To mark Women’s History Month, we kick off the series with Renée Sarojini Saklikar’s ground breaking poems and Hana Amani’s visual art and futuristic folklore, hosted by MOA’s Public Programs Intern, Rea Saxena. Join us as we delve deeper into their ways of thinking, the knowledge artists hold, and the collaborations that emerged during the global pandemic and explore restorative practices and speculative futures.

This online series focuses on listening and learning from established and emerging artists. They will be sharing some of their current projects and the ideas that make them want to create. Each event will include a live discussion and a Q+A.

Renée Sarojini Saklikar was the first Poet Laureate for the City of Surrey and her groundbreaking poetry book about the bombing of Air India Flight 182, children of air india, won the Canadian Authors Association Poetry Prize. Her book, Listening to the Bees, co-authored with Dr. Mark Winston, won the 2019 Gold Medal Independent Publishers Book Award, Environment/Ecology. She originally trained as a lawyer, and is now an instructor for Simon Fraser University and Vancouver Community College.

Hana Amani is a Sri Lankan-born visual artist, future folklorist, and emerging curator based in Vancouver. She is a graduate of Emily Carr University of Art+ Design. Amani’s work focuses primarily on the politics, taboos, and identities of women of Asian-Islamic descent. Recently she curated an exhibition, We Cast Spells on the Mothers of our Daughters and Daughters of our Mothers, at Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. Her curatorial interests are committed to representing the works and voices of Women of Asian descent in both North America and Asia.