Braided from my queer two-spirit mixed Anishinaabe perspective, my doctoral research at UQÀM and my proposal for the NORA Conference are in response to the object, metaphor and violence of a WALL focusing particularly on the value of its deconstruction. The ‘wall’ lends itself as the subject and object of my research and will enable exploration of this apparatus through architectural semantics, an agent of political significance and psychological / philosophical metaphor. If the image of the wall makes it possible to offer consciousness a physical materiality of what one undergoes, would the deconstruction of the metaphor make it possible to oppose the object of the metaphor – in this case, the principle of an obstacle?

The performative conference will unravel the state of the ‘wall’ in the era of globalization, commenting particularly on the crisis of borders and settler colonial domination we face today. This is followed by a critical reflection that sheds light on the impact of this notion in socio-political climat and bring to the foreground a framework for interpreting and celebrating the practices of contemporary QTBIPOC artists that resist through the creation of contemporary artworks.

My approach considers doctoral research itself as Ceremony, in the wake of a mixed settler / Indigenous Anishnaabe perspective in which I was born; this is in view of a resurgence, a healing and a generative refusal of the colonial binarism that attempts to carry ‘the wall’ into the future. This performative conference is immersed in transdisciplinarity through sound, image, text and performance contextualised by a transhistorical and transpatial way. The research framework focuses particularly on approaches by contemporary QTBIPOC artists who evoke the deconstruction of this politically charged symbol.

Through this paper, the foresight will be to create a feminist, queer, non-binary, decolonial performative archive of a glimpse at the histories of ‘the wall’ in Contemporary Art. This research//creation will aim to develop a transdisciplinary approach to produce an innovative reflection on the current socio-political and psychological state of borders. Through conversation, storytelling, Ceremony and creative development, transdisciplinarity becomes a decolonial tool that allows us to deepen our cultures outside the walls.

Of sculptural sensitivity, Faye Mullen works through the performative gesture and a research practice toward site-specific interventions, sound installations, image-making both moving and still. As a 2S mixed settler Anishinaabekwe, she holds a position in her approach that seeks to world horizontality, queer imaginings and decolonial ways of being. Faye holds a BFA from OCAD (Toronto) + ENSBA (Paris) , is a recipient of master’s degrees from both the UofT (Toronto) and Le Fresnoy (Tourcoing, France). Faye has participated in several international artist residencies and her work has been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions in Asia, Australia, Europe + across Turtle Island. Currently, Faye pursues a doctoral degree in research-creation at UQÀM; her practice is situated in Tiohtiá:ke//Montreal.

N//A