MODEL MOTHER: From the Nightingale series

American folklorist Utah Phillips once said that “no matter how New Age you get, old age is still gonna kick your ass.” But what happens to us when we grow old?  Where does the “real” us go? Who do we become? 

Nightingale, a new exhibit of photos and video by Meera Margaret Singh, on view at les Territoires (372 Ste-Catherine W., #527), takes an unflinching look at aging, with the artist using her mother—Winnipeg businesswoman and social activist Christine Common-Singh—as a model.

In Singh’s portraits, winter light pours through windows, while elegant backdrops frame the woman—strong and beautiful, and yet clearly no longer young. 

The most riveting image in the show may be one of the artist and her mother facing the camera in similar poses, the space between them cut in half by an open closet door. The message seems clear enough: that soon, the artist herself will go there too. Soon all of us will.

And yet more than mourning this, Singh seems to celebrate it, or at least to challenge the idea of it being only negative. 

Through her photos, aging appears more real, more normal, and as just another stage—albeit a challenging one—in our experience.

Until Sept. 30.

— LORNE ROBERTS

Communication dance

THUMBS UP TO DIVERSITY: Choudhury

“I started choreographing after 9/11 and the war in Iraq,” says Indian classical dancer Amrita Choudhury about her work, Celebrating the Human Spirit! “It’s about uniting people from different cultures, different spiritual traditions and different worlds in order to attain an understanding of compassion, and also to realize the interconnectedness we need to survive in the world.”

The choreographer, who came to Montreal in her teens, stresses the importance of sharing her culture and her dance with others since she sees it as “a powerful tool for dialogue and communication.” Choudhury gives workshops in northern Quebec, studies dance and anthropology and works as a dance/movement therapist.

She explains the first two pieces of the evening are classical Indian dances that “celebrate the inner spirit” and the last three are choreographed by herself and include spoken word with flamenco. In between the five dance segments, she projects slideshows, which complement the pieces.

Take in the hometown premiere before the show heads off to Europe, for one night only, this Sunday, Sept. 21, 7:30 p.m. at the D.B. Clarke Theatre, (1455 De Maisonneuve W.), $20–$25, (514) 768-9711.

— MARITES CARINO

Immigrant songs

The World in Six Songs, by Daniel J. Levitin, introduces readers to the benefits of singing together, which, according to Levitin, triggers the body to produce a hormone that creates a sense of well-being similar to that experienced during physical intimacy. By extension, might a large-scale choral project increase understanding and engender community?

OPEN AIR CHOIR: The view from the singing lesson

This question seeks its answer in the latest collaboration by Deborah Margo and Devora Neumark. Presented by Dare-Dare, Why Should We Cry? Lamentations in a Winter Garden is a performative installation that gathers stories from Montreal’s immigrant community—experiences of alienation and divisiveness, displacement and relocation—and shares them through the singing of mourning hymns and chants.

Culminating with a final performance at midnight on the Winter Solstice, the project aims to “engage with life, community and our environment by exploring public and personal gestures of grieving, recognizing them as vital embodiments of healing.”

Singing lessons commence this Sunday, Sept. 21 in Cabot Square from 9 a.m.–noon. Attendees will learn processional mourning songs, accompanied by drumming, in French and Créole.

For info and to sign up, go to www.lamentations.dare-dare.org

— STACEY DEWOLFE

 

Wiley Coyote

URBAN WORDSLINGER: Coyote

Ivan E. Coyote’s penchant for spinning a yarn has led to appearances at spoken word and storytelling festivals across Canada, an armload of books and a writing gig at Xtra West.

“Most of the stories I tell live these days were initially written as short pieces for publication, either as columns or for short story collections,” says Coyote. “If I look back at the text of a story I’ve been performing live for quite a while, it’s usually morphed quite substantially from its original version. You learn the timing of a piece, the pauses, body language, facial expressions, that become part of the performance but are never translated to the page, not in the same way anyway.”

Audiences can compare and contrast when Coyote brings her latest short story collection, The Slow Fix to Words and Music at the Casa (4873 St-Laurent) this Sunday, Sept. 21, 9 p.m., $5.

—VINCENT TINGUELY

Is it art?

REDEFINING REAL: It might look like something out of a Guillermo del Toro movie, but Genpets is no cinematic creation—or at least it’s not marketed that way.

Invented by Bio-Genica, a company that specializes in genetic engineering and manufacturing, Genpets are purported to be bio-engineered pets that are “living breathing genetic animals.” Using Zygote Micro Injection to combine DNA and proteins from different species, Bio-Genica created the next generation of pets, which are sold in one- or three-year models and come in seven different personality types, so you can customize the pet to your preference.

Nowhere on the exhaustive site, Genpets.com, however, are you able to purchase the pet—and that’s because in reality, Genpets is the creation of Toronto-based artist Adam Brandejs’s, who wanted to explore the notion of bioengineering and how far it could be pushed. www.genpets.com

Arts hole

FIERCE FEMINISTS: Galerie la Centrale (4296 St-Laurent) celebrates the one-year anniversary of its new mandate with the week-long celebration Gender Alarm. Packed with screenings, panel discussions, art walks, workshops and a new exhibit exploring the emerging role of feminist discourse in contemporary art. The vernissage takes place this Friday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. followed by performances by Mike Hickey, Trish Salah, Coral Short and more starting at 9 p.m. • ARTISTIC METAL: Michel de Broin’s latest works, “Late Program” and “Silent Shouts” are currently on view at Galerie Donald Browne (372 Ste-Catherine W., #524) as part of the exhibit, Usure Mentale. The show runs until Oct. 11

Artistat

The number of kilometres of the Tea Horse Road covered and captured by photojournalist Jeff Fuchs in his book The Ancient Tea Horse Road: Travels With the Last of the Himalayan Muleteers, photos from which are currently on view at Café des arts at Bonsecours Market (350 St-Paul E., #200): 6,000