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The Sunflower Man

December 8, 2017 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

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To honour the closing month of our Fall exhibition, Grapes and Tortillas, join us for a final program with dance artist Heryka Miranda and a screening of the film The Sunflower Man, by Monica Gutierrez.

The Sunflower Man captures the eponymous dance by Heryka Miranda, a dance artist and scholar-activist and Juan ‘Luis’ Mendoza de la Cruz, a storyteller and migrant farm worker from Mexico. Through the method of Indigenous land dancing and creative expression, Luis was able to find his voice and use dance rehearsals and public performance opportunities as forms to resist precarious working conditions and as a platform to increase migrant worker visibility and advocate for migrant justice.

This dynamic program will include a screening of the short film, and feature a Q&A with Heryka Miranda, Juan 'Luis' Mendoza de la Cruz and filmmaker Monica Gutierrez about their work. The screening and Q&A will be followed by a live performance by Heryka Miranda created in response to the exhibition Grapes and Tortillas by Deborah Koenker.

This program is FREE or by donation.

About the artists:

HERYKA MIRANDA is a Guatemalan American Mestiza, dance artist and activist-scholar. Her dance creations and community arts facilitation are led by approaches and guiding principles based in Indigenous land dancing, disability arts and expressive arts therapies. She recently completed her MA in Health and Physical Education at Brock University that explored the experiences of Niagara-region migrant farm workers from Guatemala and Mexico in experiential ‘dance for relaxation’ community art sessions using movement-based, expressive arts therapeutic approaches.

JUAN LUIS MENDOZA DE LA CRUZ (storyteller, emerging dancer) is a Mexican migrant worker, working 25+ years on Canadian farms. He co-created The Sunflower Man dance, which captures the wisdom gained from harvesting sunflowers. He has performed at In the Soil festival (St. Catharines) and The Precarious Generation Forum (Ottawa).

MONICA GUTIERREZ is a Toronto-based, Colombian director and visual artist. Monica’s work explores stories between people, the arts, social justice and the environment through documentary and experimental videos. She has directed Crude Gold (2015), Poetry Saved Our Lives (2016) and Raptors Amongst Us (2016), a TVO Short Doc semi-finalist broadcasted in 2016.

For more information, contact Tara Bursey, Program Coordinator at (905) 522-3003 ex. 29 or tara@wahc-museum.ca.

 

 

 

 

 

 

51 Stuart Street, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8L 1B5       905.522.3003       Public Hours: Click here