Crashing after Pride? Marvellous Grounds has you covered… 
Marvellous Grounds is a QTBIPOC (queer and trans Black, Indigenous and people of colour) archive that explores how QTBIPOC create communities, make space and foster connections within Toronto/Three Fires Territories and beyond. This collection brings together art, writing and research that is in the service of community building.
This event invites community members to celebrate the work of Marvellous Grounds, as well as giving an opportunity for folks to share their own stories through participating in a collaborative mapping activity of QTBIPOC histories. Río Rodríguez discusses mapping QTBIPOC histories in Toronto, followed by a story mapping activity and Alvis Choi a.k.a. Alvis Parsley followed with a performance that invites the audience on a journey of time and space travel (probably in the least sci-fi way!). This performance, as part of Alvis’ Masters major research at the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University, is followed by a talkback session.
Río Rodriguez is a Toronto-based latinx queer educator working in queer, trans and POC communities, and researching QTBIPOC community organizing histories. Río is a Masters of Environmental Studies candidate at York University, and is assembling a portfolio that examines alternative community mapping and histories of Toronto’s Church and Wellesley district. The project focuses on key moments in the Village’s history that highlight the simultaneous displacement and erasure of queer and trans bodies of colour from public space.
Alvis Choi a.k.a. Alvis Parsley is a Toronto-based artist, performer, writer and researcher born and raised in Hong Kong. Alvis has presented at SummerWorks Festival, Mayworks Festival, Rhubarb Festival, Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics – Encuentro, Performance Studies international (PSi) – Fluid States North, National Queer Arts Festival (Bay Area), Gladstone Hotel, Whippersnapper Gallery and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Alvis is named in the 2014 list of BLOUIN ARTINFO Canada’s 30 Under 30.
