The Centre for International Experience, University of Toronto
33 St. George St. (and College)
Toronto, ON

A collaboration between Marissa Largo and the Magkaisa Centre for Nuit Blanche 2011.

With the Centre for International Experience as its backdrop, a projected stop-motion animation of a woman kneeling before a closed suitcase, or maleta, is seen. Slowly, the maleta begins to unzip itself by a force still unknown. What emerges, wrapped in Filipino newspapers, is the embodiment of the histories and narratives of people who have come to this land. Facilitated by the Magkaisa Centre, participants are invited to share their “maleta stories” of how they came to be in Canada on baggage tags, which then become apart of the web-like installation affixed to the British colonial architecture of the Cumberland House, constructing a collective family tree of migration.A gallery of community-based artworks created by members of the Magkaisa Centre resides inside.