Since this beginning, Myths and Mirrors has consistently been about the realities of people’s lives, celebrating and supporting each other through the challenges and struggles that many of us are faced with. Exposing the myths that normalize and sustain systems of vicious capitalism, racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, colonialism, etc., through the mirrors of people’s experiences of these systems is challenging work. This commitment has meant learning new ways to work and create together, to listen to and support each other, learning to be flexible and able to adapt and change to meet community needs for expression and creative exchange.
These beginnings set the path, and for 28 years Myths has been intentionally engaging with people who are targets of exploitation, hate and exclusion, focussing on the issues and stories that affect them. The work has rarely been about individual artists’ creations; rather it is about bringing artists and community members together to collectively create art that matters, art that tells real stories that matter. These stories are what underlie all the creation at Myths and Mirrors.
Initially centred in the Flour Mill and Donovan neighbourhoods, Myths soon spread out to the downtown, and over the years has included residents from the entire region as well as Northern Ontario in projects and activities. Five Artistic Directors have led the organization at different times. Laurie McGauley, Tanya Anne Ball, Sarah King Gold, Jesse Brady and Cora-Rae Silk have each contributed to this history with their own unique and inspired visions, while always staying true to the original mission.
Works have been created in all art disciplines, including theatre, video, murals, fabric art, painting, puppets, stilts, music, animation, photography and installation. Some projects have engaged hundreds of participants in the art making, such as A Show of Hands or the Northern Dreams Quilt Project. Some projects have included a small number of participants for an extended, intense creation process, such as Get A Real Job created with call centre workers and ArmHer created with sex workers. Celebrations of community, of connection and solidarity have been a continuous thread throughout the years; giant puppets and stilts and lots of youth art programming from the B Girls to the Windwalkers to Kazzzam. Some projects were essentially responses to challenging times, such as our strike support work for Vale workers and our gift exchange project with people surviving on the streets during the Covid pandemic.
All of Myths and Mirrors’ work involves people in exchanges: of stories, of compassion, of ideas, of art. It is in these exchanges, between participants creating a work of art, or between the creators and the recipients, that the meaning and the magic happens. After almost three decades, this small arts organization remains true to its name, committed to exposing destructive myths and to creating the mirrors we need to really see each other. As we go forward, this work is more important than ever.
