustainable inclusion.

Alliedoscope Collective

Alliedoscope's Vision is to create accessible and inclusive presentations via showcasing the stories of underrepresented communities. The collective focus primarily on presenting the work of artists who identify as Deaf, disabled, hard of hearing, Mad, mentally ill, neurodiverse, or chronically ill. The collective's Mission is to create community surrounding stories of hope and resilience, and to give a platform to those who have felt unheard or excluded; to offer a space that encourages engagement through inclusive interpretation and interaction; to showcase and promote the works of artists from varied experience and backgrounds. Alliedoscope Collective team is made up of five female artists and emerging art administrators with extensive backgrounds: Kate Buote, Samyuktha Punthambekar, Maurena Taylor, Hüma Üster and Christina Volpini.

Artists

Amber Williams-King

Artwork 1: Arrival/Return

Arrival/Return uses mixed-media and stop motion techniques to visualize the hopes, anxieties and longing of the immigrant experience. It illuminates the nowhere space that exists between borders and the search for home in an ever shifting Diaspora.

About the Artist:

Amber Williams-King is a multi-disciplinary Antiguan artist living and practicing in Tkaronto. Working in a variety of mediums including photography, collage, printmaking and animation, she sees mixed media as a way of acknowledging the multiplicity and fluidity of being. This self-taught practice seeks to challenge notions of a monolithic Black experience; exploring sexuality, gender, race, representation and the intersections of identity. She uses found texts and images to interrogate socio-political landscapes in an effort to excavate new possibilities and future imaginings. Much of this work starts from a deeply intimate place drawing from Amber's experiences as a Black queer femme living with chronic illness in a world that says she should not exist; she exists through her artistic envisioning. Amber has exhibited in spaces across Toronto including the Art Gallery of Ontario and has upcoming exhibitions in Montreal and the Caribbean.

Wy Joung Kou

Artwork 1: Off The Chain

This work reflects the feelings that come with having our own stories seized and re-written by the powers that seek to diminish us and dictate what we should believe, feel and desire. Off The Chain plays with the questioning of authenticity… Are the precious stone beads used in this piece crafted from real precious stones? Does their authenticity even matter as long as they look and feel real? Does it matter to you? When the trauma of having your truths denied and suppressed makes you question their very integrity and your own sanity, does the truth really matter? Or is all that matters what you choose to believe?

Artwork 2: Out Of Frame

These mosaic pieces were created as a sequel to Off The Chain mixed media works. Mosaic building can be quite a meditative practice and if Off The Chain was about asking hard questions and sitting with difficult realities, Out Of Frame is about healing. It is about the labour intensive work of piecing our selves back together after (and through ongoing) trauma, oppression, illness and loss… It is about gathering all of the fractured pieces floating around in disarray, taking a deep breath, and putting them back together in whichever ways we believe makethe most sense and enable the deep healing we want and need.

Out Of Frame will make its premiere at Mixed Feelings.

About the Artist:

Wy Joung Kou is an emerging queer multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto. Their practice includes work in performance, writing, visual art, community based art, and disability art. As a chronically ill youth involved in intergenerational artist and activism platforms Kou has spoken on panels and delivered keynotes about disability Justice and youth activism at various conferences, these subjects being intrinsically linked to their identity as an artist and the work they produce. They have been self-employed as a queer community barber and hair artist for the past 3 years, have been a self-taught jewellery maker since their early teens and have worked as an assistant artist on various public art projects with Red Dress Productions since 2015, learning ceramic and glass mosaic work in the context of participatory community art. Kou has exhibited visual/tactile installation art pieces in group shows such as Project Creative Users’ CRIP INTERIORS in winter 2015 and in the second edition of the show which was featured in Nuit Blanche Toronto 2015 programming. They were recently awarded the Ontario Art Council’s Access and Career Development Grant to pursue a year long internship with Red Dress Productions as they take part in the production and mounting of Drift Seeds, a community-engaged performance piece set to be performed in June 2017. Artist can be contacted at lwj.kou@koutkd.com for all professional inquiries.

Event Supporters

About Tangled Art + Disability:

Tangled Art + Disability is a charitable organization that brings together all kinds of people and practices to explore art, culture and disability. The organization is dedicated to connecting professional and emerging artists, the arts community and a diverse public through creative passion and artistic excellence. Their mandate is to support Deaf, Mad and disability-identified artists, to cultivate Deaf, Mad and disability arts in Canada, and to enhance access to the arts for artists and audiences of all abilities. In 2012, Tangled Art + Disability celebrated its 10th Anniversary.

The Mixed Feelings event by Alliedoscope is organised thanks to the generous venue support of

Tangled + Arts. For further information about the organization, please see: tangledarts.org

About Storywave Collective:

Storywave Collective works with artists from the disabled, crip, deaf, hard of hearing, mad, mentally ill, neurodiverse, chronically ill identified communities and produce accessible workshops focused on creating multimedia pieces individually as well as in groups. Collective members of the Storywave are, Rosina Kazi and Nicholas Murray from the radical electronic band lal, and queer crip genderfluid digital artist, photographer, and activist, Quinto Zimmerman.

Mixed Feeling event by Alliedoscope is possible with the kind partnership of Storywave Collective. For further information about the collective, please see: storywavescollective.wordpress.com

Accessibility

Event venue Tangled Vitrines is committed to ensuring its space as accessibly as possible. The event is in a barrier-free location and is wheelchair accessible, however, due to limited space, the exhibition venue may become crowded. ASL and attendant care will be provided at the event. An accessible washroom is available on the fourth floor of 401 Richmond. Service animals are welcome at the venue. The full program of the event and all details can be found on Alliedoscope's official website alliedoscope.com. Exhibition will feature audio description which will be available at the venue and accessible through the website. The tactile and touchable artworks will be hung at an accessible level. Please help us in making this a scent-free environment.

Access By Transport

The event will take place at the Tangled Vitrines, Studio 30, in the basement level of the building. The closest accessible subway station is at Union Station. The Vitrines are also accessible by the Spadina streetcar (Queen Street stop going south from Spadina Station, Richmond Street stop north from Union Station), which is intermittently accessible.

Tangled Vitrines: Studio 30 (Basement Level), 401 Richmond Street West, Toronto, ON

Admission

Mixed Feelings is a pay-what-you-can event. Suggested donation is $5. Doors open at 5:30pm, on Saturday, 29 April. Event continues until 9:00pm.

Social Media

Additional information about Mixed Feelings and the most recent updates can be found on Alliedoscope's social media accounts:

https://www.facebook.com/alliedoscope/

https://www.instagram.com/alliedoscope/

#alliedoscope #mixedfeelings

For detailed information: https://alliedoscope.wixsite.com/home

For high-resolution images: https://alliedoscope.wixsite.com/home/media-downloads

For questions about the event and all media inquiries: alliedoscopecollective@gmail.com