ahmm (asian heritage month at morrow)
May 6 – 29, 2023 at Morrow, 910 Richards St, Vancouver
Schedule
- May 6-7 – Pillow Whispers, Sarah Wong
- May 10-14 – Volume Vulva Verve, Kage & Ziyian Kwan
- May 19 – Tetrad Tongues, Anjalica Solomon, Christopher Tse, Johnny Trinh & Sarah Wong
- May 20-21 – Monica vs. The Internet: Tales of a Social Justice Warrior, Monica Ogden & K.P Dennis
- May 26-28 – Bowl of Jasmine, Sujit Vaidya & Juolin Lee
- May 29 – HOY! Merienda Meet & Eat, Joyce Rosario & Anjela Magpantay
- Plus enjoy the Asian Confectionery with highlights of Alger Ji-Liang and Sauha Lee – all month long!
SUM gallery is proud to co-produce ahmm events Volume Vulva Verve and Bowl of Jasmine in partnership with Dumb Instrument Dance.
Volume Vulva Verve (May 10-14) features two vibrant solo works by accomplished creators/performers: Taiko artist Kage and dance artist Ziyian Kwan. Through sound composition, live vocals and movement, Kage’s Itadakimasu explores how food intersects with ancestral teachings and community, and how this is being threatened by colonial and capitalist forces. Ziyian’s The Odd Volume similarly emerges in resistance to forces that assimilate, displace, and racialize, articulating through movement and storytelling, her immigrant experience as a first generation Chinese-Filipina. Volume Vulva Verve powerfully voices the importance of preserving cultural knowledge and inspiring healing within ourselves and our communities.
Bowl of Jasmine (May 26-28) is a program of 2 works choreographed by Juolin Lee and Sujit Vaidya. The artists come from distinctly different backgrounds, yet they are unified by a mutual fascination with exploring the tension between imagination and reality. This program inquires into the physicality of their fantasy worlds, exploring how cultural influences in the form of scent and taste permeate through their moving bodies.
Artistic Statement, Ziyian Kwan: “ahmm was born of my desire to connect with kith and kin – at Dumb Instrument Dance’s cultural space Morrow, during Asian Heritage Month. My hope is that this first iteration of a festival, which came about as an impromptu incentive, will develop and evolve into future adventures. But in the here and now, it’s so exciting to dream something into being with an extraordinary group of artists and partners. Expect intimate sharings of poetry, movement, music, film, visual art and interactive offerings of rest and nourishment, made real by co-operative imagining and camaradarie. Through events that are at once resistance and celebration, ahmm is the embrace of Asian Canadian artists who from a space of community, sing their work to shore.”