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Bangishimo: The Medicines We Carry

10 February 2024 to 12 May 2024

On exhibit at Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery. Curated by Darryn Doull with Fitsum Areguy and Shalaka Jadhav. Textile will also produce the exhibition's catalogue.

FORTHCOMING: Séances — a public memory project

A public memory project in partnership with the Region of Waterloo’s Museums and Archives.

FORTHCOMING: Stories in Ink special issue

"Stories in Ink: Elevating the Voices of Equity-Seeking Communities" is a community arts project, led by Dr. Susan Cadell in collaboration with Textile, focused on tattoos and tattooing as a way for destigmatizing grief, commemorating loss, facilitating healing, and celebrating identity. With particular emphasis on underrepresented voices of queer, Indigenous, racialized, and disabled individuals, "Stories in Ink" aims to challenge societal stigmas and elevate their stories in an in-print and digital publication.

FORTHCOMING: Facilitating youth arts workshops

Workshops facilitated in partnership with the Creek Collective.

FORTHCOMING: Textile to host a fall literary event

A landmark literary event this fall with authors Hanif Abdurraqib and Antonio Michael Downing, focusing on Black identity and enriching cultural discourse in Waterloo Region.

Artist-in-Residence Program Support

The City of Kitchener partnered with Textile to support its annual Artist-in-Residence program.

One Asia, Many Cultures

Performances and artworks for WRDSB's inaugural Asian Heritage Month Celebrations, curated by Textile in partnership with Eastwood Collegiate Institute’s Asian Student Union and the Indigenous Equity and Human Rights team at WRDSB.

Dreaming Into Collective Futures

In response to increasing state and police violence, Textile collaborated with local organizers to invite submissions of writing and artworks in any medium that imagined what police-free futures, community safety, and mutual aid networks could look like in Waterloo Region. First place: Niara van Gaalan for her essay, "Land Stories”; Second-place: Roshan James for her artwork, “Objects In Mirror”.

Hyper-local publishing

Edited and published Jose Castillo's debut art book, FOLLOWING MORNING STAR, and a zine featuring poetry and art by Black and Indigenous youth who were part of Community Justice Initiatives' Roots to Rise leadership program.

FOLLOWING MORNING STAR →

Roots to Rise zine →

REST

Digital Storytelling Workshops

Offered workshops for emerging writers on how to incorporate layout, colour, and art direction for stories published on the web.

Recollections & Reimaginings documentary

Advised on "Recollections & Reimaginings," a grassroots initiative advocating for an Indigenous community hub at the vacated Charles Street Bus Terminal in downtown Kitchener. Community engagement about this issue was led by members of O:se Kenhionhata:tie (Land Back Camp), in partnership with students and artists in the community, this work culiminated in a short documentary reflecting on the futures of this place, grounded in repairing relationships across the past and present.

Issue 2: Space(s)

Organized a mentorship program that connected new writers and artists with seasoned editors and mentors, resulting in the publication of our second issue, "Space(s)".

Policing the Pandemic Micro-Publication

In collaboration with Article Club KW, co-published a micro-publication titled "Policing the Pandemic."

Issue 1: In Transit

Published "In Transit," our first print issue, featuring a collection of over twenty previously unpublished writers and artists from across Waterloo Region.