Activist Love Letters

Activist Love Letters is a performance and engagement workshop that encourages the participants and viewers to think about their role in sustaining a movement and supporting their communities. Inspired by the powerful and often hidden letters that activists and organizers have sent to each other—words of support and encouragement, words of rage and fear, cautions and inspirations alike—Activist Love Letters asks you to consider your own activism and that of the people you hold dear.

Syrus Marcus Ware performing Activist Love Letters in front of a series of works from the Activist Portrait Series at York University, Toronto. Feb 2016.

Syrus Marcus Ware performing Activist Love Letters in front of a series of works from the Activist Portrait Series, York University, Toronto. Feb 2016.

If you could reach out to one person who moves you by what they do, who would it be? What would you say?

Activist(s)! Love! Letters!

This project was first performed at the Feminist Art Gallery in Toronto as part of Cinenova: An Audience of Enablers Cannot Fail in 2012. It has since been performed on numerous occasions across the country and internationally.

 

EXHIBITION & PERFORMANCE HISTORY

2012

Group exhibition, Cinenova: An Audience of Enablers Cannot Fail, The Power Plant, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Curated by the Feminist Art Gallery. A joint initiative with the Art Gallery of York University. In conjunction with the presentation of Will Munro: History, Glamour, Magic.

2013

The Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

2014

Group exhibition, We Can’t Compete, The University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. Curated by the Feminist Art Gallery.

2015

Group exhibition, Border Cultures: Part Three (security, surveillance), The Art Gallery of Windsor. Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Curated by Srimoyee Mitra.

Group exhibition, Complex Social Change, the Doris McCarthy Gallery, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. Curated by Josephine Mills.

2016

Group exhibition, Centre for Incidental Activisms (CIA) #3, the Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Drafted by Emelie Chhangur, Suzanne Carte, and Michael Maranda.

2019

Group exhibition, Love Trans*formations, Les Complices*, Zurich, Switzerland. Organized by Jonah I. Garde and Simon Harder in cooperation with Gökçe Ergör/Les Complices*. The event is part of the research project “Art Education as a Site for Negotiating In*Visibilities” at the Institute for Cultural Studies in the Arts at the Zurich University of the Art.

2020

Group exhibition + Workshop, Taking a Stand, Stamps School of Art and Design Gallery, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. 

2021

Workshop, SHINE ON Series, Sexual & Gender Diversity Office at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Hosted by Michèle Pearson Clarke.

 

For those following along with the issue of this project being reproduced without permission/credit,
please see a statement from The Smithsonian APA.

  • Syrus Marcus Ware stands in front of a blank projection screen, curtains drawn, wearing a black shirt, grey pants, and with hair tied up. He is holding papers and reading. A crowd sits on the floor and on the ground, watching and listening.
  • A series of letters hang on a string. They are white with black text and blue headers.
  • Activist Love Letters hang on strings and are taped onto walls. They are written on various types of papers with different sizes and colours.
  • Activist Love Letters hang on strings and are taped onto walls. They are written on various types of papers with different sizes and colours.
  • Activist Love Letters hang on strings and are taped onto walls. They are written on various types of papers with different sizes and colours.
  • Activist Love Letters hand taped onto walls. They are written on various types of papers with different sizes and colours.
  • Activist Love Letters hang on strings and are taped onto walls. They are written on various types of papers with different sizes and colours. Gallery patrons stand in front of the installation, reading and observing the letters.
  • Materials for the Activist Love Letters workshop are laid out on a table. Including blank paper, pens, markers, envelopes, stickers, and glue. Other artworks are on display in the background.
  • Materials for the Activist Love Letters workshop are laid out on a table. Including blank paper, pens, markers, envelopes, stickers, and glue.
  • Materials for the Activist Love Letters workshop are laid out on a table. Including blank paper, pens, markers, envelopes, stickers, and glue.
  • Participants gather around a table full of materials for the Activist Love Letters workshop. Including blank paper, pens, markers, envelopes, stickers, and glue.
  • Participants sit, writing Activist Love Letters as part of the workshop.
  • Activist Love Letters hang on a wall. A large wooden mail box is adhered to the wall with “Activist Love Letters” and a heart written in red paint. Below, a wooden cabinet stands, small pieces of paper and pencils rest on top.
  • A large wooden mail box is adhered to the wall with “Activist Love Letters” and a heart written in red paint.
  • Syrus Marcus Ware stands on a small wooden box performing Activist Love Letters. He is holding a microphone and reading from a piece of paper. He is dressed in a patterned top and pants. A crowd is observing. In the background, four portraits from th
  • A series of works from Activist Love Letters hang on a wall in a series of frames.
  • Detail from a framed series of works from the Activist Love Letters series.
  • Detail from a framed series of works from the Activist Love Letters series.
  • Detail from a framed series of works from the Activist Love Letters series.
  • Detail from a framed series of works from the Activist Love Letters series.
  • Letters from the Activist Love Letters hang on strings and walls. They are written on various types of papers with different sizes and colours.
  • Letters from the Activist Love Letters hang on strings and walls. They are written on various types of papers with different sizes and colours.
  • Letters from the Activist Love Letters hang on strings and walls. They are written on various types of papers with different sizes and colours.
  • Letters from the Activist Love Letters hang on strings. They are written on various types of papers with different sizes and colours. Below, a black cabinet stands, a basket with paper and a can of pencils rest atop.
  • A group of participants sit in a room, gathering for the Activist Love Letters workshop. The back wall features a collage of black and white photos from activist movements.
  • Syrus Marcus Ware working at tables with workshop participants. HE is wearing a turquoise beanie, black sweater, glasses, and beaded necklace.
  • Syrus Marcus Ware working at tables with workshop participants. He is wearing a turquoise beanie, black sweater, glasses, and beaded necklace.
  • Syrus Marcus Ware working at tables with workshop participants. HE is wearing a turquoise beanie, black sweater, glasses, and beaded necklace.

 Photos courtesy of the artist, the University of Lethbridge, the Art Gallery of York University, and the Stamps Gallery at the University of Michigan.