Retro/Desh Program Outline 1998
Programme, cultural spaces, film and video critique
This image depicts a pamphlet for the program outline of Retro/Desh that was held from July 21-August 1 1998, it highlights events from each day and provides context for the theme of that year's events.
1998
CLGA
PDF
English
Still Image
Toronto 1998
Oral History with Leila Sujir (2014)
Identity Politics, Desh Pardesh, Oral History, Immigration, India Hearts Beat, Leile Sujir, arts festival, Dreams of a Night Cleaner, Quebec
Leila Sujir is an artist that first worked at Desh Pardesh in the late 1980s. Her work India Hearts Beat screened in Toronto, and she was invited to discuss it. She felt that Desh was a space of both validation and contention. She argues it gave emerging artists a space to present their work and gave a sense of importance to it, which was difficult in the racialized landscape of 1980s Toronto. Sujir also cites that the cultural context of Desh presented an overarching identity politics that concerned the population of Toronto. She felt that there was contention between groups, there was a competition of oppression and the rise of an “identity minefield”. Sujir also discusses her work Dreams of a Night Cleaner to conceptualize how physicality and space was a major component of her artistic work. She concludes the interview by discussing the erasure of oppression in her home province, Quebec and discusses briefly a new project in the UK.
South Asian Visual Arts Centre (SAVAC)
2014-11-28
Anna Malla
LGBTQ Oral History DIgital Collaboratory (Elspeth Brown, PI)
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
PDF, WAV
English
Sound, Text
1980s Toronto, 2000s Quebec
Oral History Interview with Shelly Bahl (2015)
South Asian Visual Arts Centre, Art Galleries, Visual Arts, Collectives, SAVAC, Desh Pardesh, oral history
Shelly Bahl was one of the founders of the South Asian Visual Arts Centre (SAVAC). In this interview she discusses her role in several small collectives prior to her full involvement in SAVAC, and how these collectives worked hand in hand with the Desh Pardesh group. She discusses her vision for what SAVAC should be, and how they manifested this in their grant applications. One thing that she was consistently pushing was artistic professionalism.
South Asian Visual Arts Centre (SAVAC)
2015-06-17
Anna Malla
LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory (Elspeth Brown, PI)
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
PDF, MP3
English
Sound, Text
1990s Toronto
Oral History with Punam Khosla (2015)
Political organization, misogyny, Politics, Homophobia, oral history, Desh Pardesh
Punam Khosla was the coordinator of the Desh Pardesh festival from the second festival in 1991 to 1993. She headed the festival with clear political goals, which often clashed with other organizers of the event but she was not willing to compromise the vision of Desh Pardesh. She discusses the immense amount of misogyny and homophobia she encountered, which were a couple of the principle reasons of her departure. She also touches on her work prior to Desh and the resentment she felt towards her in these spaces as well.
South Asian Visual Arts Centre (SAVAC)
2015-02-27
Anna Malla
LGBTQ Oral History DIgital Collaboratory (Elspeth Brown, PI)
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
PDF, MP3
English
Sound, Text
1990s Toronto, 1980s Toronto
Oral History Interview with Ian Iqbal Rashid (2015)
Salaam Toronto, politics, racism, social exclusion, Desh Pardesh, gay, South Asian
Ian Iqbal Rashid is a poet and writer, and one of the co-founders of Desh Pardesh. In this interview he discusses the conception of Desh, its original visions and its its manifestation into an internationally recognized event. Rashid was not involved extensively in programming or planning, but was instrumental to bringing together the necessary team to do so. Rashid also discusses race politics, race shame, and the political climate of Toronto from the late 1980s to late 1990s. He concludes with how Desh Pardesh shaped him as a South Asian artist and gay man.
South Asian Visual Arts Centre (SAVAC)
28-05-2015
Anna Malla
LGBTQ Oral History DIgital Collaboratory (Elspeth Brown, PI)
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
PDF, MOV
English
Sound, Text
1980s Toronto, 1990s Toronto
Oral History Interview with Zainab Verjee (2015)
Politics, Discrimination, Activism, Identity Politics, Desh Pardesh, arts festival, Invisible Colours, Western Front, Vancouver Art Gallery, oral history
Verjee talks about her experience interacting with the Desh Pardesh festival in the late 1990s. She was not involved directly at an organizational level, but comes from a background in community organization because of her involvement in groups such as Invisible Colours, the Western Front and Vancouver Art Gallery. Verjee discusses her understanding of the collapse of the Desh Pardesh festival, and equates it to the excessive intervention of politics in the organizational hierarchy of the festival.
South Asian Visual Arts Centre (SAVAC)
2015-06-18
Anna Malla
LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory (Elspeth Brown, PI)
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
PDF, WAV
English
Sound, Text
1980s Vancouver, 1990s Toronto
Oral History Interview with Dunstan Egbert (2015)
Oral history, aids activism, identity, Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention (ASAAP), Desh Pardesh, Khush, Desi, identity politics, arts festival
In this oral history Dunstan Egbert describes how he started volunteering with the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention (ASAAP), and Desh Pardesh. He also worked with Khush, but explains why he identifies more as a ASAAP and Desi participant than a Khush volunteer. During Khush, he was a dancer. He speaks about the need for a space like Desh for immigrant and third-culture youth and the rise of identity politics in the age of social media. He ends by giving an accountant’s perspective of Desh, and discusses their inability to balance politics and diversity in occupation of their board members.
South Asian Visual Arts Centre (SAVAC)
2015-09-23
Anna Malla
LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory (Elspeth Brown, PI)
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
PDF, M4A
English
Sound, Text
Toronto, New York, 1990's, 2000's, 2015
Oral History Interview with Amita Handa (2015)
Desh Pardesh, South Asian, Identity politics, Anti-racism, Oral history, Salaam, ASAAP
This interview with Amita Handa on June 4th, 2015 is largely dedicated to a careful critique of the benefits and dangers of identity politics and intersectional theory, as well as a summary of the arts and culture she and her colleagues were involved with in the late 80s and early 90s, and her experiences as an anti-racism advocate from the late 80s until present (at time of interview). Handa provides a brief overview of her first introduction to Salaam Toronto, Desh Pardesh, and ASAAP and the various roles she later took on in each these, as well as the demise of Desh Pardesh. Also covered is Handa’s career as DJ, both running her radio show on CKLN: Masala Mixx (with Vanita Shirvastav) and at her various parties (including FunkAsia and Besharam). The interview closes with a discussion on the need for more South Asian spaces similar to Desh Pardesh in Toronto in 2015.
South Asian Visual Arts Centre (SAVAC)
2015-06-04
Anna Malla
LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory (Elspeth Brown, PI)
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
PDF, WAV
English
Sound, Text
Toronto, 1980s, 1990s, 2010s