Matt Miwa Performance
SNOWBLOWER 2013
PRESENTS
MATT MIWA / PERFORMANCE ART
NINA ARSENAULT / LOVE LETTERS TO ANTHONY
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2013 / 7 – 11PM
MATT MIWA:
Having spent his adolescence as a mediocre gymnast, Matt Miwa turned to performance art to find some good times and peace. In gymnastics, it was the double flipping that was too much for him; he lost himself in the air and fell a lot. Looking back, he can see there were too many desires to contend with while twirling all about. Womanhood was up there, so was rage, longing and all the sexiness he could not embody on the ground. (He wasraised in the suburbs) Still, the gymnastics was useful in that he learned the power of his muscles, flexed in great tension and moving at great speed.
NINA ARSENAULT:
Nina is a Toronto based multi-disciplinary artist. She has worked in live performance, video art, photography, writing and popular national media to explore her continuing real life physical and psychic transformations. These performances and self-objectifications do much more than document her transsexual transition and the 60+ surgical procedures she has undergone in an unreasonable and heroic quest for beauty and femininity. They confront the audience with uneasy questions about the power of the image to transform reality, the interrelatedness of the body and the spirit, and the radical potentialities of womanhood. Furthermore, Nina’s work illuminates surprising paradoxes about the pains, pleasures privileges and powers she has taken from reinventing and embodying archetypes like the phallic woman, the empty vessel, woman as object, woman as art, and the sacred whore.
Her plays The Silicone Diaries and I was Barbie have travelled nationally to sold out houses and critical raves. Her performance art pieces (40 Days + 40 Nights; Working Towards a Spiritual Experience, Ophelia/Machine and Narcissism Will Heal the Sick –OR– For Every Time You Shattered Me I Made Myself Again) have been called “a spiritual gift” and “as stunning as they are ruthless.”
In 2012, Intellect Book published TRANS(per)FORMING Nina Arsenault: An Unreasonable Body of Work, edited by Judith Rudakoff, a scholarly exploration of her life and art by 13 international artists and critics.
Nina’s video art collaborations (Plane of Immanence, Guadalajara Mexico City, Oh Superstar) have shown internationally.
She is currently developing a new theatre piece, as an Artist-in-Residence at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, called The Raping of Cleopatra / Love Letters for Anthony.
Her work has been called “profoundly moving,” “absolutely unforgettable,” “brutally honest,” and “as stunning as it is ruthless.”
PERFORMANCE STATEMENT:
Love Letters for Anthony
Very simply the most beautiful man I have ever met.
Confided in me your most violent stories.
Laughed at my accomplishments. Laughed at me!
Told me I was lost in fantasies of self-importance.
Winced at my make-up and wigs.
Trained me with punches that knocked the breath out of my body.
Stated simply and knowingly that you would make me into your personal whore.
You raped me, and I thanked you for it.
*
In the mirror.
*
I didn’t know I could be so beautiful.
My eyes were open so wide.
You said I was perfect.
I never had to try with you.
You called me an “addiction.”
*
The only thing which brings relief from your absence are memories of you.
I can feel you inside me.
You are in my mind telling me things.
Phrases I have heard you speak and also new rampages of abuse that could only come from you.
You are watching me from somewhere.
But it is horrible when you are not looking.
My body will not stop shaking.
Our moments together are happening to me all at the same time.
After you cut me off I was committed to The Centre for Mental Health and Addictions’ Crisis Control Centre on a Form 1.
A 72 hour suicide watch.
The drugs the doctor gave me only make things worse and better at the same time.
One of the nurses gave me paper and a pen so I could write.
*
If you could see me now, you would see how new I am again.
Anthony.
For all of the manipulations and our treacheries. You are my greatest love.
Nina.
March, 2005.
***
Snowblower is:
- A festival that takes in all different aspects of our lives – for men who like men
- A festival “umbrella” for a series of pre-existing community events for gay / bi / trans and other men who like men
- A chance for local organizations to get the word out about their activities and recruit new members
- A chance to link your organization with the lives of gay / bi / trans and other men who like men
- An easy promotion opportunity for your organization to showcase what you can offer in the community: we supply the promotion, space and attention while you supply the activity
The festival prides itself in celebrating male sexuality and is a proudly sex positive, inclusive festival.
The essentials
Snowblower 2013 will be held from Thursday, February 7 to Sunday, February 17 in Ottawa. Events during the festival will include workshops, parties and cultural events.
Festival Objectives:
Snowblower aims to fulfill a maximum of the following long-term objectives:
- Reduced rates of HIV infection among gay men
- Reduced rates of STIs in gay men
- Decreased social isolation in gay men
- Increased community participation in HIV prevention and other wellness initiatives by gay men
- Improved conditions around the process of coming out for gay men of all ages and cultures
- Increased participation in the gay community by HIV+ gay men
- Increased engagement of gay men in their own wellness
- Increased self-esteem in gay men
History of the festival
Snowblower has been held annually since the first Snowblower festival in 2007. Since the beginnings of the festival the event has been proudly hosted by the AIDS Committee of Ottawa and continued as a major community event.
The festival began as a response to research identifying a community need for events that cater to gay men’s holistic health and wellbeing. The festival aims to meet these needs through a diverse range of activities that allow men to share, explore and socialize.
Audience demographics and projected attendance
Thousands of individuals will be invited to Snowblower through direct marketing and online social marketing.
The Ottawa gay community is especially sensitive to support from businesses and organizations and will direct purchasing decisions towards those businesses providing support to the community. The Ottawa gay community includes influential decision makers in the public and private sectors
Speak to us
Reach Nick Valela at (613) 238 5014 ext. 255. / Mens.health.project@aco-cso.ca / 251 Bank Street, Suite 700 / Ottawa ON K2P 1X3