Roundtable discussion at the 2010 Tamil Studies Conference
SAVAC at the 2010 Tamil Studies Conference. (l-r) Preethy Sivakumar, Netta Kornberg, Haema Sivanesan, Kohila Kurunathan. May 15, University of Toronto, Seely Hall. Photo by Fathima Cader
Saturday May 15, 3:30–5:30pm in Seely Hall, Trinty College, University of Toronto
In partnership with the Tamil Studies Conference 2010: Constructing Tamil Worlds: Circulation Plurality and Marginality,
SAVAC is pleased to partner with the Tamil Studies Conference for the third consecutive year, to present a round-table discussion titled Pictures and Protests: Discussing the Tamil Diaspora Demonstrations. The round-table is the culmination of three artist-led community workshops that took place from March to May 2010. These workshops examined the 2009 Tamil diaspora demonstrations in Toronto through lectures, discussions and hands-on exercises. Participants explored and discussed how these events relate to ideas of multiculturalism, transnational and diaspora political models, and other similar demonstrations in Canada and around the world. The workshops aimed to activate the voices that get lost in the dominant representations of the protests, and create a broader dialogue around the social, political and performative aspects of the protests.
Facilitating artists considered photographic and documentary practices and the internet as both tool and archive; public space, ownership, citizenship; the use of language by spectator and participant alike; sound and the body as a device of resistance. The panel will involve SAVAC staff Haema Sivanesan and Kohila Kurunathan and workshop participants Netta Kornberg and Preethy Sivakumar, who will discuss their experiences and the outcomes from the workshops.
Netta Kornberg is a fourth-year student at the University of Toronto, studying African studies, English and Semiotics. She has done research on domestic spaces within the AGO gift shop and at spoen word events, and is most interested in discursive constructions of space.
Preethy Sivakumar is interested in performance art and its ability to address gendered materiality. She researches femininst theatre and wroks as a union organizer.
- For notes from the workshop, please see page 2.
- For more information on the workshops, including a resource list, please visit: Pictures and Protests: Discussing the Tamil Diaspora Demonstrations
- To view the Flickr group, Reflecting on the 2009 Tamil Diaspora Protests, please visit: http://www.flickr.com/groups/toronto-tamil-protests
- To view the photo stream of images from the workshop, which was shown at this discussion, please visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/savac/sets/72157623916131467/
