Curated by: SD Holman

July 23 – August 7, 2015

QAF celebrates the 25th anniversary of a landmark work of queer heritage with this year’s theme Trigger: Drawing the Line in 2015.

We draw our lines today very differently than in 1990. As “trigger warnings” placed before art to alert viewers about potentially traumatizing material become increasingly common, QAF 2015 questions what we are sacrificing for safety’s sake. As Jeannette Winterson wrote: “Art has deep and difficult eyes and for many the gaze is too insistent… We avoid painful encounters with art by trivializing it, or by familiarizing it… Every day, in countless ways, you and I convince ourselves about ourselves. True art, when it happens to us, challenges the “I” that we are… Art objects. The nouns become an active force not a collector’s item. Art objects.”


2015 Events

Lifedrawing with HIM

Life Drawing with HIM is an informal, drop-in drawing and sketching social group for men.For one night only, Life Drawing with HIM is collaborating with the Queer Arts Festival to bring this popular...

TRIGGER: Drawing the Line in 2015 Curator Tour

Queer Arts Festival: Curator tour and SalonJoin festival Artistic Director and Curator of this year's exhibition SD Holman for an informal tour of this year’s Drawing the Line exhibition, followed by a salon co-hosted by Daily Xtra managing editor Robin Perelle, who will ask...

Cor Flammae: FALLEN ANGELS

QAF's Pre-festival Fluffer! Back for their second incendiary season, Cor Flammae presents FALLEN ANGELS: sacred + profane choral works by historical and modern queer composers.The rich religious traditions of choral music mean a participant...

Genderfest Introvert Chill Mingler

An introvert's way to kick off the rowdy weekend.This event is scent-reduced, and fully wheelchair accessible. For more information on how to support a scent-reduced event, please visit PeggyMunson.comFor a full accessibility audit of the space,...

I am ME

Wed Jul 29 & Aug 5 | 6pmExplore your identity through movement in this Dance Out Loud workshop with Kinesis Dance somatheatro.This workshop is for...

PROX:IMITY RE:MIX & Night

Co-presented with Kinesis Dance somatheatro and MACHiNENOiSYQueer...

Tough Language, Tender Wisdoms: Crafting the Personal Essay

Workshop (2 days):Saturday and Sunday, July 25 and 2610:30 am to 1:30 pmA Writing Workshop for transgressive voices led by author Amber Dawn, Tough Language, Tender Wisdoms invites participants to write under-told and boundary-pushing stories from their personal experience,...

QSONG Performance

Co-presented with Access to Music FoundationPrepare to be dazzled by the extraordinary talent of young queer and allied singer/songwriters from our fabulous QSONG workshop. With mentors Sarah...

TRIGGER: Drawing the Line in 2015

Gallery hours:12PM - 9PM weekdays;11AM - 4PM weekendsQAF's curated exhibition honours the 25th anniversary of Kiss & Tell's legendary exhibition, Drawing the Line. 19 participating artists challenge, provoke and push boundaries. What sets you off?Curated by SD HolmanArtists -

Salon des Refusés

Co-presented with Little Sister's Book & Art EmporiumLittle Sister's exhibits explicit art by artists in our queer communities.Artists:Alex WinterJane Eaton Hamiltonjackson photografixRebecca BlankertrobinRon KearseSD HolmanShakti SamaComing with a friend or 3? Get a

Pride in Art community Show

An open visual art exhibition celebrating queer artists from our communities.Gallery hours: 12pm - 9pam weekdays;11am - 4pm weekendsKnown as the Pride in Art Community Show, it is a Queer Arts Festival tradition. This longstanding event showcases the talents...

Queerotica

Community Partner Little Sister's Book & Art EmporiumLiterary readings to tantalize and titillate - aka Catherine and Jim's dirty porn night. Curated by Ray Hsu. Queerotica started in '99, when SD (Shaira) Holman approached Janine Fuller at Little Sister's Bookstore saying - hey you...

Kiss & Tell

Co-presented with Kickstart Disability Arts & CultureNotorious Vancouver collective Kiss & Tell’s first public appearance together in 13 years. Videos by Lorna Boschman, with talkback moderated by Janine Fuller of Little Sister’s book...

TRIGGER WARNING: a video curation by Coral short

An evening of fearless queer video art curated by international curator Coral Short. Followed by an open dialogue with artists and curator.Buy TicketsComing with a friend or 3? Get a QAF Flex-Pass. Go to 4 shows, take a friend...

Cosmophony

Co-presented with the Powell Street FestivalEleven composers share their inner reflections on outer space in Cosmophony, Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa’s solo piano project inspired by the beauty and mystery of the cosmos.

Sister Mary’s A Dyke?! (ASL / PWYC)

Co-Produced with the frank theatre Sister Mary’s a Dyke?! is a new play by Toronto-based playwright Flerida Peña. It follows Abby, a Catholic school girl who discovers that not...

A Queen’s Music: Reginald Mobley in Recital

A collaboration with Early Music VancouverReginald Mobley, countertenorAlexander Weimann, harpsichord and pianoAs was with people of colour, the contribution of gay...

Song

Meet Singer/Songwriter, SARAH WHEELER, QSONG Head Mentor and sign up for Access to Music Foundation's Queer Songwriters of a New Generation a FREE 9-week songwriting workshop for queer, trans* and allied youth in the Lower Mainland.

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