“The personal trajectory of Zainub Verjee over the past four decades intersects with cultural moments that continue to resonate. Zainub is interviewed by a senior art critic Rosemary Heather the identity politics of today is in large part a return to a conversation that started in the 1980s.”
For the last four decades Zainub has been at the forefront in the Canadian Art community, building cultural institutions, developing cultural policy and practicing cultural diplomacy.
In this feature interview, Zainub reflects on the contemporary cultural politics and the return of the identity politics.
One of the defining legacies in Verjee’s career is In Visible Colours (IVC), an international festival in Vancouver dedicated to film and video by women of colour that she co-founded, with Lorraine Chan, in 1989.
Unique and a landmark event of its time, IVC assembled works by then-emerging artists such as Tracey Moffatt, Pratibha Parmar, Sylvia Hamilton, Mira Nair, Kim, Soyoung, Gurinder Chadha, Lotty Rosenfeld, Alanis Obomsawin, Merata Mita and Mona Hatoum. IVC and the issues it foregrounded is one reason why, from Verjee’s perspective, the identity politics of today is in
large part a return to a conversation that started in the 1980s.
The full interview can be seen at http://canadianart.ca/features/in-visible-colours/
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