2019 Festival
NGHTSHFTS honours those who labour in the dark - unseen, unpaid and unprotected. From May 1 to May 24, 2019, Mayworks hosted 12 events featuring exciting and established artists whose work offers critical insight into the rise of the far right and the impacts of racism and colonialism on low-wage workers.
SALT FACTORY
A moving memorial by Artistrophe remembers workers who have lost their lives on the job.
POWER IN RESISTANCE
Curated by Tamara Toledo, this exhibition exposes voices of resistance and resilience that flourish throughout the Americas as a response to centuries of racism, poverty, and widespread economic and social exclusion of Indigenous peoples in the region.
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MONEY MOVES
Created by artist En Lai Mah, Money Moves: 超时工作 makes visible what is too often unnoticed: the labour of immigrant workers who put food on our tables. Mah collaborated with elderly grocery workers to create a performance that is inspired by their work. Please note: This is a work in progress community screening.
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BEATWORK
Beat work is a percussion workshop for migrant farmworkers. Facilitated by musician Ruben 'Beny' Esguerra, the workshop reflects on Indigenous migrations from south to north.
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CIRCLE
A community-engaged project by Syrus Marcus Ware adapts Diana Taylor’s concept of the archive and the repertoire to consider the challenges of archiving activist movements.
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BAN’ YUH BELLY
Visual artist Anique Jordan interrupts what capitalism defines as work by centering the unwaged labour of Black mothers grieving children they have lost to violence.
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CARE
Care delves deep into the world of home elder care through the eyes of both paid caregivers and their elderly clients. Providing quality care for an aging population will require reimagining how we value and compensate care workers and how we support families who need their services.
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REMEMBERING THE WINNIPEG GENERAL
A play that is a political vaudeville that tells the story of the momentous, yet oft forgotten Winnipeg General Strike.
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UNFEELING CAPITALISM
A night of talk and play with game workers, players and artists confronting capitalism, white supremacy, and misogyny in real and virtual worlds.
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DARK BEINGS
Party and album launch of a new album by the electronic duo, LAL, Toronto’s mix of immigrant Barbadian, West-Indian, Straight cis-Blackman nerd meets Brampton/Bangladeshi Queer weirdo, aka Nic and Rose. Featuring special opening performance by Ziibiwan…
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ALL OR NONE
The act of sitting, pausing is a central fixture in the navigation of the fatigued body in spaces of capitalism. Often found marrying poetry with large-scale sculptural forms, Parkdale resident jes sasche addresses the negotiations of bodies moving in public/private space and the work of their care.