WALK A MILE IN MY MOCCASINS
(THEN SLIDE THEM OFF AND COME LAY WITH ME)
A film screening curated by Adrienne Huard
Saturday, 7 September 2019, 1 PM
In partnership with the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre
Hosted by the Toronto Media Arts Centre
32 Lisgar St, Toronto, ON  M6J 0C9

Walk a Mile in my Moccasins (then Slide Them off and Come Lay With Me) is a program featuring a film and a video project that engage the intersections of Two-Spirit identity, queerness, Indigenous feminism, gender expression and sexual autonomy. In Positions (2018) by Justin Ducharme and Honey Moccasin (1998) by Shelley Niro, perspectives on queerness, tradition and Indigenous understandings of gender playfully expand on Two-Spirit representations. These films normalize Indigenous experiences and subvert the settler colonial gaze. Ducharme and Niro reject the notion that Indigenous queerness is steeped in pain and brokenness and, alternatively, they dismiss the desire to overcompensate for this negative affect through the use of unrealistic, jubilant tones. Neither pleasure-based nor steeped in colonial trauma, they show Indigenous lives existing in a world that was imposed on them. This program celebrates cultural and gender identities through a neutral perspective—with humour, drama, subtlety and unapologetic NDNness.

This screening is part of EMILIA-AMALIA’s year-long collaboration with the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre (CFMDC), titled HOLES AND HOW TO FILL THEM. Inviting emerging artists and curators to respond to E-A’s programming, and to the CFMDC film collection, these curated screenings activate holes, gaps and omissions as artistic and political strategies.

Featured works:
Positions by Justin Ducharme (2018)
Honey Moccasin by Shelley Niro (1998)
Total runtime: 1 hour.

The screening is free and the venue is fully accessible.

Adrienne Huard is an Anishinaabekwe born in so-called Winnipeg and is currently based in Tkarón:to/Toronto. She is registered at Couchiching First Nation, Fort Frances, Ontario. After graduating in 2012 from the University of Manitoba with a bachelor of fine arts majoring in photography, she decided to pursue a bachelor of fine arts majoring in art history at Concordia University in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Huard graduated from Concordia in April 2018 and is currently attending OCAD University’s graduate-level Criticism and Curatorial Practice program.