Artist, activist and scholar, Dr. Syrus Marcus Ware, presents artistic intent around Antarctica and Ancestors, Can You Read Us? (Dispatches from the Future) as the capstone event of Participedia’s 2022 Partners Conference at McMaster University. Part of a larger series, the performance and video piece, respectively, illuminate contemporary points of crisis in society and democracy while offering insights for abolitionist world-building by non-carceral methods. First exhibited at the Toronto Biennale of Art in 2019, the piece is described as an “imagined time portal through which the next generation of racialized activists offers insights into a future radically altered by climate change.”

Supported by Participedia’s Teaching, Training and Mentoring Committee, along with student research assistants, Ware will facilitate a discussion exploring these important themes with attendees. We invite you to join the Participedia community as we continue to expand our understanding(s) of democratic innovations in times of crises.

Join us for an interactive evening of performance and reflection!

Speakers

Dr. Syrus Marcus Ware is a scholar, activist, visual artist and educator who has joined the McMaster University School of the Arts as a tenure track assistant professor, and will also be teaching in the Gender and Social Justice program. A former Vanier Scholar, Ware holds a PhD in environmental studies from York University, where his dissertation focused on disability arts, prison abolition and portraiture. A founding member of Black Lives Matter Canada, Ware’s scholarship largely looks at Black activist culture, disability justice in all its forms in a variety of media and formats, and the way art can inspire the “irresistible revolution” (to use a phrase from Toni Cade Bambara).