A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Politician

Kim Waldron —

Shortly after the beginning of my election campaign I gave birth to my second child, Margot Eleanor Ross. Everyone present in the room, including the doctors and nurses, were surprised by the fact that Margot didn’t scream when she was born, she spoke. Her babbling wasn’t comprehensible—it seemed like she had been listening to everything in utero and she was ready to share.

Margot influenced the substance of my campaign. It wasn’t just the pregnant belly on the poster, but how I came to understand that I was running for her. On the municipal, provincial and federal levels, women on average hold 25% of the seats and we make up 50% of the population1. We need more female voices contributing to the political discussion. We need more women in power.

Growing up I had always been weary of politicians as I felt they were dishonest. I had very little interest in becoming a politician. Making speeches and taking part in public debate are not my natural strengths. However, through the process of mounting my election campaign I discovered that visual strategies and framing my artwork for the media and funding committees had actually prepared me for self-representation. Many of the dynamics at play in the art world translate into the realm of politics.

I was anxious before my interviews with Vice News and Infoman. Interviews with politicians loomed large in my mind, as the media often ridicules public figures. Vice approached me first, asking if they could interview me while I was putting up signs in the Papineau riding. I balked at the idea and suggested hosting the interview at the gallery where I was presenting an exhibition titled La très honorable Kim Waldron (of three paintings I had had made in China by the painter Wang Wei from the photograph on my campaign poster). Nevertheless, I had misgivings about staging the interview in the gallery. I wanted to appeal to as many voters as possible and the association of the white cube with elite circles was not the image that I wanted to project. I realized afterward that the gallery was where I felt most comfortable. I then understood that I was sincerely running to become a federal representative from the position of an artist.

I thought I bombed the interview with Vice but they edited everything into something that worked. Most people I encountered, including the journalist from Vice, questioned if my campaign was just an art project. The opposite is closer to the truth; it was my art practice that afforded me the confidence to put myself forward as a candidate. In fact, the art context provided me with one of the most personally transformative experiences of my campaign. During the Papineau All-Candidates Debate 2015 organized by Optica, a centre for contemporary art, and VIVA! Art Action performance festival I found myself on a stage with six candidates. For the duration of that performance my voice was equal to all of the other voices. In that moment, I perceived my position as an artist running for federal office to be just as credible as any position that candidates were running from.

My Infoman interview took place on Thanksgiving Day. I showed up with my daughter who was just shy of turning one. My poster had been really successful at pushing people’s ideas about self-representation in the public sphere and I wanted to present the

little girl within the pregnant belly on my campaign poster. Margot stole the show. I also used my daughter as a prop when I wore her on my back seeking signatures for my candidature. This was part strategy and part necessity, as running for office with small children and no financing leaves you with very few childcare options.

While gathering signatures, people would often question whether voting for me was throwing away their vote. I would answer that I think we vote against parties instead of for candidates and that I think we need more diverse voices in government, which is why I presented myself as an independent candidate. I used the French word indépendante as the slogan of my campaign poster, and this term, in combination with my image, sent a powerful feminist message. On the day I went to drop off the 100 required signatures at the Elections Canada office, I was surprised to discover I would be registered as candidat indépendant.

The electoral law does not recognize the feminine agreement, and I attracted media attention when I filed a complaint during the election asking that I be recognized as female. Although it felt like a very uphill battle presenting myself as an independent, I am encouraged that the process of running can help move the discussion forward.

Two days after I received a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to open an offshore company, the Panama Papers story broke. The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents from Mossack Fonseca, a law firm and corporate service provider in Panama, that detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities2 . The Independent published a bubble chart plotting the occupations of people mentioned in the Panama Papers and politician was by far the most referenced occupation. I like to joke that the next logical step after running for public office is to open an offshore company.

In the wake of all of this, I entertained the idea of opening my company in Panama but later decided that it was best to explore the contacts I had made in China. I discovered that many companies located in mainland China choose to incorporate in Hong Kong to facilitate doing business with foreigners. I had already explored work life in China with the Made in Québec project, and it made sense that I would choose to expand my art practice by opening an offshore company in Hong Kong.

On July 13, 2016 I opened Kim Waldron Limited 金姆沃爾德倫有限公司. The address of the company is Rm. 2107, Lippo Centre Tower 2, 89 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong. The appointed secretary of the company is Joy Enterprise Secretary Services Limited. The main product or service is Artwork.

1. https://oxfam.ca/sites/default/files/up_for_debate_questions_to_ask_candidates_-_final.pdf Online. Accessed September 25, 2015.

2. “Giant leak of offshore financial records exposes global array of crime and corruption.” OCCRP. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. April 3, 2016. Online. Accessed February 4, 2018.