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“Where are you? Where are your answers? Where are your questions? Are you ok?”
– from Dear Can-dada, by Tatanniq Idlout

The following short pieces were commissioned by Volcano for the Canada-wide Transformations project, hosted by the National Arts Centre. This project features work from some of the country’s most innovative artists in video, audio and text, commissioned by companies spanning the nation. Against a background of global upheaval, this project grew out of a desire among Canadian arts-workers to move towards a more equitable future. Specifically, the artworks are a response to a provocation by Canadian playwright David Yee (one of our commissioned artists), who asked everyone: “What would it take to transform our society for the betterment of all?”.

Kate Alton and Dawn Jani Birley | This Happens to Me Every Day

 
 

“This happens to me every day” tells the story of a well-travelled Deaf artist’s terrifying experience of flying internationally when COVID-19 first hit.

Tatanniq Lucie Idlout | DEAR CANDADA 

 
 

“Dear Candada” is a letter to Canada from Inuit artist and activist Tatanniq Lucie Idlout. It offers an intensely personal perspective about her people’s relationship with both Canada and the land, and underlines the profound need for nation-building to provide an equal quality of life.

Natasha Adiyana Morris | Black Future (awkward thanksgivings)

 
 

So much of my identity is framed in perpetual past tense. For example, Black History Month is grounded in the enslavement of Africans, but sparsely references what existed well before Europeans arrived. Black Future is the raw thought process of sifting through and seeking glimpses of what could be amid neverending distractions.

luke reece | I CAN ONLY INCLUDE

 
 

I CAN ONLY INCLUDE is a spoken word piece inspired by a James Baldwin quote and a children's game about a picnic. What are you bringing to the picnic?

Charlotte Qamaniq and Nathan and Eliza Mather|what would it take?

 
 

 “I asked my two children what they think it would take to transform our society for the betterment of all, and this is our response as a family. I believe children need to be given more of a voice in our society, they are much more knowledgeable than we give them credit for, we can learn a lot by listening to them.” – Charlotte Qamaniq

BAHIA WATSON | Recipe for Tomorrow

 
 

RECIPE FOR TOMORROW is a short video about the ordinariness and interiority of revolution.

Bahia Watson is a storyteller. Visit bahiawatson.com.

David yee |TO ASK THE HARD QUESTION IS SIMPLE

 
 

A spiralling descent through internet rabbit holes proving that Auden was right when he wrote “to ask the hard question is simple”.