Publication: Artists on Access

m. patchwork monoceros is a poet and interdisciplinary artist exploring polysensory creation and somatic grief. Engaging poetry, memoir, textiles, and film, their work considers a collective qrip (queer+crip) consciousness by connecting to marvelous bodies living with complexity as sick or disabled. Their first collection of poetry, Remedies for Chiron (Radiant Press) was released in Spring 2023. monoceros lives and works in Treaty 1/Winnipeg, MB; home of the Métis Nation and the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Dene, Cree, Dakota, and Oji-Cree Nations.

Marcelo Ponce – I’m a young neurodivergent, disabled, queer, and trans person from Iztacalco, mexico city living in Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam territories since 2012. I believe that we all deserve access to art, and that art is a powerful form of protest against oppression. I’ve been an arts worker for five years and an unprofessional artist and professional hater since forever.

Kay Slater is a multidisciplinary artist, accessibility consultant and arts worker. As a consultant, they work directly with artists and organizations to build accessibility in at the planning stage and to incorporate sustainable, grassroots strategies that support evolution in artistic presentation. Their work is rooted in anti-oppression practices, and they employ open-source and community-engaged approaches to support ongoing knowledge transfer with makers and creators at all stages of their careers. They have been the Exhibitions Manager and co-founder of the Accessible Exhibitions and Public Events (AEPE) project at grunt gallery for the past five years. They are a proud volunteer and social coordinator at Queer ASL, and have completed the Rick Hansen Foundation’s Accessibility Certification program. They are a co-founder and active member of The Papercut Arcade artist collective. Kay is passionate about sharing knowledge with the wider arts community. Kay is queer and hard of hearing. They use They/Their/Theirs pronouns as they fumble and learn as an uninvited “guest” across Coast Salish territory. Kay subscribes to the philosophy of the New Sincerity, which strives to “be more awesome.”

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Photo credit and description:

Photo courtesy of Kay Slater.

Photo taken by Kay 2023, at their studio.

Image description: A close-up head and shoulder selfie of Kay. A white person with grey hair shaved on the sides grins at the camera. With their head tilted slightly,  their bright eyes crinkle at the corner, and their top row of teeth are exposed. They sport a pair of nose rings on the right side of the face and a pair of studs in their bottom lip on the left. Their black t-shirt features a white graphic of a pair of broken handcuffs with tears raining down. Behind them are wire shelves filled with art supplies.

Brandon Wint is an Ontario-born, Vancouver-based poet and filmmaker who gracefully weaves the threads of adversity and joy. For over a decade, he has been an acclaimed touring performer and has presented his work across the globe including in the United States, Australia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Jamaica. His poems and essays have been published in national anthologies, including The Great Black North: Contemporary African-Canadian Poetry, and Black Writers Matter. Divine Animal was his debut book of poetry.

jaz whitford is a secwe̓pemc and mixed settler interdisciplinary artist who embodies anti-professionalism and anti-colonialism as a way to move toward a future where indigenous knowledge and ways of being are not only respected, but valued and revered. using a range of materials, forms, and mediums, they work to investigate and express their lived experience and understanding of spirituality, resistance, ancestral connections, and community care.

Kendra Place is an artist, writer, and curator. For the past two decades she has worked with various art/community organizations and collectives, most recently Gallery Gachet and VIVO Media Arts Centre, both on the sacred and stolen land of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) people. She is interested in accidental art, oneiric architectures, psychic knots, and thinking about pharmakon.