Arts

Show us your stuff!
Presenting the first ever Celebration of Art at Douglas College

Have a story idea? E-mail us at arts@otherpress.ca &

 

By Angela Espinoza, Arts Editor

s tuition-paying students, we are entitled
Ae many a spoil that I’m sad to say most

rarely take advantage of. From the
weekly Arts at One concerts that run during the
fall and winter semesters to the Artist’s Talks
courtesy of the Amelia Douglas Gallery (both
occurring in New West), these often wonderful
and enlightening events are made available to us
in an attempt to bring some culture to students.
That said, it is also on the part of the school to
give students opportunities to express themselves
as well. With that comes an exciting new
collaboration between Douglas College and the
New Westminster Culture Crawl entitled “A Big
To-DO: A Celebration of Art at Douglas College.”

The Celebration of Art offers students
and faculty with artistic talents the chance to
show their stuff to the student body and local
community by displaying their selected works
in the Amelia Douglas gallery from August 2 to
September 14. This is a fantastic opportunity for
any and all students who are looking for ways to
express themselves artistically—without the ever-
looming threat of the “bad grade.”

We all inhibit our own gifts and talents, and
so the range of works that may be submitted
include paintings, sculptures, photography, crafts,
and any other works that may be qualified as art.

forth what is expected to be a brilliant multimedia
exhibit, offering students from all artistic
backgrounds and interests to come together in
one of the most exciting ways possible.

In aschool that offers such a wide range of
educational opportunities, while playing host to
a great gallery, this upcoming exhibit is perhaps
one of the best ways to encourage a more culture-
influenced side of the student body that we,
again, don’t see very often. As for those who are
considering perusing a more arts-focused career
path, this exhibit will also of course be a chance
for those to get some understanding of what goes
into submitting works and organizing a gallery
exhibit.

Guidelines to be entered in A Big To-DO: A
Celebration of Art at Douglas College request
that the artist send high-resolution images of
one to four works, along with their title, date of
completion, dimensions, and—if for sale—their
asking price to Nassi Soofi (soofin@douglascollge.
ca) by Friday July 6. A one-to-two paragraph bio
and artist statement is also required of the artist,
which will give both faculty and the viewing
public some context behind the piece(s) and artist
themselves.

I encourage all those with visually artistic
abilities to take advantage of this exhibit, and to
remember to have a fun time getting involved!

Ai eee Cems Lis

This openness to style and ability should bring

Going

by Glenda Leznoff

 

‘Bananas!”*’

Dole Food Company’s banana slip-up and what it meant for free speech

 

www susasarrezmerst cos

—_

By Angela Espinoza, Arts Editor

Fredrik Gertten met a great deal
of controversy when he tried to
release the documentary Bananas!*.
The film examined the use of an
illegal pesticide by the Dole Food
Company on its banana farmers
in Latin America. This pesticide,
abbreviated as DBCP, caused
many of the farmers to become
sterile, and has over time, despite

[: 2009, Swedish filmmaker

8

the end of its usage, resulted in
further devastating effects to the
environment.

For the year following
Bananas!*’ attempted release, Dole
filed lawsuits again Gertten and
his crew, stating the film was based
on false claims, and went as far as
contacting individual news sources
and businesses en mass worldwide
on the “patent falsehoods” of the
film. A number of financial issues
still linger, but in the end, Gertten
won the case against Dole—a
victory that carries an immensely
deep impact.

The lawsuit was the subject in
the sequel-of-sorts, Big Boys Gone
Bananas!*, which was screened
at the DOXA Documentary Film
Festival in May, with Gertten
and fellow crew member and
Vancouverite Bart Simpson (yes,
that is actually his name) in
attendance. The inspirational win
at the end of the film was made
possible by the fact that Gertten
now had the parliament of Sweden
on his side, causing the start of a
European movement in support of
fair trade bananas—the other, less
talked about basis behind Bananas!*.

Both Bananas!* and Big Boys
Gone Bananas!” tried to have and,

again, created a much deeper result
for viewers of the films. For one,
there is the obvious solemn victory
for the banana farmers, whose
plight has now been recognized—
although there are still many trials
ahead for the victims of Dole’s
misconduct. While one would like
to hope this level of mistreatment
never happened again, the reality
is that the damage has been done,
and while Dole lost the lawsuit, a
sincere apology was likely never in
their agenda.

However, in a more positive
light, the fact that Gertten’s own
government made a stand and
backed him up against Dole’s
Goliath-like fury does make it clear
how possible change can be when
society bands together to fight for
a secure cause. After all, Sweden’s
parliament wouldn’t have gotten
involved had Dole not began, to put
it bluntly, bullying small businesses
within Sweden who were arguing
in favour of Gertten.

But there still remains not a
victory, but a lesson learned on
another level all together. Although
Gertten eventually won the war, the
battle was lost due to the inability
of multiple news sources finding
the time, let alone surely not even

 

bothering to check facts. With

Dole mass-emailing news sources
seemingly out of nowhere about, of
all things, an independent Swedish
film, few thought to tell themselves
that the situation didn’t make any
sense.

It became clear in the end that
Dole was fighting to protect their
image, but this was something that
should have been made clear long
before. No one got any answers
by not asking questions—and an
easy answer should always be
something to consider looking
further into.

Not everyone who wants
change, or even justice, wants there
to be a war, but that’s just life. As
was the subject of Bananas!”*, and in
a strange turn of events, Big Boys
Gone Bananas!", the little guy is
more often than not, not the enemy.
Change doesn’t happen over night,
and it doesn’t happen because one
person did all the work—change
relies on group effort, and although
a little guy may not have a fighting
chance, thousands of little guys
(which in the digital age really is
not hard to rally up) are hard to
ignore.