In summer 2020, The Singapore Sunday Times printed an article that quickly went viral. It listed artists as the number one most non-essential job in a reader survey. The survey came from a world-wide conversation about what constitutes essential work during a pandemic. I, like many independent artists, struggle with the value of my art, so when I was asked to think about what could make Canadian society better, I settled on the way we value, or under value, art.
Non Essential was created on the traditional territories of the Haudensaunee - Six Nations Confederacy, the Anishinaabe - which includes the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and the Wendat.
Commissioned by TO Live. Written, created and performed by Ian Kamau.
English.