Remembering
Zahra Kazemi

As diplomatic struggles and details behind her death continue to unfold in the international eye, the work of photojournalist Zahra Kazemi will be celebrated in an exhibition this week at BloWup gallery (Tour de la Bourse, 800 Place Victoria).

No Picture!/Photo Interdite! was thrown together in a hurried two weeks by Reporters Communication, a non-profit photo-promotion organization, with help from Kazemi’s son, Stephane Hachemi.

Kazemi, known to many as "Zima" (Persian for "beautiful") was widely recognized for putting an intimate face on her news photographs. Fifty-five prints, taken between 1999–2003 in Iran, Afghanistan, Jordan, Palestine and Iraq, will be put on sale with most of the profits going to Hachemi, who has been working full-time for justice in his mother’s beating death and to have her body returned home to Canada. The rest of the funds will go toward a project called The Peace Makers, its ultimate goal being the exposition of Kazemi’s work, done in the name of amity, across Canada in 2004.

No Picture! continues until Sept. 2; admission is $5. » Matthew Woodley

Touch wood

Whether working in sculpture, video or bookmaking, Karen Trask often incorporates the meaning of words in her work. The word "book," she tells me, comes from an Anglo-Saxon word for "tree" and the word "library" stems from the Latin word "wood." Trask’s current exhibition, Touche du bois, is a collection of artist’s books that explore the connection between books and trees.

Before your summer ends, take a trip to Trask’s woods at the Centre d’exposition du Vieux-Palais in St-Jérôme (185 Palais). Far from a dry, theory-heavy show, this is a wonderfully tactile and sensuous exploration of different surfaces. You can pick up the delicate books of handmade paper, wood and twigs and feel as if you are opening up and peering into the different layers of a tree. If you can’t make the trip to the Laurentians, new work by Trask can be seen starting Sept. 6 at galerie Sylvain Poirier (372 Ste-Catherine W., #234). Touche du bois runs until Aug. 31, info: (450) 432-7171. » Christine Redfern

Queens of canvas

Drag en direct part two, taking place this Friday, Aug. 29, is a reversal of sorts of the first edition. The soirée’s premiere, which saw 200 spectators jammed into Cabaret Mado, involved well-known local artists painting drag queens. This time around the queens pick up the brushes to indulge in a live canvas free-for-all of their own. And many of them aren’t artists… per se. "If you have to make costumes and design an identity for yourself, you’re definitely a kind of artist," says co-organizer Kat Coric. Fair enough. Featured artists involve Mado da Vinci, Miklos Magritte, Raquel de Lempicka and Madame X de Finland. Live painting begins at 7 p.m. followed by an auction of the works at 9 p.m. at Cabaret Mado (1115 Ste-Catherine E.). » Matthew Woodley

Kalming words

Spoken word finds a natural fit in the Kalmunity collective’s hot weekly jam (Tuesdays at Sablo Café, 50 St-Zotique). Conceived by drummer/producer JahSun, it mixes skilled musicians like Kali and Jon Ascensio with word-slingers like Kaie Kellough, Catalyst, Queen and Catherine Kidd. The crew also features Jason Selman, handy with both words and trumpet, and MC Josephine Watson, songster and wordist with a background in theatrical improv.

"It’s about bringing a positive energy out into the space," Watson explains. "A lot of people think our stuff is rehearsed, which is a huge compliment, but it just testifies to the artists being so competent. All our artists are people very comfortable with themselves, with their material." See the Kalmunity live organic improv in a special showcase at Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent), Friday, August 29, at 9:30 p.m., $10–$12. » Vincent Tinguely

Is it Art?

DUMMIES ’R’ US: Though mannequins are fixtures at most clothing retailers, they usually end up playing a sad second fiddle to the duds they display. That isn’t the case at Gender Mannequins, a distributor that has recently moved into an impressive new downtown showroom. The company, one of the largest mannequin suppliers in Canada, is the exclusive distributor of eight lines of elaborate international dummies, from the hip, adolescent T-Range figures of Germany’s EuroDisplay collection to the suave and svelte Rootstein set from England to Belgium’s Bonami Sport line, which features plastic jocks and jockettes in various action poses. See the hot bods at 314 Sherbrooke E. or at www.gendermannequin.com.

ArtsHole

CALLING KIDS: If you’re at least seven years old and have a year or more of dance training, take note: Les Grands Ballets Canadiens is on the hunt for young’uns to play angels, sheep, rats, reindeer, mice and more in its annual Nutcracker in December. Auditions take place from Sept. 4–6 at the GBCM studios (4816 Rivard), www.grandsballets.qc.ca for more info. • FRENETIC GENETICS: "Self-playing DNA recorders, biomorphic abstractions and propositions for playing movies to babies in utero" are the stuff of installation artists Carrick Dennison, Cody Stephenson and Kajin Goh. Their exhibition, Interstate, is at the VAV gallery (1395 René Lévesque W.) from Sept. 1–6.

ARTISTAT: As of press time, the number of people who have been to one of the 120 visual art, performance and live music shows at Zeke’s gallery (3955 St-Laurent) since its inception in 1998: 4,006

>> Arts Listings