Harvest Moon Showcase
Mallory Amirault
Set in the Maritimes, specifically Mi'kma'ki, Nova Scotia, Hairline is set along the edges of the Minas Basin of the Bay of Fundy.
Inspired by the Acadian aboiteau system, an agricultural mechanism that draws salt from the landscape by withstanding the highest tides in the world, this performance engages the elemental and political act of arriving and departing, and in so doing, not only withstands the shoreline, but reimagines it.
Specifically remembering the scalping bounty in 1749, followed by the Acadian Expulsion in 1755, this performance is a work-in-progress that commits to an intimate literary work by putting the words back into the body. Working with concept and experimentation, Hairline is a contemporary voice that speaks into a colonial silence that for generations has shaped the Maritimes, and like the aboiteau, is a work that slowly removes salt from the Maritimes and points to say “wound.”
Mallory Amirault; self-portrait
Born in Nova Scotia, Mi’kma’ki, Mallory Amirault is a queer artist whose Acadian and Mi’kmaq heritage belongs to the Kespukwitk district of Yarmouth, otherwise known as the lobster’s ass when referring to the province. Their artistic practice engages in critical poetics, literary performance, and humour. As a person enmeshed in the legacy of colonization and cultural diaspora in the Maritimes, they think, read and write about the idiosyncrasies of belonging and identity, and memory as a palimpsest. Some of that thinking can be read in their forthcoming book (fall 2021) Brine, published with ARP Books. They currently live alongside the Halfway River, a tributary that flows into the Minas Basin, an inlet of the Bay of Fundy.
Nickle Peace-Williams is a Tio'tia:ke/Montreal-Mi'kma'ki/Nova Scotia based choreographer and interpreter who is carving a career in art-making which is ecologically and socially conscious. They venture to be uncompromisingly courageous in challenging people’s sense of comfort and responsibility, and in bringing forth comradery in their community. Nickle grew up in rural Mi'kma'ki/Nova Scotia, training in contemporary dance, and studied dance at Concordia University. They continue to deepen their practices in lively dances that acknowledge the tenderness and awkwardness of human interaction. They are interested in gender and identity expression, actively feminist processes, and roaming in the multiple dynamics between land and people.
Hairline
choreographer Nickle Peace-Williams
producer Israel Ekanem
cinematographer Sheldon Hachey
editing Mallory Amirault
director, performer Mallory Amirault
