Syrus Marcus Ware

Syrus Marcus Ware is a Black, transgender, disabled artist, activist and scholar. He lives and works in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and is currently an CLA Assistant Professor in the School of the Arts at McMaster University. [1]He has worked since 2014 as faculty and as a designer for The Banff Centre. Ware is the inaugural artist-in-residence for Daniels Spectrum, a cultural center in Toronto, and a founding member of Black Lives Matter Toronto.[2][3] For 13 years, he was the coordinator of the Art Gallery of Ontario's youth program. During that time Ware oversaw the creation of the Free After Three program and the expansion of the youth program into a multi pronged offering. Ware is also a Sylff Fellow and a Vanier Scholar.[4]

Syrus Marcus Ware
Born1977 (age 43–44)
Montreal, Quebec
NationalityCanadian
EducationBA in Art History, Visual Studies; MA in Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, University of Toronto, PhD candidate (ABD)
Known forVisual Art
AwardsVanier Scholarship
Slyff Fellowship
Steinert & Ferraro Award
TD Diversity Award

Ware has stated that his intent is to dismantle white supremacy within the arts and diversify the museum field.[5] He has published four books and in 2020 co-edited (with Rodney Diverlus and Sandy Hudson) Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada, a collection of reflections on the Black Lives Matter movement in Canada.[6]

Early life and education

Syrus Marcus Ware was born in Montreal, Quebec and is the twin brother of entomologist Dr. Jessica Ware.[7] He attended Etobicoke School of the Arts for high school before transferring to Forrest Hill Collegiate Institute. Ware studied art history and visual studies at University of Toronto and University of British Columbia, earning his Honours Bachelors in 2002. He studied with Joanne Tod and the late David Buller. During his studies he was the coordinator for the Centre for Women and Trans People at the University of Toronto.[8]

Ware began his Masters of Arts in Sociology and Equity Studies in Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in 2006, graduating in 2010. Ware began his PhD in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University in 2014 and is currently a PhD candidate.[8] He is a Sylff Fellow and a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships scholar.[4]

Career

Ware is an accomplished scholar, artist and activist. His work overlaps across disciplines and mediums and is often interconnected. As an artist, Ware has stated that his practice explores social justice frameworks and Black activist culture through performance, large scale drawing, installations, paintings and dance. He specifically focuses on issues surrounding gender, sexuality and race.[9] Ware's art is shaped by his beliefs in social justice and activism, and is interested in how art is powerful enough to change the way people think.[10]

Ware was selected to be part of the Toronto Biennial inaugural 2019 and 2021 exhibitions. His work has been shown at locations and events that include the Sydney Festival, the Art Gallery of Burlington, the Art Gallery of Ontario, The Art Gallery of Windsor, The University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, The Gladstone Hotel, and the Art Gallery of York University.[11]

Ware was commissioned to write a new play, Emmett, for obsidian theatre and CBC Gem. The play is set in a near future in a decidedly different landscape and follows Medgar on the day that everything changes. The performance was filmed in Toronto in 2021 and features actor Prince Amponsah. Directed by Tanisha Taitt, the production begins broadcasting on CBC Gem on February 12, 2021 [11], [11]

Community radio

For 17 years, Ware was the host of Resistance on the Sounddial, a community radio show on 89.5 CIUT FM. In the show he combined activist music with political interviews and conversations with activists and artists, such as Octavia E. Butler, New Zealand transgender MP Georgina Beyer, Ursula Rucker, Tumi & the Volume and Bob Moses from SNCC. He also participated in other shows on the station including Wench Radio, Radio OPIRG and By All Means.

Activism

Ware is a core team member with Black Lives Matter-Toronto. He is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter-Canada and Wildseed Centre for Art and Activism. He has been an activist for 25 years. Ware has collaborated with Blackness Yes! over the last 18 years in order to create events like the trans and black stage at Pride called Blockorama.[12] Ware is also one of the founding members of both the Toronto based Prison Justice Action Committee and the Gay Bi Queer Trans Mens HIV Prevention Working Group, which created "Primed: the Back Pocket Guide for Trans Guys and the Guys who Dig em" -the first sexual health resource for trans men who have sex with men in the world. He also helped to create TransFathers 2B, the first parenting course for trans men considering parenting in North America, based in The 519 Community Centre.[13]

Awards and honors

Now Magazine awarded Ware with the "Best Queer Activist" award in 2005. He received the TD Diversity Award in 2017. He was awarded the Min Sook Lee Labour Arts Award, Mayworks Festival of Working People in the Arts in 2017. Ware is a Vanier Scholar and a Sylff Fellow.[14]

In 2012, he received the Steinert & Ferreiro Award for LGBTQ activism, the largest award of its kind in Canada.[15]

Bibliography

As editor

As artist

Further reading
  • Springgay, Stephanie; Truman, Anise; MacLean, Sara (2019-11-13). "Socially Engaged Art, Experimental Pedagogies, and Anarchiving as Research-Creation". Qualitative Inquiry. 26 (7): 897–907. doi:10.1177/1077800419884964. ISSN 1077-8004.

References
  1. https://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/articles/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. "Black Lives Matter Toronto founding member talks about his complex identity". British Council. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  3. "Super Queeroes: Syrus Marcus Ware". cbc.ca.
  4. "Best of Fes: 4. Student Success: Syrus Marcus Ware". York University.
  5. Ware, Syrus Marcus. "Give Us Permanence—Ending Anti-Black Racism in Canada's Art Institutions". Canadian Art. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  6. "The bestselling Canadian books for the week of July 5-11, 2020". CBC.ca.
  7. "About Syrus Marcus Ware (2011)". Syrus Marcus Ware.
  8. "About (2020)". syrusmarcusware.com.
  9. "Activists Love Letters | March 6, 2014 | Main Gallery | Centre for the Arts | W600 – University of Lethbridge Art Gallery". www.uleth.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  10. "Featured artist: Syrus Marcus Ware". Women & Environments International Magazine. ProQuest 211606623. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. "Past Projects and Exhibitions". syrusmarcusware.com.
  12. Piepzna-Samarasinha, Leah Lakshmi (Fall 2015). "Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha speaks with Syrus Marcus Ware". Broken Pencil. 69 (8). ProQuest 1728291183.
  13. "Grants & Awards – Community One". Community One. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  14. Scholarships, Government of Canada, Vanier Canada Graduate. "Vanier Scholars 2016 - Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships". www.vanier.gc.ca.
  15. "Grants and Awards - LGBTTIQQ2S - Community One Foundation". Community One. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  16. "Book launch spotlights LGBTQ+ advocacy, history". The Fulcrum. 2019-01-21. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  17. "Speaker's Book Award 2020 Shortlist". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  18. Agbayani, Shaina (August 29, 2018). "Marvellous Grounds". Briarpatch. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  19. Pierre, Terese Mason (2020-01-30). "Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada". Quill and Quire. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  20. Kennedy, Helen. "Trauma and damage placed alongside hope and resistance". People's Voice. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  21. "Books to Read for Black Lives Matter: 5 Books on Being Black in Canada". Flare. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  22. "Abundant Beginnings' Social Justice Books for Kiddos List" (PDF). Association for Library Service to Children.
  23. "Six LGBTQ2 children's books every parent should own". Xtra Magazine. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
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