December 1, 2024 — Audiences in Victoria were treated in October 2024 to Im:print, a multidisciplinary show produced by the Intercultural Association of Greater Victoria (ICA) embodying the experiences of participating artists of immigration, displacement, belonging and identity.
The show, which lasted one and a half hours, was not a comfortable watch. Performer after performer asked questions and challenged existing views and assumptions about a wide range of social issues.
Monique Salez, Anais Brusel and Vitor Freitas staged dances that spoke to the themes of freedom and the sense of self. Naomi Graham shared her memories of Gaza through words and movement.
In spoken word pieces, William Ngenda explored the idea of inheritance and Laurie Bayly reflected on the individual’s participation in and responsibility for past and present injustices. Nancy Potvin of the Anishinaabe nation sang about the struggles and strength of the indigenous peoples and Ann K. Chou sang about loneliness and self-reliance. Mahtab Saadatman played a mournful piece to slides of the Middle East.
Two Filipino immigrants, Francis G. Matheu and Meyen Quigley, dramatized their personal stories of growing up missing a father who had gone to work abroad, and of arriving in Victoria and finding that previous work experience and qualifications meant nothing in the new country.
Francis described the emptiness he felt when his father left home to work in Saudi Arabia. ”The emptiness became a permanent vacuum that could never be filled,” he reflected. His mother raised Francis and his twin brother while their father was away, but money was always short.
His mother would pawn her wedding ring, buy back the ring when funds arrived, and then pawn it again. “This became a cycle in our lives.” Francis was overjoyed when his father came home and presented him with a Walkman. He was even more overjoyed to embrace his father again.
Francis has completed a master’s degree in Directing from the theatre department of the University of Victoria (UVic). He had applied to UVic in 2019, but was advised that there was no faculty member available to work with him. He thought that door was closed. He was beyond thrilled therefore when, in 2020, UVic invited him to come. Francis feels that he is here now because of his mother’s blessing.
“I had a Master’s degree when I arrived in Victoria,” Meyen said, “and over 30 years of work and teaching experience. Suddenly, these had no meaning or currency.” She felt like she was “no one again.” She had “joined a long line of migrants who had traded the songs and sounds and warmth of their home countries - for comfort in Victoria, yes, but also silence, indifference and invisibility.”
She did get a job a few months after arrival, cleaning pots and pans in a hospital kitchen. It was not until a full year later that someone saw value in her resume and hired her for a writing position. “There was hope at last,” she said. “If one door could open, so could many more.” She shared the sights and sounds of home that she grew up with and lost when she left the Philippines.
Parents leaving children behind while they pursued better incomes abroad is an experience many Filipinos can relate to. Taking care of their parents in their old age, as Francis did, is also very Filipino. And Meyen spoke to and for immigrants of different countries when she described the silences and the indifference that she experienced when she first arrived.
Im:print came into being through the work and advocacy of ICA’s Manager for Arts and Community Engagement Paulina Grainger, with the support of Monique Salez, who is artistic director of Raino Dance in Victoria, as Director, and Krystal Cook and Francis Matheu as members of the Creative Team. Rosemary Sandell was Stage Manager, Costume Designer was Kiera Byrnes, Props Coordinator was Daniel Badke, Lighting Designer - Lexy Kimler, Sound Designer - Sam Riter and Film/Video/Projections was by Gavin Andrews. Im:print ran from October 5 to 12, 2024 at UVic’s Phoenix Theatre in Victoria.
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