ARTS

ARTS The year 2021 in quotes: read what some of the artists said

by Staff

Singer, actor, and dancer Krystal Kiran (left, photo by David Cooper) and photographer Émilie Régnier (self-portrait) spoke to the Straight about how navigating cultures shaped their art.

One of the joys of working at the Georgia Straight is shining a spotlight on performers who fill us with wonder and inspire us to think about the world in different ways. For this year-end issue, we’re presenting quotes from artists who appeared in our paper in 2021.

“I’ve been realizing a lot in the last year that art is a medicine. And we’re not going to get through any of the horrors that exist— whether they’re around the pandemic or around oppressions of people—without art.” —dancer and choreographer Ziyian Kwan

“To feel ‘otherized’ or to feel ashamed that we’re not enough…I was, like, ‘You know what? No! I’m going to call bullshit on that and say the fact that we can straddle two kinds of cultures is our superpower.’” —singer, actor, and dancer Krystal Kiran

“I think this work is borne out of a form of pain—or scream—that I had to repress for too long.” —Artist Émilie Régnier on her collection of self-portraits called How do you love me?

“It’s like a TED talk but without that lecture feeling. This is a true personal story. There’s no specific call to action or takeaway.” —Chutzpah! festival performer Ophira Eisenberg on her love of storytelling

“It takes a lot of self-discipline to keep training and to keep working your body and to keep trying to have your instrument in a state where you can be seen by an audience. And at the same time, it requires a lot of surrendering of control, of letting your vulnerability be seen, letting who you are be seen by people.” —actor-dancer Billy Marchenski “If you know what motivates you, you’re going to be such a better singer.” —soprano Measha Brueggergosman

“I skipped school to go and listen to Itzhak Perlman. So then having this moment of conducting the VSO with Perlman playing the solo part—that was a really, really special experience.” — VSO music director Otto Tausk

“When you say you love yourself, that’s an act of defiance. When you tell your children that you love them, that’s an act of defiance.… All of those things were taken away from us.” —Heart of the City Festival artist in residence and residential-school survivor Kat Zu’comulwat Norris

“I want to speak the truth. And I want to be brave even at the risk of making a mistake. Already I’ve had to toughen up because some people disagree with things in the book.” —Ian Williams, author of Disorientation: Being Black in the World

“It sounds impressionistic and not so grounded in evidence at this point, but I do feel there is an impulse in our community to get as proximal as we can to whiteness. I mean, I feel like I’m—quite literally—biologically a product of that in some ways.” —mixed-race Japanese Canadian writer and filmmaker Angela May

“I saw a middle-aged couple kissing on a restaurant patio and I just wanted to capture that emotion in their relationship, the happiness. But I figured if I gave it a romantic title, it would be really sappy. So I called it My Mate Is in Real Estate because they looked kind of rich.” —visual artist Michelle Mathias

JAN

21–23

Symphonie fantastique

Fri, Sat, 8pm | Orpheum Sun, 2pm | Orpheum

Berlioz’s dramatic and fantastical tale, plus VSO Principal Flute Christie Reside featured in Swiss composer Frank Martin’s haunting Ballade.

Christie Reside

Hear it. Feel it.

Jens Lindemann

JAN

8/9

Haydn & Mozart with Jens Lindemann

Sat, 7pm | Bell Centre, Surrey Sun , 2pm | Chan Centre at UBC

Precision, presence, and style come together as Canadian trumpet legend Jens Lindemann leads the VSO in a thrilling and virtuosic performance.

SURREY NIGHTS IS ENDOWED BY WERNER AND HELGA HÖING

JAN

13

Celebrating Copland

Thu, 2pm | Orpheum

Three Copland Masterpieces meet a witty counterpart in Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman.

Christopher Gaze

Charles Richard-Hamelin

JAN

28/29

Chopin, Berlioz, Ravel & Bologne

Fri, Sat, 8pm | Orpheum

This (almost) all French concert features award-winning Canadian Chopin specialist Charles Richard-Hamelin in a ravishing program led by Maestro Tausk.

VancouverSymphony.ca 604.876.3434

JAN 9 CONCERT SUPPORT PROVIDED BY JAN 13 TEA & TRUMPETS SERIES SPONSOR JAN 21, 22 MASTERWORKS GOLD SERIES SPONSOR JAN 23 SYMPHONY SUNDAYS SERIES SPONSOR JAN 28, 29, MASTERWORKS DIAMOND SERIES SPONSOR

BROADCAST MEDIA PARTNERS MEDIA SPONSOR

Concerts presented at 50% capacity, in adherence with Provincial Health Orders