performance: adrian stimson

Rant

Adrian Stimson - Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation, lives in Siska, Alberta

Rant: to speak or shout at length in a wild, impassioned way, a spell of ranting; a tirade.

I’ll preface my statement with; there are many good people of all races in the world, many who work tirelessly to address issues of racism and injustice. They know who they are and often go unnoticed and are rarely thanked. They give me hope that we can live in a civil world, where differences are celebrated and discourse is civil.

On the other hand, and we see it every day in our social media and it seems to be growing, HATE that is. The uncivil discourse that permeates social media is concerning. Whether it is the white supremacist, nationalist, armchair fascist or Russian hacker, their vitriol seems to dominate the Internet, especially when stories of social justice and race arise. It has been said that if we want to measure where we are in the social justice, reconciliation or conciliation process, just check out the comment section on any story that involves race and or social justice, sadly it shows a concerning and growing trend of hate, prejudice, xenophobia and non- democratic tendencies. In fact, these tendencies seem to be on the rise and emboldened by people in positions of power and influence.

At the same time, there is a growing movement to push back, to address the ignorance, to encourage civil discourse and critical thinking. There is hope that cooler minds will prevail and that taking the high road will lead us to the diverse, just and harmonious utopias we all desire. Yet there are many among us who desire to just let it rip, to let it out, to release a diatribe of verbiage that somehow calms the inner soul.

RANT is a new performance by Adrian Stimson that seeks to exorcise the comment sections and statements of the great unwashed. To use the voice, body and media as righteous tools for the good of all human kind.

Trigger Warning: This performance will contain nothing but offensive explicative and aggressive actions. If your easily triggered or offended, don’t come.