 Hi, art lovers! | | |  | Still from How to Lose Everything. (CBC Arts) | | | How to Lose Everything premiered on CBC Arts this past Friday. The series, created by frequent CBC contributor Christa Couture, is a collection of animated shorts that capture personal stories of grief. It’s a subject Christa’s explored throughout her career, first as a singer-songwriter, and later as an author. Her memoir of the same name was all about “life, loss and lessons learned” (to quote CBC’s The Next Chapter, who interviewed Christa back in 2020), and in fact, her book serves as a springboard for the program.
Episode 1 pulls directly from Christa’s memoir — something she writes about in this introduction to the series. The short film is a field guide to loss, and was co-directed by animator bekky O'Neil. As Christa writes in her essay, "[The film's] narration ends with an invitation: tell me about what you lost — the person, place, potential — and I will remember for you. After so many people had received my story, I wanted to offer the same."
An acclaimed group of writers, animators, directors and composers answered the call; the series credits include artists Chief Lady Bird, Cris Derksen and Terril Calder. All of the show’s storytellers are Indigenous (Christa herself is of mixed Cree and Scandinavian heritage), and the films can be streamed in English, French and the Indigenous language of its writer. “The experience of creating this new work ended up deeply inspiring me,” writes Christa. Read more about the show’s journey to the screen, and watch How to Lose Everything on CBC Gem. | | | | | And because we promised you eye candy ... | | | | |  | Kapwani Kiwanga/Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid | | Kapwani Kiwanga will rep Canada at the next Venice Biennale! The news was announced by the National Gallery of Canada last week, and though the event is still more than a year away, Toronto will have the chance to see new work from Kapwani a whole lot earlier than 2024. She opens a survey show (her first in Canada!) at MOCA Toronto Feb. 24. Pictured above is Flowers for Africa: Uganda. (The Hamilton-born artist presented it at MOCA in 2021.) | | | | |  | Holly Coulis | | Sun Shift, an exhibition of new work by painter Holly Coulis, is at Cooper Cole in Toronto through March 11. | | | | |  | Kate Moran | | That DOES impress me much! Kate Moran created this free-form crochet portrait of Shania Twain, and you can find more tributes to Canadian musicians on her Instagram. | | | | |  | Philip Leonard Ocampo | | Gallivanter might just be my new favourite word … and it’s also the name of Philip Leonard Ocampo’s new solo exhibition at Zalucky Contemporary in Toronto. This painting’s from the show, and it’s got a LOL-worthy title too: Nosferatu Beach Party. | | | | |  | Lorne Bridgman/Canadian Stage | | | | | You read that right: six whole hours. The show is on now in Toronto and it will travel to three more Canadian cities this year. | | | | |  | A24 | | | | | Not sure what to make of this year’s Oscar race? Here’s your guide. | | | | |  | Javid Jah | | | | | | | Toronto is marking the third anniversary of the pandemic with a big flaming art installation at Nathan Phillips Square. | | |  | Eve Tagny | | On Instagram, Eve offered this peek inside her exhibition, Funeral Garden. The show, which closed this weekend, transformed a Montreal gallery into a space to mourn victims of police violence. (We covered it earlier this month.) | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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I’m Leah Collins, senior writer at CBC Arts. Until next time! | | | | | |
