On a chill evening in April, at the Glad Day Bookshop on Church Street, The Laboratory of Feminist Memory Bar took Place. It featured a series of speakers, all involved in feminist archival work, artivist movements, and inspiring artwork.
What I found so amazing was the speaker’s personal determination to create a message and stand for something so diligently. Midi Onodera used what money she had to pay for reels of film, and had to get everything in one take, because she was so broke, but was determined to create an outspoken short film. Thirza Cuthand discussed her determination to find the other young lesbian women in her community when she was only fourteen years old and used her resources to create a short film for a film festival in Saskatoon. Anna Willats told her personal life story about her involvement with the “gayby boom,” and her determination to start a baby with her life partner in the 80’s. All of these women used their resources and energy to follow what they love, and created something beautiful. The messages and stories were truly inspiring.
It was clear that each of these women faced backlash and turmoil in their lives as gay women. When Midi Onodera discussed the context of her film, it was shocking to hear the number of men arrested for participating in bathhouses; to the point that some men were so miserable they committed suicide. Thirza Cuthand told the crowd that her film was taken by judgmental critiques as a way to entice kids to become gay (and they didn’t even bother to watch the film). Anna Willats discussed how sperm banks were not available to gay women, and achieving the “good stuff,” became a personal endeavour, since it was not tolerated by the community.
Hearing the issues, turmoil and public backlash that gay women experience was shocking and sad to me, however seeing these women stand up for what they love was truly amazing. As Gabriella Ginnachi says in “Archives and Archaeological Sites,” “The personal became the political and the very personal became art” (Ginnachi, 46). This is so relevant to what occurred during The Laboratory of Feminist Memory Bar. Seeing what these women did with their lives and their creativity encourages me to stand up for what I love and make art out of it as well.
It was a great privilege and huge honour to have my group’s work featured with all these amazing artivist’s, and my favourite experience in my entire first year of university here at Ryerson. Thank you to all the women who are brave and strong, and make art despite pain and hardship. You are awesome.
(Poem from, “One Sigh Fits All,” written by Steve Keil, featured in the Glad Day Cafe. Rewritten below if size is too small).
A Friend Came in From out of Town
There’s always another excuse
As to why you’re not doing
What you were born to
Believe me
I know that song so well
I could sing it backwards
Without vowels
For it seems as though
The hardest thing to learn
Is how to inspire yourself
When there are no externals
To make it easy for you
As in the days of youth yore
When every breath was
The best party ever
Because you had never
Been to one
Before
– Steven Keil
Ginnachi, Gabriella. “Archives as Archaeological Sites.” Archive Everything: Mapping the Everyday. https://courses.ryerson.ca/d2l/le/content/173420/viewContent/1850645/View. Date Accessed: 11 April 2018.
