Art Gallery of Mississauga
A once-a-month evening of poetry, spoken word and friendly competition, curated by Qurat Dar and Hamzah Amin. There will be an open mic component, where you can sign up for a 5-minute timeslot to perform, as well as a slam that will be judged and scored. The rules of the slam are as follows:
• no hate speech • original work only • no props/costumes • no musical accompaniment • 3 minutes per poem with a 10 second grace period • have 2 potential poems ready as it is a 2-round slam • poems do not have to be memorized
Spaces are limited so sign up early. If you’d rather not perform, we’re always looking for audience members and judges!
So go on, let the poet in you out!
Curators:
Qurat Dar:
(Pronouns: She/Her) Qurat Dar is an engineering student at the University of Guelph and an emerging author and spoken word artist. She has work currently in Augur Magazine, The Temz Review, and Anathema Magazine, among others, and is a Best of the Net finalist. Qurat is currently part of the Art Gallery of Mississauga’s EMERGENCE artists’ collective, and won a 2019 Ron Lenyk Inspiring Youth Arts Award. She was also recently a finalist in the 2018 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word (CFSW) and the 2019 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam (CIPS), placing 4th and 6th in the country, respectively.
Hamzah Amin:
(Pronouns: He/Him) Hamzah Amin is a creative portrait and wedding photographer based out of Mississauga, Ontario. Having received his undergraduate degree in global business and digital art from the University of Waterloo, and working with local startups and independent clients, Hamzah is an established digital media creator with experience working in fashion, film, and art direction. He has recently been published in PAPER magazine and Netflix Canada but he also works closely with local NGO's such as Interim Place and Moyo (Peel Health Aids Network) to support the efforts of the local community.
Hamzah is a first generation Pakistani-Canadian whose heritage and lived experience are reflected in his aesthetic sensibilities. His design philosophy is informed by the belief that visual design and photography serve as powerful tools to convey the multiplicity and ineffability of identity in an elegant and sincere depiction.