creative forces

Blog # 59...July 2016

We're all increasingly aware of people being displaced from their homes by war. We've welcomed a great number here and I'm particularly interested in discovering the different ways that we're attempting to make them feel at home. It's challenging to get them housed, fed and working but beyond those instrumental tasks, helping them make cultural adjustments is trickier. We're familiar with our own ways of thinking, believing and doing things, based on our surroundings, background and experience.  And maybe subconsciously we think it's the best way and we should encourage the newcomers to learn and adjust to us, after all they've chosen to join us...haven't they?

Balancing fitting in and getting along, with keeping in touch with their customs and culture is a delicate equipoise, for them to achieve and for us to witness.

 For my money, cooking is one of the greatest art forms and things we have in common.  I love the way a west end restaurant called Depanneur uses noon hour, when it’s usually closed, to welcome immigrant women from the neighbourhood in to cook.  The owner  supplies space, utensils and some ingredients that are available here...many women have brought spices in their luggage (shows how important those familiar tastes are). The lunches have become popular with local residents as well, possibly giving some of the women a direction for future employment, or at least a connection with their environment.

 The Gardiner Museum, although devoted primarily to displaying ceramics, has branched out in its Community Art Space with a recent program.   Muslim women in the South Riverdale Community Centre have been invited there to decorate their distinctive clothing -  head scarves, hijabs or burkas. Sharing their stories while they work helps them transform their individual experiences into forms of artistic expressions. Their pieces were displayed in the public gallery from July 19 to 24 (I missed it) as a means of sparking dialogue and promoting acceptance within the broader community.

The Aga Khan Museum, as well as introducing us to an amazing collection of art works, is a subtle but important exercise in human relations. Their recent installation by Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami (missed this too) Doors Without Keys is a series of still photos showing doors, all closed, many padlocked, chained or bolted. These old. mostly wooden doors are attached to uninhabited homes in his country and others in the region. 
He also composed haikus to accompany the photos:  

“The key falls

 silently

 from her neck in the rice field.

 In the kitchen

 The boiling kettle on the stove.”

Abbas Kiarostami died on July 4th at 76. leaving. us a cinematic treasure chest

Lots of material here to deepen our understanding and get a feeling for the complex and layered lives these people are bringing here to share with us.  We’re still waiting for our family of Iraqis.