Untitled (being in my skin from east to west)

This year’s Summit 2020: Resistance and Responsibility asks us to find ways to respond to critical issues facing queer and trans communities including the impact of COVID-19, systemic racism, and health inequalities among BIPOC. I see the importance of first healing ourselves and our communities before tackling resistance with rigour – we can start with providing targeted social support. In the Mental and Social Health presentation, Shayna Skakoon-sparling talks about the importance and impact of social support on queer and trans communities – higher social support increases HIV/STI risk reduction behaviors, lowers anxiety and depression, and mitigates the effects of internalized homophobia. In Activism as Speculative Fiction: Making Change for The Future, Syrus Marcus Ware speaks about the inevitable growth and collapse of systems that make space for futures to rise. Untitled (being in my skin from east to west), 2021 is a demonstration of the resilient body, and the embracing of metaphorical and physical skin. We are capable of manifesting our own agency and resisting elements that challenge us to create a future we want for ourselves – through days, weeks, years, and lifetimes.

Click here to watch the Summit 2020 session that inspired this piece

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Alger Liang

Alger Liang (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist living, breathing, and learning on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam peoples. His works are a by-product of embodiment, reflection, and exploration and his approach uses the body as a tool to sense the situated world. He engages with themes such as: cultural identity, space, memory, and trauma. Alger is currently a fifth-year student-athlete at The University of British Columbia majoring in visual arts, and minoring in Asian Canadian and Asian migration studies.