Queer Poetry Reading
Jun 20 | 2 – 3pm | Community Event |
Or Gallery | Free
Please join us for a public reading of Hustling Verse: An Anthology of Sex Workers’ Poetry with Writer, Director and Producer Justin Ducharme and artist Vance Wright on Saturday, June 20 at 2pm.
Hustling Verse is a trailblazing anthology, where more than fifty self-identified sex workers from all walks of the industry explore their lived experience through the expressive nuance and beauty of poetry. As an antidote to the invasive and often biased media depictions of sex workers, it is a fiercely groundbreaking exploration of intimacy, transactional sex, identity, healing, and resilience.
This program is free and open to all. Presented in partnership with Or Gallery.
Participant Bios
Vance Wright
Vance Wright (they/them) is a reconnecting two-spirit member of the Tl’azt’en Nation, and was raised on the unceded territories of the Sinixt Nation in what is colonially known as Nelson BC. Currently residing in the occupied and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ Nations in Vancouver, they are an emerging artist, curator and writer. They hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University, with a major in Critical and Cultural Practices and a minor in Curatorial Studies. Their artwork has been exhibited in the Contemporary Native Art Biennial (BACA), as well as artist-run centres such as Massy Arts Society or Oxygen Art Centre.
Justin Ducharme
Justin Ducharme is a writer and filmmaker from the Métis community of St. Ambroise on Treaty 1 Territory. He is an alumni of the 2022 Sundance Institute’s Native Film Lab, TIFF’s 2022 Filmmaker Lab and the 2024 TIFF Every Story Accelerator with his debut feature film project SEVENTEEN. Justin is the co-editor of Hustling Verse: An Anthology of Sex Workers Poetry published by Arsenal Pulp Press. His writing has been featured in Canadian Art, Room Magazine, Prism International and The Positive Side. He currently lives and works on the Unceded Coast Salish Territory colonially known as Vancouver.
