[Suitcase] Project” becomes featured at the 27th annual Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts. Titled “Workers: Makers of History,” this exhibition brings to the fore the struggles of the Filipino Canadian community, who now compose Canada’s largest source of immigrants and temporary foreign workers, as a pivotal part of the overall struggle of the working class in Canada. The exhibit will run from May 10th until the 13th, and will feature an opening night that will be accompanied by keynote speeches by artists and cultural performances. This exhibit will also be part of the “Workers’ Struggles Amidst Neoliberal Globalization” conference educational series.

Featuring pieces from the Grand Maleta Art Exhibit that was originally held in October 2010, each collectively-produced art piece vividly depicts the struggles of a transnational community largely composed of workers—the majority of whom are relegated to low-wage, casualized and deskilling service sector jobs as Canada’s pool of cheap labour, whose vital contributions are fundamental to the sustenance of an economy wracked by crisis.

Exposing the impacts of Canadian immigration and labour policies through Filipino Canadian narratives of migration, the exhibit will unravel the community’s collective experience and resistance against systemic racism, economic marginalization, deskilling and non-accreditation. These systemic barriers segregate the community into a low-wage and highly disposable labour force, yet are tantamount to the boundless potential of mounting a comprehensive struggle that encompasses resistance against the intersecting forces that marginalize the community. “This exhibit is a standing invitation to all visitors from all walks of life to share their ‘maleta stories’—their direct or distant stories of migration to Canada—and to contribute to the growth of the installation,” says Marissa Largo, Toronto-based artist and educator.

With the austerity measures brought upon by the Conservative government that have worsened workers’ conditions, as seen through cutbacks on public services, wide-scale casualization of jobs and the increase of temporary migration schemes, all workers now face a reality that locks them into a state of permanent impermanence. Rather than succumbing to this state of forced temporariness and the denial of our contributions as members of the working class, “Workers: Makers of History” will celebrate the multitudes who dare to struggle for their rightful place as makers of history. Fuelled by the need to advance our full participation and entitlement in Canadian society, the exhibit will surely uphold the legacy of the working class of expanding the practice and consciousness of freedom.

“Workers: Makers of History”
A community-based arts exhibit from the “Maleta [Suitcase] Project”
Featured at the Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts
Opening night: May 10, 7:00 – 9:00 PM
Exhibit runs from May 10th – 13th
Beit Zatoun House
612 Markham Street (Bathurst & Bloor)

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For more information, contact:
Bryan Taguba
(416) 519-2553
siklab-on@magkaisacentre.org
www.magkaisacentre.org
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