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AGAVE PRESS

On the Blog

Gord Downie, 1964-2017

22/10/2017
By Deb A.

He was Canada's unofficial poet laureate, documenting the nation's past and present and guiding Canadians to a clearer understanding of their own cultural identity. Gord Downie, lead singer of The Tragically Hip, solo artist, and activist, died of brain cancer on October 17th. And while he held that his writing could only be completed through performance, his lyrics are still powerful in black and white.

Nautical Disaster (1994, Day for Night)
I had this dream where I relished the fray
And the screaming filled my head all day
It was as though I'd been spit here
Settled in, into the pocket
Of a lighthouse on some rocky socket
Off the coast of France, dear

One afternoon four thousand men died in the water here
And five hundred more were thrashing madly
As parasites might in your blood

Now I was in a lifeboat designed for ten and ten only
Anything that systematic would get you hated
It's not a deal nor a test nor a
Love of something faded

The selection was quick, the crew was picked in order
And those left in the water
Got kicked off our pant leg
And we headed for home

Then the dream ends when the phone rings
"You doing alright?"
He said, "It's out there most days and nights
​But only a fool would complain"
Anyway, Susan, if you like
Our conversation is as faint a sound in my memory
As those fingernails scratching on my hull
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ICYMI

16/7/2017
​By Deb A.

If you're in need of some inspiration to begin your week, look no further:
​
More to museums than meet the eye: SFMOMA estimates that only around 5% of its collection of nearly 35,000 artworks is on display at any given time. But text "send me" followed by a keyword, colour, or even an emoji, and you'll get one delivered straight to you by SMS.

​Art is good for us: On Wednesday the British Parliament will announce the results of its two-year inquiry into arts, health and wellbeing. In anticipation of the report, Nicci Gerrard offers an eloquent account of the role of arts in helping people with dementia. (The Guardian)

Beware the selfie: A single snapshot was to blame for the domino effect that knocked over a row of plinths holding $200,000 worth of art. Too perfectly awkward to be true? (The New York Times)

Sketching the unknown: How artists and researchers teamed up to find and introduce new species to the rest of the world. (The Atlantic)

Illustrator, cartoonist, trailblazer: Canadian artist Jillian Tamaki's new book of graphic short stories marks her emergence as a "consummate storyteller". (The Walrus)
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Visual activist: Photographer Zanele Muholi highlights racism, homophobia, and hate with Somnyama Ngopnyama, Hail the Dark Lioness, a series of self-portraits she took every day for a year. The Guardian dedicates two spaces to her work, and rightly so: a striking photo gallery and a compelling article.

When is a Modigliani not a Modigliani? Twenty-one artworks have been confiscated from a major exhibition in Genoa after several were confirmed as fakes. (The Telegraph)

The Commuter Pig Keeper? You still have time to vote for the Oddest Book Title of the Year. (The Bookseller)

Agave alumna: Agave Magazine contributor Karla K. Morton's twelfth book, Wooden Lions, is now available.
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ICYMI

12/3/2017
PictureOn our must-read list
By Deb A.

It's that time again: here's what may have slipped under your radar.

As classic dystopian fiction surges to the top of bestseller lists, Margaret Atwood wrote about The Handmaid's Tale and the significance of bearing witness in America's current political climate for the New York Times.

The Guardian looks at the numbers and concludes, happily, that hate doesn't sell.

Because you've already clicked 'agree': R. Sikoryak has turned iTunes's Terms and Conditions into a graphic novel.

Do you hear characters' voices even after you've put down your book? You're not alone.

The shortlist of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize is on display in London.

Co-edited by Agave Magazine favourite Mahvesh Murad, The Djinn Falls in Love is out now in the UK and will be available in North America from March 14th. The Washington Post loves it and you will too.


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Five Questions With Yanuary Navarro

6/11/2016
Picture© Yanuary Navarro
By Deb A.

Yanuary Navarro appreciates the unique allure of gouache and watercolours, noting that "they don't require much more than a cup of water and a brush. The older I get the more I appreciate simplicity." Yet her beautifully vibrant illustrations are part of a fantastical world where fairy tales, science fiction, and a childhood growing up in the Honduras collide--anything but simple. Agave Magazine is proud to feature Yanuary's A Coyote's Dream in our most recent issue, and to speak to her about being an artist, the power of ideas, and her series of invented short stories, 'The World of Wolli'.

What is 'The World of Wolli', and how did it come into being?
The 'World of Wolli' is the title of a series of visual short stories depicted in no chronological order. I have been building the story one painting at a time over the years. The concept began during my last year in college where I had an independent study class where I had the safe space to explore any subject. The narratives that began to naturally demand a voice were autobiographical, illustrating how my family and I immigrated and endured a dangerous journey through Central America. This is something I never really felt comfortable talking to people about and made me feel ashamed.

Over the years the narratives have expanded to include a network of people around me and their life stories and how they inspire me. I exaggerate people into characters and their details because storytelling is more interesting to me when truths are costumed in metaphors and when people are entertained they pay more attention to what is being said.

Where else do you find inspiration?
I find inspiration in other forms of art such as film, literature, music etc. and seeing other artists move forward with their ideas despite social disadvantages and failures. Their courage to share their human experience creatively motivates me to not be so afraid of doing the same.

Your work is influenced by fairy tales and science fiction. What are your favourite stories?
My favorite stories list is always changing and growing. Currently, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez and Star Wars by George Lucas are some of my favorite fiction stories because they depict relatable human struggles within a fantastical setting that asks the human mind to leave logic and exercise the abstract concept of imagination. I believe that practising this helps us to become more skilled at empathizing with other people in real life and imagining what joys and sorrows they may be experiencing and therefore have a more appropriate response.

When did you realise you wanted to be an artist?
During high school I began to seriously practice my painting. I did not have hopes of becoming an artist or even make a living from it. I did it because being in the flow made the world make sense and brought a sense of inner peace that I could not get anywhere else. I think that the arts have shaped me from a frustrated teen into a peaceful and confident adult.

If you couldn't be an artist, what would you be?
I think I would enjoy being a scientist building machines and gadgets out of my Science Fiction dreams.

To be honest I feel that one cannot just be an artist hiding away from the world in a studio and perhaps that is not the worst fact in the world. Art is the voice of the people, it comes from a place of struggle seeking to be heard and the only way to hear what people's concerns are is to go outside and live life.



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Fade Resistance: We Are Enough As We Are

28/2/2016
PictureVia Fade Resistance
By Deb A.

In a time when famous people of colour can safely assume that they will be asked about #OscarsSoWhite in practically any interview, and when representations of black lives in the media often revolve around tragedy and the response to it, Zun Lee wants to draw our attention instead to "black love and black joy... everyday moments that are very quiet, but at the same time very powerful."

Mr. Lee is a photographer whose most recent exhibit, Fade Resistance at The Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, consists of over 1,000 photos that he did not take.

Four years ago, during the American recession, Mr. Lee stumbled across a box of old Polaroids. He knocked on doors to find the owners, but neighbours couldn't identify the subjects. It wasn't uncommon, he was told, for photos to be left out on the street. Unable to find the owners, he kept the box, and decided to build an archive of African American life as told through similar images.

Thanks to eBay and yard sales, his collection now consists of about 3,500 photographs documenting everything from newborns and family gatherings to hobbies and holidays from the 1970s to the 2000s.

Although Fade Resistance's primary aim is to emphasize the agency of the individuals and families in the photos, Mr. Lee is also acutely aware of the risk of objectification that comes with his exhibitions, telling the CBC, "it weighs on me to not really have the original owners attached to them. They're actual families, who know what these photos meant, and us speculating about them is kind of not OK." He posts his images on social media, hoping that he'll hear from the families to whom they belong, whether it's to reclaim the pictures or to instruct him to remove them from the Internet.

Fade Resistance asks us to consciously confront the vast gap between self-representation of black lives and media narratives about African Americans, and to decide that for all of us, "we are enough as we are".



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The Family Table

8/11/2015
By Deb A.
Picture
Picture
The way to a person's heart is through the stomach--it's an old saying (rendered gender-neutral here because... well, because it's 2015), but no less true for its age.

Celebrated chef Grant Macdonald understands very well the intricate intertwinings of food and love: while his culinary imagination and thoughtfulness has found expression in some of the most notable restaurants in North America, it all begins in his own kitchen, where he prepares meals for and with his wife, writer and photographer Ariana Lyriotakis, and their four children.

The Family Table, published by Agave Press, is the culinary story of Grant and Ariana's family of six. It is a cookbook of humble ingredients, shared meals, and good company.

From Montreal to Santa Barbara via New York, Vancouver and Austin, Grant and his family seek out local ingredients and imbue them with personal meaning, creating new dishes, new tastes, new adventures. As a collection of favourite recipes, anecdotes, and food-inspired moments, The Family Table is designed to be enjoyed for generations to come.

The Family Table is available as a full-colour, 150-page hardcover with dust jacket for order now at Agave Press. It is printed in the USA.

PictureChef Grant Macdonald

"Moving locations as often as we do means that we have been endowed with a generous gift of a variety of food cultures, ingredients and culinary traditions. This proximity to a rich bounty of North American cooking—the ability to experience things locally from near and far—has been immeasurably cultivating in how we perceive cooking in all its diverse forms, on a daily basis."


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FORMULAIC: MATH AS LITERATURE

1/2/2015
PictureBedtime story?
By Deb A.

From their very first freshman activities, university students are divided into their faculties: Arts and Humanities, Science, Engineering, Agriculture... we imagine that while Arts students fulfill their Science requirements with classes nicknamed 'Moons for Goons', Science students are rolling their eyes behind a battered poetry anthology. Math is for the logical, literature is for the dreamers, and never the twain shall meet.

Like all divisions we rely upon to help us make sense of the world, this one is not nearly as black-and-white as we may assume. Just ask the author who is also a doctor of history and philosophy of science and technology with an undergraduate degree in math and drama. Or turn to Oxford University and its Humanities and Science series, which recently launched its 2015 programme with 'Narrative and Proof:  Two Side of the Same Equation?'.

"Mathematicians are storytellers," posited scientist and keynote speaker Marcus du Sautoy. "Our characters are numbers and geometries. Our narratives are the proofs we create about these characters."

Du Sautoy's love of mathematics is rooted in the journey rather than the answer. Mathematical proofs are like detective stories for him; the last chapter, in which everything is revealed, is nothing without the build-up of the rest of the book. Both a proof and a novel require narrative to be exciting. He also notes that at times, the link between literature and math is even more direct, citing Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries, in which each chapter is half the length of the previous one, thus creating the much-lauded pacing of the story.

Author Ben Okri is the next speaker up to bat, and he also sees the link between narrative and mathematical proof, arguing that there is an unavoidable logic to storytelling, and that working out the 'inner maths' of a story is one of the most challenging tasks a writer faces. Storytelling, he insists, is the oldest technology, and in the beautiful prose for which he is known, he tells us that "narrative is woven into the fabric of consciousness as mathematics is woven into the fabric of the world." Everything, from stories to theorems, is narrative.

And then mathematical physicist Sir Roger Penrose arrives on the scene to pierce through the poetry of his predecessors on the panel. He agrees that indeed, narrative and proof do share things in common: while one might suppose that an author can simply make characters do whatever he or she pleases, the fact of the matter is that authors do face constraints if characters are to be believable. He also identifies beauty as a common element of both sides of the narrative/proof coin. And yet, Sir Penrose insists, the two are irreconcilably different due to one unavoidable element: in math, you can tell a great story, but if you're not right, the rest doesn't matter.


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"IS THIS THE PLACE WHERE I ASK QUESTIONS I CAN'T GET ANSWERS TO?"

18/1/2015
Picturevia New York Public Library
By Deb A.

Before smart phones and WiFi made it nearly impossible to not be able to find immediate answers for anything from burning questions to useless trivia, there was the library.

The New York Public Library (NYPL) has generously intertwined the new and old, offering us an entertainingly bizarre look at some of the queries it received in the years before we had the luxury of settling debates with a quick (and often, thankfully anonymous) swipe. #letmelibrarianthatforyou is the library's endearingly cumbersome hashtag for its new Monday feature in which some of the strangest archived query cards from its reference desk see the light of day once more.

The series began with a lucky find: an old recipe box labeled "interesting reference questions". As the NYPL notes, "in a world pre-Google, librarians weren't just Wikipedia, they were people's Craigslist, Pinterest, Etsy, and Instagram all rolled into one." The library was as much a place for a songwriter to fact-check her bluebird-related lyrics or a Swiss stroller manufacturer to ask for a list of expectant mothers as it was for students or bookworms.

Unlike typing "what does it mean when" into a Google search and being confronted with the most popular searches that start that way (currently, "what does it mean when you dream about someone" is the top suggestion, hinting at a world heavily populated by lovesick dreamers), these cards represent the specific questions of a very small minority; in this case, we can't imagine that being chased by an elephant ranks high on the list of typical dreams.

#letmelibrarianthatforyou offers us the quirks of daily life as part of the bastion of human knowledge that is the New York Public Library, and reminds us that no matter what we can find online, we still need our libraries.


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BEHIND THE SCENES WITH TONY LUCIANI

26/10/2014
Deb A.

He paints, he draws, and he tells a great story. Agave Magazine's Artist-in-Residence Tony Luciani's Castel di Capestrano graces the front cover of the latest issue of Agave Magazine, so this week we've asked him to give us the inside scoop on the cover image and some more of his favourite works.

The Italian series
I spent three years in Italy. That is to say, one year, three separate times. Although I was born in Toronto to a family of Italian immigrants, I didn't go to Europe until my Ontario College of Art post-graduate year, in 1977-78. That year was spent mostly in Florence, studying the Renaissance masters. Needless to say, I was awestruck. I went back on my own in 1980-81, and again in 1984-84. Those two times, however, I lived in and painted the tiny village of Carrufo, high up the mountains of Abruzzo, where my family came from. It was during those extended visits that I came to maturity as an artist.

Picture
The study for Castel di Capestrano was done on a very narrow bridge in the village of Capestrano. I had to move my easel every time someone in a car wanted to cross over. It was this view I desired, and no car or wide mule-pulled cart full of kindling was going to dissuade me.
Picture
To me, Campo Santo di Carrufo is a spiritual painting. The mounds of earth on the graves roll like swells in the ocean, and the cypress trees remind me of souls reaching up to the heavens from their peaceful resting places. I kept the imagery in this work rather vague and purposefully flat, not wanting to lend this experience any sense of reality. My grandfather is buried there.

Picture
Lost
Picture
Gossip
Lost in Transition series
I was lost.

I was in a place called home and it was anything but. I was living with someone, but we didn't know each other. I was helpless. It was hopeless. I was painting, but my creativity was stagnating. I was in my physical body, but my spirit was diminishing. Then, I had a dream.

I was this fragile, female, storefront mannequin, standing unclothed and alone in a field of tall, dry cornstalks, disoriented and not knowing which way to go. I was a vulnerable torso without a head, arms, or legs. A flock of southbound geese flew by in formation. If I'd had a head, I could have looked up to find my compass in the sky. If I'd had legs, I could have found my way out of the maze where every turn seemed the same.

I felt exposed and isolated. I felt useless and worthless. I wanted to belong, to fit in, to participate. I was terrified.

I was lost.

That was how this series began.

Gossip is about wanting to belong and fit in.

This mannequin stands amongst the 'local inhabitants', exposed, with nothing to hide. All seems welcoming to the newcomer unti its back is turned. The black crow, in Native folklore, represents trickster and messenger; as soon as the torso's back is turned, the gossip, falsehoods, and innuendo begin.

PictureRe-tired #3
Re-tired series
This series of charcoal drawings began as an observation over a period of two years. My excursions to the local township dump while I was living in the country were always interesting for me, and on every occasion, I would eye the mounds of scrap rubber piled high up against the expansive sky. This is where tires came to die.

One day I showed up with no waste to deposit; instead I had a sketchbook and camera. I asked the site attendant if it was okay with him if I spent some serious time with the mountain of rubber across the way. I explained that I was an artist and I thought the tires were beautiful. He took a step back and said, under his breath, "ahhhh... okay... sure."

All day long as I sketched, photographed and touched the tires, I could see the attendant, a hundred feet away at his booth, talkng to everyone who showed up to discard their garbage, pointing to me and bringing his other hand up to the side of his head, rotating an extended finger.

I heard the laughing... but I got four great drawings.



Picture
Silent Wind
I had driven many times past a myriad of huge, grey-white turbines strewn across the open farmland outside Shelburne, Ontario. And then one day, taking a road less traveled, I came upon a small, steepled country church and saw the turbines from a new perspective. The scene, it seemed to me, was about the juxtaposition of modernity and antiquity; of furious, curious technological 'progress' and the resulting demise of acres of fertile farmland. In the century-old graveyard beside the church, the crosses on the tombstones echoed the shapes of the turbine blades, reminding me, ridiculously, of the tune from the last scene of the Monty Python film Life of Brian: Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.



Twister
A few years ago a major tornado came through the town where I live. The twister destroyed buildings, uprooted large trees, toppled hydro poles, and devastated parts of the surrounding countryside. Although its path was immense, there was only one casualty; sadly, it was a young boy from this area.

I began a painting with thoughts of capturing the tornado's aftermath. I was helping a friend clean up the debris on her farm the day after the storm and witnessed a scene of tranquility as well as destruction. The sky was the most beautiful blue, yet catastrophe was all around us. And so I painted with that thought in mind. I titled it Aftermath.

With the completed work now on my easel, I was entirely unsatisfied. I took one step back, and a deep breath in, and I knew I had to change it. It just looked like a fallen-down barn, a victim of abandonment.

My painted sky changed. The peaceful blue that had so captivated me became a dark, swirling array of greyish-black clouds. I inserted the twister in the distance. I brushed in sticks and lumber flying in every direction, and made the barn explode with power.

Now I had a painting I was happy with. I called it Twister.

Picture

Pier 21
I was in Halifax, Nova Scotia a few years ago and was overwhelmed by the depth of emotion I felt while standing at Pier 21, overlooking the water. This, I thought, is where my father, traveling on his own from Italy at the age of 40, first set foot on Canadian soil in 1950. I imagined the magnitude of his journey. He arrived at one end of this vast country, unable to speak English, and from there made his way to Alberta to work in the coal mines so that he could make enough money to get settled and bring over his wife and children. It took four long years.

My mother and my two brothers, Domenico and Terenzio, arrived at the same Pier 21 in November 1954. I wanted to document this achievement and used an old photo of the actual ship my family sailed on, the Saturnia, as my model. I also used typical Halifax homes of the time to represent what the city must have looked like back then.

When they arrived, my mom and brothers boarded a train from Halifax to Toronto, where they met up with my dad and settled in the city. I was born 17 months later.

Picture
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REVISITING THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

31/8/2014
PictureDon't judge a book by its cover
By Deb A.

Roald Dahl's beloved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, and the occasion is being marked with hints of controversy from both a half-century ago and today: a chapter that didn't make it into the final version–it was considered too scandalous and immoral for British children of the 1950s–was printed in The Guardian on Saturday, and the cover of the new edition, published as a Penguin Modern Classic, has been roundly criticised as more appropriate for Valley of the Dolls or Lolita. (Making Dahl's name even more ubiquitous is a recent uproar over the use of the word "slut" in another of the author's books, Revolting Rhymes.)

The previously unseen chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory reveals some of the major changes that were made before the final draft went to print. Initially, Charlie brought his mother, not his grandfather, along for Willy Wonka's tour, and was joined by eight other children instead of four. In the unpublished chapter featured in The Guardian, two unruly boys nearly meet a gruesome end: after clambering onto the wagons that transport chunks from a fudge mountain, Wilbur Rice and Tommy Troutbeck disappear off to "The Pounding And Cutting Room", to the horror of their parents. Willy Wonka reassures them, in the least reassuring and most Wonka-esque way, that there's a strainer in place for just this sort of occasion, and it's always worked: "At least it always has up to now." It's probably better for Wilbur and Tommy that they didn't make the novel's final cut, in more ways than one.

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