As we shut out 2021 and enter into no matter 2022 will convey (fingers ever-so-tightly crossed it is in some way not principally horrible issues!), CBC Arts took a glance again at our hottest tales this previous yr. It was a blended bag, similar to 2021: from a listicle of one of the best Catherine O’Hara performances to a glance into the pandemic tattoo increase to an attractive essay by Arabic actor Fuad Ahmed about altering his title. Thanks for having fun with them this yr, and happiest doable 2022s to all our readers!
Rukhsar Ali writes: “Villeneuve’s Dune appeared like it could be a counter to Hollywood’s white saviour obsession (see films like Avatar, The Final Samurai, and Lawrence of Arabia, only for starters) — however Half One fell again into the identical age-old trope and sacrificed a lot of the nuance from the novel whereas concurrently erasing the cultural influences Herbert was impressed by. Now, with a sequel having simply been confirmed for 2023, Villeneuve should course-correct and ensure the second movie rectifies the shortcomings of the primary if he desires to make Dune extra than simply the identical sort of story Hollywood has instructed time and time once more.” Read the entire article here.
Sarah MacDonald writes: “For Toronto-based interdisciplinary artist Quinn Rockliff, her nude self-portraiture portrays management and consent, self-love and empowerment. Nevertheless it additionally serves as a solution to reclaim her physique: her putting single-line model started as a private therapeutic train that has blossomed in a web based area the place others have used her work to grasp and really feel extra at house in their very own our bodies, too.” Read the entire article here.
Peter Knegt writes: “Only a few folks qualify as a Canadian nationwide treasure fairly as iconically as Catherine O’Hara. The Toronto-born actress, comic and author has been giving us infinite causes to be proud throughout a profession that spans almost 50 years. And this week, she’ll be honoured for that work with a Lifetime Inventive Achievement Award on the Governor Basic’s Performing Arts Awards (including to a heavy mantle that already consists of Emmys, Golden Globes, SAG Awards and Canadian Display screen Awards). It couldn’t be extra deserved. And we figured this might be a welcome alternative to make a journey again by means of the a long time of O’Hara, highlighting her 10 greatest performances throughout movie and tv.” Read the entire article here.
Peter Knegt writes: “‘I’ve written for a lot of causes,’ says Shawn Hitchins, writer of the brand new e-book The Mild Streamed Beneath It: A Memoir of Grief and Celebration. ‘For social clout, as a result of folks have paid me, as a result of I wished to make folks chuckle. This e-book is the primary time that I’ve needed to write myself out of a state of affairs that was instantly for me.’ That state of affairs was one in every of emotional depth few of us might think about: Hitchins skilled the sudden deaths of Matt and David, two of his life’s nice loves, 5 months aside from each other. And he has poured that journey into the pages of The Mild, an astoundingly lovely e-book that provides readers a heartbreaking but hopeful story of resilience that in the end celebrates life — even if it does so within the shadow of insurmountable loss.” Read the entire article here.
Leah Collins writes: “For eight months, Kate Doucette has stored her tattoo studio closed, and for eight months, she’s been watching her inbox fill with appointment requests. ‘Truthfully, it has not stopped since we have been shut down,’ says Doucette (a.okay.a. Kate Somebody), proprietor of Toronto Tattoohaus, an all-female store that she based 5 years in the past. The messages preserve piling up, she says — ‘and piling and piling and piling.’ However her super-keen shoppers will not have to attend for much longer. Final week, Ontario announced that it will enter Step 2 of its reopening plan on June 30, and meaning private care providers — together with tattoo studios corresponding to Doucette’s — will likely be permitted to renew enterprise for the primary time since November 2020.” Read the entire article here.
Chris Hampton writes: “She seen the colors first. For a modest concrete field of a constructing, the Large Tiger in Sara Heinonen’s neighbourhood certain got here alight within the late afternoon. When the solar hung excellent, its yellow burst marvellously in opposition to the blue sky. She needed to take an image. The Hamilton-based artist makes use of her digicam to discover the methods the city surroundings feels. Heinonen walks downtown (the sidewalk is the truest expertise of a metropolis, she says) together with her eyes peeled for fascinating confluences of color and kind. After that first golden second, the low cost retail retailer grew to become an everyday photograph cease alongside her route.” Read the entire article here.
Mercedes Grundy writes: “Bhangra dancing to Celtic music might not appear to be an apparent pairing, however for Yukon’s Gurdeep Pandher, who likes to mix surprising genres, the 2 artwork kinds are an amazing match. ‘I really feel that dance and music are common languages,’ says Pandher. ‘So long as the tempo matches, the dance strikes match too.’ Pandher’s Bhangra dance movies have turn into hits on social media with audiences appreciating the boundless vitality and pleasure that he brings to his performances, often shot open air in opposition to the backdrop of Yukon’s gorgeous panorama. In his newest dance video filmed at Lake Laberge, Pandher performs to conventional Celtic music performed reside by native Whitehorse musicians Crooked Folks.” Read the entire article (and watch the video) here.
Leah Collins writes: “It is odd to be planting flowers in winter, and stranger nonetheless should you’re cultivating dandelions, a plant that is by no means appeared to have a lot hassle proliferating by itself. However then, Monique Martin‘s not within the enterprise of honest-to-goodness gardening. Moderately, the Saskatoon artist tends dandelions of the paper selection — and now by means of Jan. 15, the Estevan Art Gallery & Museum in Saskatchewan is blooming with Martin’s hand-crafted flowers.” Read the entire article here.
Peter Knegt writes: “When Elliot Web page knew he was set to become the first transgender man on the cover of TIME magazine, he had a particular request: that the duvet be shot by fellow Canadian trans artist Wynne Neilly. ‘I do not need to say that this chance got here out of the blue, as a result of I’ve actually been working towards this as my aim for a really very long time,’ Neilly says. ‘Nevertheless it undoubtedly got here to me after I was least anticipating it. I had gotten an e mail from the senior photograph editor at Time questioning if I used to be taking over work proper now, and albeit I believed the e-mail was pretend at first. I used to be so confused and curious to know what this was all about.’ Read the entire article here.
Fuad Ahmed writes: “August, 2006:
My title is Fuad Ahmed. I work within the laboratory provide gross sales trade whereas attempting to behave on the aspect. I take an extended lunch at my workplace job in Mississauga and trek into downtown Toronto for an audition. The AC in my 1996 Ford Taurus station wagon has determined to stop. I battle site visitors the entire approach. It is scorching. I am sweaty. I arrive on the audition, register and acquire myself within the ready room.
The casting assistant walks in. ‘Fod Akhmed?’ she asks.
I smile, cringing internally. ‘Uh, it is Fu-Advert … F, U — ‘
Read the entire article here, and thanks for studying and/or watching CBC Arts throughout 2021.