Covid Collections: The Book - SkirtsAfire Festival

COVID COLLECTIONS
by Stephanie Florence
Edited and designed by Autumn Sjølie

In partnership with SkirtsAfire’s short film: Covid Collections that premiered at SkirtsAfire 2021

ABOUT THE BOOK
COVID COLLECTIONS is a community collaboration between members of ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ, amiskwacîwâskahikan (Beaver Hills House or Edmonton) and from the greater Alberta region inclusive of BIPOC, disabled, 2SLGBTQIA+, mothers, sisters, daughters, artists, performers, poets, writers, academics, and more.

This collection of stories, artworks, poems, and writings account for the individual struggles that people have faced during COVID-19. Struggles may be universal, but they are not equal; some of our communities have been significantly impacted.

This book offers readers a chance to connect with Edmontonians and have compassion for the folks they make eye contact with or brush against on the street. As a collective, how do we wish to move forward in the aftermath of COVID-19? What do we need to change to ensure that all of our community members are taken care of? This book does not offer answers but offers perspective and proof that we need to implement new laws and systems based on empathy and understanding and not systemically racist, ableist, elitist, and dismissive.

COVID COLLECTIONS invites you into the reality and experiences of the neighbours around you, and we welcome you with an open heart.

COVID COLLECTIONS is supported by the Edmonton Arts Council and mentored by Annette Loiselle. COVID COLLECTIONS, the short film, produced by SkirtsAfire, has just been chosen to screen at the 35th Annual Edmonton International Film Festival later this fall.

COVID COLLECTIONS CONTRIBUTORS

Story Tellers:

Amanda Bourassa: Curriculum, Cohorts, and Caring for Each Other
Jodi Calahoo-Stonehouse: Skirts, Ribbons, and Responsibility: The Rise of Matriarchs
Soni Dasmohapatra: COVID Musings
Lebogang Disele: Interview with Lebogang Disele Transcribed
Nelly Gatama: I Believe Everything is a Season: This Too Shall Pass
Njoki Gatama: Be Patient with Yourself
Krystle Hong: Let Me Breathe Out
Ruth Autumn June: The Beginning of Magpie Goods and Apparel
Rachel O’Brien: The Long Story of Long COVID, Annette Loiselle to Her Sister Rachel O’Brien
Vanessa Pillay: A Learning Experience
Carol Powder: tân’si, My Name is Carol Powder
Roxann Roan: Sun Walker Roan: Interview with Roxann Roan Transcribed, Life is Beautiful

Story Collectors:

Mackenzie Brown (Ruth, Carol)
Jodi Calahoo-Stonehouse (Roxann and Herself)
Lebogang Disele (Nelly, Eunice/Njoki, Soni, and Herself)
Sang Sang Lee (Amanda, Vanessa, Krystle)
Annette Loiselle (Rachel)

Creative Writers and Poets:

Medgine Mathurin (Love poem to Lonely, My Body is…)
Nisha Patel (for bui thi hiep)
Cat Siverstien (Covidian Garden Party)
Anna Mioduchowska (In the 12th Month of the Pandemic)

Artists:

Raneece Buddan (I Stand as Two, Inside Out, Within this vessel)
Shawnee Danielle Buffalo (Portrait of Brenda, Portrait of Jessa, Chief Victor Buffalo, Portrait of Rema, Portrait of Ashton, Self Portrait I)
Kailene Dillion (Mother, Survive, Trapped, Heart)
Eszter Rosta (Bouquet Exchange, Spit with Lines, Peel, Moving with Glass, Mediated Spectatorship in Conversations)

Critical and Contextual Writer: Sherise Schlaht

External Editor: Cate Colleen Shaw

Editor, Curator, and Photographer: Stephanie Florence

Book Designer and Editor: Autumn Sjølie

About Stephanie Florence
Stephanie Florence is an emerging Canadian artist and curator working from Amiskwaciwâskahikan, colonially known as Edmonton, Alberta. Florence was greatly impacted in their formative years by their Grandmother’s creativity.

Their artwork is primarily based in collage and collaboration, borrowing from sculptural objects, installations, performative gestures, explorative painting, and photographic means. Florence is planning to complete an MFA in the future, and is a graduate of the University of Lethbridge with a BFA and a Diploma in Fine Art from MacEwan University.

Currently, Florence is conducting creative research on interspecies interactions, and living bodies as a commodity for capitalist culture with funding from the Edmonton Arts Council. As a non-binary artist, Florence acknowledges the use of pronouns such as they, their, them, she, her, he, him, and his.

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Books are also available now at TIX on the Square, Audrey’s Books and Glass Bookshop.

Keep an eye out for more opportunities to purchase in person soon! Interested in selling the book on your store’s shelves? Contact info@skirtsafire.com.

This project is supported by