SYRUS MARCUS WARE: Irresistible Revolutions

SYRUS MARCUS WARE
Irresistible Revolutions
Begins Sat, Jan 23, 2021

Wil Aballe Art Projects | WAAP
1129 East Hastings St.
Vancouver, BC V6A 1S3
waapart.com

Hours: Tu – Sat, 12-5
Please contact:
wil.aballe@gmail.com
+17782293458

Syrus Marcus Ware is a Vanier Scholar, visual artist, activist, curator and educator. He is an Assistant
Professor at the School of the Arts, McMaster University. Syrus uses drawing, installation and
performance to explore social justice frameworks and black activist culture. His work has been
shown widely, including in a solo show at Grunt Gallery, Vancouver (2068:Touch Change) and
new work commissioned for the 2019 Toronto Biennial of Art and the Ryerson Image Centre
(Antarctica and Ancestors, Do You Read Us? (Dispatches from the Future)) and in group shows
at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Art Gallery of York
University, the Art Gallery of Windsor and as part of the curated content at Nuit Blanche 2017
(The Stolen People; Wont Back Down). His performance works have been part of festivals
across Canada, including at Cripping The Stage (Harbourfront Centre, 2016, 2019), Complex
Social Change (University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, 2015) and Decolonizing and
Decriminalizing Trans Genres (University of Winnipeg, 2015).

He is part of the PDA (Performance Disability Art) Collective and co-programmed Crip Your
World: An Intergalactic Queer/POC Sick and Disabled Extravaganza as part of Mayworks 2014.
Syrus’ curatorial projects include That’s So Gay (Gladstone Hotel, 2016-2019),
Re:Purpose (Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2014) and The Church Street Mural Project (Church-
Wellesley Village, 2013). Syrus is also co-curator of The Cycle, a two-year disability arts
performance initiative of the National Arts Centre.

Syrus is a core-team member of Black Lives Matter-Toronto. Syrus is a co-curator of Blackness
Yes!/Blockorama. Syrus has won several awards, including the TD Diversity Award in 2017.
Syrus was voted “Best Queer Activist” by NOW Magazine (2005) and was awarded the Steinert
and Ferreiro Award (2012). Syrus is an ABD PhD candidate at York University in the Faculty of
Environmental Studies. He is the co-editor or the best-selling Until We Are Free: Reflections on
Black Lives Matter in Canada (URP, 2020)

Image: SYRUS MARCUS WARE, Ancestors, Can You Read Us? (Dispatches from the Future), 2 stills, as presented at Toronto Biennale, Salah Bachir Media Wall, 2019, video, 3 min 15 sec