Artists' Books

Throughout my Research As… residency with the Libby Leshgold Gallery and READ Books Vancouver I was lucky enough to host a three day Open Studio in the Emily Carr University Library Artists’ Book Room. The overarching purpose of my residency was to share insight into the research practice behind my upcoming feature film project SEVENTEEN. The film follows three urban indigenous people in Vancouver throughout the course of seventeen hours whose lives intersect through chaos, circumstance and the shared experience of colonial and familial displacement. The open studio provided the public with an opportunity to engage with me and my creative research practice further by attending screenings, discussions and writing workshops that all supplement the work and ideas behind the project. Some themes explored during the Open Studio looked at and centred around themes of chosen family structures (see Pedro Almodovar’s ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER), the representation of sex work throughout cinematic history (see HOOKERS ON DAVIE, TANGERINE or ZOLA, read EVE FOWLERs HUSTLERs or NAN GOLDINs THE BALLAD OF SEXUAL DEPENDANCY) and the urban queer Indigenous existence (see CLINT ALBERTAs unsung masterpiece DEEP INSIDE CLINT STAR or read TOGETHER APART: queer indigenieties, issues 1-9) . Shaping how research can be presented but also engaged with was always on the forefront of my mind when thinking about bringing people together to view this work. Having this portion be as barrier free as possible and functioning on a drop in basis where people could engage with selected texts, watch some films and talk with me about my practise and film was very important to this specific project. Below is a list of selected texts and films that were talked about, screened, engaged with or otherwise supplement the ideas and themes explored throughout.

Justin Ducharme is a writer, filmmaker and curator from the Métis community of St. Ambroise on Treaty 1 Territory. He was a fellow in the Sundance Film Festival's 2022 Native Film Lab with his television pilot "Positions” adapted from his short film. He was the recipient of the Toronto International Film Festival's Barry Avrich Fellowship and is an alumni of their 2021 TIFF Filmmaker Lab. Justin is also the co-editor of Hustling Verse: An Anthology of Sex Workers Poetry published by Arsenal Pulp Press. His writing has been featured in Canadian Art, Sex Worker Wisdom, Room Magazine, Prism International and Filmmaker Mag. He currently lives and works on the Unceded Coast Salish Territory colonially known as Vancouver.

Research As… is a new public program from READ Books and Libby Leshgold Gallery that makes creative research visible. Artists, writers, curators, designers, performers, filmmakers, and more are invited to engage with ECU and the wider arts community in a series of public programs that present their research practices.

The following list are books and magazines in the Artists' Books Room that Justin Selected to complement his work during his residency at the Artists' Books Room.