Back Alley Galaxies

Artist:
Switch Collective

Location:
Parkdale

Two youngsters will begin your journey through Switching Queens: Back Alley Galaxies’s sound scapes of words, sounds, music and poetry. You will meet some fictionalised and real humans in a sharing of Indigenous practices and transmutation between so-called human and animal species, entities and spirits. While you explore the wonderful land on which the neighbourhood of Parkdale stands, the Collective will interrogate the challenges, some stemming from colonialism, capitalism, gentrification, the area and its inhabitants have faced. Members of the Switch Collective have deep roots in Parkdale and all possess a great sense of wonder. Astronomy, nature, animals, the great spectrum of human souls that dwell in this part of Toronto. Treat yourself by allowing the Switch Collective to share their vision of Parkdale with you.

Listen to Switching Queens HERE

Switching Queens was created by

The Switch Collective

Photo by Kara Manso

The Switch Collective is Indigenous, Black, Mixed, and People of Colour artists and community organizers who are deeply committed to weaving together our artistic practice and our activism, and collaborating with other performers who are aligned with these goals.

Switch is a collective of interdisciplinary Queer, Trans, and Two Spirit artists and community organizers working with a range of mediums, including soundscaping, song, drumming, dance, theatre, poetry, shadow puppetry, live installation, audience engagement, and portable projections.

The Switch Collective pushes boundaries by blending mediums & technologies, bringing them into unexpected public spaces.

A shadow puppet leads into a back alley for a dance party.

A procession leads into a parking lot for a grieving ritual.

Any building can be a projection screen.

Any sidewalk can be a stage

Credits:

created by

The Switch Collective (Anna Malla, danjelani ellis, Jody Chan, Naty Tremblay, Sedina Fiati) with guest collaborator Leon Tsai

featuring

Anna Malla - Direction, design, editing

Kaija Siirala - Sound Design & Mixing

Kiley May - excerpt from “Ghost Walker”

Brescia Nember-Reid - Song “Someday you’re gonna die”

Andrea Thompson - Interview

b solomon - poem “This Tree”

Suzette Clarke - Interview

Interviews and collaborative creative dreaming about Parkdale futures

Parkdale Women’s Leadership Group & Parkdale People’s Economy - Miru Yogarajah, Anthony Riley, Mercedes Sharpe, Nadia Rajaram, Ko Hosoya, Stephanie Francis, Ida Smith, Sha Ally, Beryl-Ann Mark, Bernadette Rilloraza, Lobsang Doflrar

Social media

Switch Collective

Parkdale People’s Economy

In partnership with: