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David – Know what? Let’s, let’s do the Hot Takes. Let’s take, let’s take a break from thinking.
Chipo – Hello. Hello. So you have probably listened to all five episodes at this point, and there is a bonus episode, and the bonus episode is called Hot Takes! And Hot Takes is where I asked each and every one of my guests the same five questions. I told them not to think about it, just to answer as fast as they can. And these are the hot takes I hope you enjoy.
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If not performance art, what other artistic medium would you be creating in?
Jelili – That’s hard. . Yes. That is really hard. Well, I. I don’t, because you, you know, you know, let, let me try. Maybe, maybe, maybe because we, we, we, we really don’t talk about that. What I do right now is the entirety of art itself.Mm-hmm. You know, I paint. When you, when you look at my body, you’re gonna see painting there. My body becomes sculptural. I put on text textile, I use graphic. So it’s, it’s like the wall, you know, that use poetry. It’s a wall form of art that is there. So I’m doing everything. So it’s like you are saying that if you are not doing art, what other thing you be doing is also the same thing. Mm. So to me that is not my occasion. Yeah. I am a poet. I am a painter, I am a sculptor. I am a textile artist. I am a ceramic artist. So I am all, I am just a full bunch of art.
David – Gosh, I really wish I was a dancer. Similar to performance art, but I wish I devoted myself to like the dance medium or I wish I was a, not that I wish I, I can be a sculptor. I can be a photographer, I can be a, not a painter, definitely not a painter. I, I know I would never be that, but a drawer or. . I just, I just think that there are so many other artistic and creative mediums that are so much fun and bring so much joy that had I known I could have fallen into that. But I think I fell into performance art and I decided I’m gonna stay here. And when I decided to leave, I realized that hole that I fell into followed me. I could’ve run away from it, but I would love to in, in the future, continue to try other creative and artistic mediums.
Emilio – Mm, photography.
Cheyenne – I think recently music, yeah, like I talked about, I would love to create a Cree pop album in my language. My mom actually currently is working on her second album and it’s all in Cree and it’s these like beautiful, beautiful songs and. . Yeah. That’s why she’s like my biggest inspiration cuz I hope, like I’m sure she would help me, like if I wanted to try to write a Cree pop album. Yeah. Yeah, that’s like a music, music was something, I’ve always worked in sound in my practice, but kind of more delving into the music would be really fun I think.
Paul – I actually don’t have a comment for that. That is my answer. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
What is your favorite art history period?
Jelili – My favorite, which I, which I really have not witnessed, is the, is the ancient arts, indigenous arts ev all over the world. Hmm. When, when I’m, when I look at some of those forms, it marvels me how they get most of those, the idea, Hmm.
David – My favorite art history period, and contrary to what Lasalu Art Library seems like is the modernism modernist period and early post-modernist slash. Okay. Not early post-modernist, modernist and also the post minimalist. Although I, I don’t have too much inf knowledge into the post minimalist, I love the modernist movement, and this is fully due to our professor Jaleh Mansoor, who is such an icon explaining the modernism movement That it, yes. And it becomes, it becomes, this century full of drama. Yeah, and it’s funny, it’s like drama between Europeans, white Europeans and white Americans. But it’s so much fun, and it’s so much innovation and so much desperation and art deteriorates against its own medium.
Emilio – Now.
Cheyenne – Oh my God. Now.
Paul – I’m gonna say the 1970s.
What is your drink of choice?
Jelili – Drink? Yes. Yeah, like it could be like, I don’t know, non-alcoholic. Alcoholic. What is your favorite drink of choice? What I think is, is, is water.
David – Now when I hear this question, I think alcoholic drink, but I do not drink alcohol. So I think my drink of choice is Taiwan’s oolong tea in the morning. I, I, I love that. I need that. I wish I could drink it at night if it didn’t have caffeine. It just calms me down. It brings me so much comfort.
Emilio – Drink of choice? Hmm, an old fashioned.
Cheyenne – I love tea and I also love cider. Yeah, those are my two favorite drinks I think.
Paul – Coffee.
And with your drink of choice, who is your artist? And this artist can be either dead or living, and it can also be more than one. Who would you share that drink with?
Jelili – Wow… Living or dead. Mm-hmm. Obatala Of course that become a ritual is, is, is is that become, is now Yoruba ,Yoruba in Yoruba Nation. We see him as the deity of creativity.
David – There’s so many people on my mind. You could just, if you can go off, you can go off. Yes, yes, yes, yes. My, obviously the people that influence influenced me so much like are this Taiwanese artists Lee Mingwei. This Korean artist, Kimsooja and artists in in the Vancovuer area, Rebecca Belmore. Solange Knowles, I love to drink tea with her, but I’ve come to a realization rec in recent years that, you know, celebrities are not the way that we or these celebrity artists, are not the way that we think that they are. We kind of have this fantasy that they’re, you know, amazing and will click with us. So I think if I were to have a tea, if I were to have tea with any artists right now, it would be my friends Chipo and Margaret.
Emilio – Well, that’s not as, I would have I would have Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Félix González-Torres and Ana Mendieta. With Rebecca Belmore too, just like spice things up.
Cheyenne- Oh, well, you know, I haven’t seen Rebecca Belmore in a while and I would love to have a drink with her again. She was my mentor after I graduated at Emily Carr. And yeah, I, I, I haven’t seen her in a while and it would be really nice to see her again.
Paul – Patty Smith. Or Tamio Wakayama.
Where do you feel the most inspired?
Jelili – Where?
Chipo – Where.
Jelili – Wow.
Brady – I know this one for me, this is the e easy question and it’s very interesting cuz of your drink of choice, Jelili, but for me, the most place I’m the most inspired is in the shower.
Chipo – Oh yeah. Okay.
Jelili – Yeah, I think, I think, I think you’re right. You know, because, you know, let, let me just, you just, you just, you just broke my mind. Cause this time, I, I, I go to pour water on my head and it’s, it’s, the water is coming. A lot of ideas keep coming. Yeah. And that is also linked to the fact that’s what I said. Water is, is, is the most, is the most drink that I, I really, I really treasure. I think it’s, it is, it is a time of day, you know, because at at that time you have, you have been, you are present and that water sinking to your body. Wow. Thank you. That. Thank you so much for that .
David – I feel the most inspired in two states where I am visiting somewhere and I’m this complete guest and I’m kind of living someone’s life and I’m, you know, eating their food and going to the shops that they go to and riding the public transportation that they ride, I feel like I can think about myself from outside of myself. And it is also beautiful when I go to these places or live these lives at places I’ve lived at before. So for example, I grew up in Taiwan. So when I do go back to Taiwan during break time and maybe just for a short amount of time, I’m this visitor, I’m this guest, and I’m able to reflect on my time there. I do feel the most inspired when I’m kind of in someone else’s shoes. And I think another way and more maybe financially accessible way is walking, going on walks and listening to music and it’s this weird thing. I feel the most, it’s this weird thing. I feel the most inspired when the air is dry. And somehow that brings me some level of, of clarity. And I can just think about the words and the materials and the, the ideas and process them. And often I go on these long walks and I write the most amazing poems, in my opinion. And the air is always dry. So these two conditions, when I’m in someone else’s shoes and when the air is dry.
Emilio – Hmm. Where do I feel the most inspired? When I’m, Ooh. That’s really.. When I’m seeing work, when I’m seeing other people’s work that is inspiring. Yeah. And then I hope that when people see my work, they have a similar experience. So when I see work, and it really a lot of my, a lot of my work comes from that sort of seeing and responding and feeling and then how to process that into your own practice. Yeah.
Cheyenne – Probably when I’m back home, but I also get really inspired when I’m going to like, I modeled in Toronto Indigenous Fashion Week. And that was really inspiring to me too, just in terms of the garments. Like, I wore this garment that was like completely lit up, like, and it was made out of all plastic and it was just like, I just felt like I was living my fantasy like alien life. That was like really nice for me. So yeah, being in different art environments really inspires me because I really love fashion and, but also being back home with the land and my family, my family also really inspires me.
Paul – Here.
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Chipo – And that is that for Performing? No, Performance. Thank you so much to LIVE Biennale and the city of Vancouver for funding this project. I would also just like to say a special thank you to all five of my guests. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak to me and to answer my questions. And I would also just like to say a big thank you to you all who have listened to all six episodes, including the bonus episode, and let me know what you think.
And thank you all for this opportunity and thank you for your time as well.
Thanks. Bye-bye.