Alteration
FAFSWAG Arts Collective

October 14 – November 25, 2023
Opening Reception & Performances by Pati Tyrell, Jaimie Waititi, and Nahora Ioane; October 14, 5–7 pm
Trinity Square Video, Toronto

Co-presented in partnership with imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival

Meeting at the intersections of cultural archival practices, digital technology and queer Indigenous storytelling, Alteration presents a series of inter-textual lenses on the pluralities of Queer Indigenous Identity. This body of work redefines its own grand cultural ambitions and aspirations; to be more than just the recipients of colonial violence and historical trauma.

Compiled over ten years of significant artistic output, the FAFSWAG arts collective presents a mixed media archival exhibition of significant works from the artists created between 2013 – 2023. Alteration seeks out a vision of queer Indigenous futurism that dares to be abundant and visionary.

This compilation renders the experiences of our communities in full resolution, piecing together pixels of queer life as Moana peoples, in constant motion and growth, rebelling against a now predictable and fixed colonial oppression.

Alteration the exhibition is the culmination of ten years of archival practice, and two years of co-design, co-curation, research and production. Created by: Jermaine Dean | Falencie Filipo | Tanu Gago | Tapuaki Helu | Elyssia Wilson Heti | Nahora Ioane | Hōhua Ropate Kurene | Moe Laga-Toleafoa | Ilalia Loau | Tim Swann | Pati Solomona Tyrell | James Waititi

FAFSWAG Opening Performances:

FA’AAFA by Pati Tyrell (5 mins)
This powerful interdisciplinary piece of storytelling invokes dense cultural knowledge and translates Samoan epistemologies in a contemporary art language of movement and audio visuals for modern audiences. Fa’aafa by its simplest definition is an ‘experience’. Fluid in language and physical phrase as it is in context and genre, Fa’aafa (a Samoan conception of half) is always in flux, existing in duality as a live performance and also as a digital moving image artwork.

Fa’aafa was produced in 2017 as a large-scale theatre production for the Basement Theatre Company in Residence programme supported by Auckland Council and Creative New Zealand.

Protection by Nahora Ioane (3 mins)
Maruarua te kopeka te kave I toou kura nui ki teia nei ao
(You the kopeka bird we honor you and share you to the world)

Dedicated to the LGBTQIA+ community of Rarotonga. Protection was created in response to the criminalisation of homosexuality in the Cook Islands where Nahora Ioane was born. Rarotonga has since repealed the criminalisation of homosexuality, thanks to the hard work of Queer activists from the region working with the government to have the laws reformed.

This work was originally conceived as a gesture of solidarity for her community but has now evolved as an act of celebration, welcoming guests to ALTERATION.

FAFSWAG is a Queer Indigenous arts collective committed to social change through arts and innovation, producing bespoke cultural activations that are cutting edge, culturally responsive and socially relevant. Operating across a multitude of interdisciplinary art forms and genres, FAFSWAG artists work collaboratively to activate public and digital space, speaking to our contexts as Queer Indigenous arts practitioners.

Image: Pacific Bizzare | Tapu, Patyi Tyrell, Jaimie Waititi, Tapuaki Helu (2019)

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