“Dark Diplomacy looks at the presumptions and stereotypes people have towards other cultures.”
— Camila Lewandowski, journalist, CBC.
Set against the backdrop of intensifying global polarization, Annabelle Brault, José Cortés, Veronica Mockler, Léah Snider and Vivek Venkatesh co-found BANAL, a collective working through music, image, and performance art. Staging an inquiry into the spectacle of the everyday, BANAL asks how we come to banalize the inhumanity to which we are subjected to.
“I Won’t Do It Alone.”
— The Bridge, with Nantali Indongo.
For Veronica Mockler it's essential that she doesn't speak for others in her art but rather speaks with them. Concerned with questions around social justice, pretty much everything she does is collaborative and often with people who are not artists. Her motivation is to use art to contribute to how we can all do better at living with our differences, starting with ours right here in Quebec society.
“Why is your band called Enslaved?”
— CTV News at Five / CTV Montreal In-Depth Interviews. Aired on June 6, 2023.
The artist’s latest intervention follows the experiences of three young women (Hunnayna Hemed, Kaymarie Sutherland, and Kendra McDonald) as they document the work of Halka, a collective composed of social science researchers, university professors, world-renowned metal musicians, underground DJs, and artists. Standing on the outside looking in (with a camera) becomes an emboldening exercise for Hunnayna, Kaymarie, and Kendra as they examine the ethics of their inclusion in the seemingly sacrosanct worlds of academia, research, and art. Follow the three teenagers as they navigate the ethics of representing those who would normally be the authority in the room.
“Seven newcomers—most fleeing persecution—paired with four white settlers rooted in Manitoba for generations.”
— Le 6 à 9, Radio-Canada, Publié le 29 août 2019
— ICI Manitoba, Radio-Canada Published August 29, 2019
— L’Actuel, Radio-Canada, Aired December 4, 2019
Watching these regular people from such different worlds open up to the camera was facinating—especially the moment when the artist invites those who has just arrived to stand at Louis Riel’s grave to speak about their persecution. Watching the locals, proud Franco-Manitoban from settler lineage, react and listen, and then share what they knew of Riel’s story, made our very different histories suddenly collide. — Viewer commentary, Pavillon exhibition opening (Nuit Blanche), December 2019.