Presented by: Massy Arts Society
“parsing genocide” was a project proposed by Massy Arts Society with a goal to create dialogue between the work of emerging secwe̓pemc & Scottish interdisciplinary artist, jaz whitford, and local Indigenous authors, through the creation of ekphrastic poetry (as in poetry written about works of art).
Parsing visual pieces from jaz’s work, Indigenous poets engaged in an ekphrastic process, exploring themes of genocide, decolonization, identity, land, and resurgence. They produced poems that were enlarged on foam boards, to be exhibited alongside whitford’s work through an original exhibition. A zine was also created in May, 2023.
A final exhibition, called “a genocide laid bare”, was hosted at the Massy Arts Gallery, in Vancouver’s Chinatown, between March 21 and July 20, 2023. An opening reception was also hosted On Saturday, March 25, 2023.
