Latest Vivek Shraya Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• Now is not the time for Canadians to be sanctimonious. It is time for us to be prudent and active.

  Vivek Shraya

  Prudent, Sanctimonious, Active

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• I especially worry about the ways Canadians can be glib about our supposed difference from the US in our "acceptance" of "diversity."

  Vivek Shraya

  Acceptance, Differences, Diversity

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• I worry about what Trump will inspire in Canada, especially given incidents that have already occurred here since the election.

  Vivek Shraya

  Worry, Inspire, Canada

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• My art career often feels less like an art career and more like a career in educating, usually by using my body.

  Vivek Shraya

  Art, Careers, Body

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• I would love to see more dialogue around the "responsibilities" of art consumers - how can audiences better financially support artists we love, artists who are doing the work, so that artists have a more solid foundation upon which to make art?

  Vivek Shraya

  Art, Responsibility, Support

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• I have been and continue to be committed to art as a tool to ignite, comfort, and discomfort.

  Vivek Shraya

  Art, Comfort, Tools

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• I have dedicated a significant portion of my time and artistry to making art that addresses various forms of oppression, including white supremacy, misogyny, and biphobia.

  Vivek Shraya

  Art, White, Addresses

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• As a brown artist, I have mixed feelings about my relationship to art and my "responsibilities" post-Trump.

  Vivek Shraya

  Art, Responsibility, Feelings

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• I think white artists have a responsibility to be not only naming white supremacy, but to be using their power and privilege to support artists of color.

  Vivek Shraya

  Responsibility, Artist, Thinking

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• When I do book readings, I always incorporate music or singing.

  Vivek Shraya

  Book, Reading, Singing

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• I used singing as a safety measure. I would pay attention to what songs the popular girls liked, learn those songs from the radio or library cassettes, and then "accidentally" sing or hum these songs in class. This would impress the girls, who would then defend me from the boys.

  Vivek Shraya

  Girl, Song, Boys

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• Making music has been connected to one of my greatest heartaches, because my own music has never quite connected with audiences. But it was this heartache that pushed me to explore other artistic avenues, like writing and filmmaking, and I ultimately feel most at home in a multidisciplinary environment.

  Vivek Shraya

  Home, Writing, Heartache

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• Music is my first love, where my artistic journey began.

  Vivek Shraya

  First Love, Journey, Firsts

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• I recently did a reading at an elementary school in Ottawa, and one of the children asked me if I was a girl. I said yes. Another child commented that I had a deep voice. I responded: "Can girls have deep voices?" There was a pause and then the group responded, "Yes!"

  Vivek Shraya

  Girl, Children, Reading

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• Children are receptive to talking about gender creativity, confirming the importance of the book as a means to instigate this dialogue at an early age.

  Vivek Shraya

  Children, Book, Creativity

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• Children's books have great potential to reveal new possibilities to readers, because the intended audience is at an age of genuine learning.

  Vivek Shraya

  Children, Book, Age

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• I have always considered the aesthetic of a project, including press photos, as a means to further the message of the art itself.

  Vivek Shraya

  Art, Mean, Messages

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• Despite the fact that I'm not highly skilled in any visual art, aesthetics have always played a strong role in my art, including my first albums.

  Vivek Shraya

  Art, Strong, Albums

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• Should I be collaborating with artists of color solely because of their race and my politics? This question is weighted with my own worry that I have been invited to speak or collaborate solely because of my race, and not because of my abilities.

  Vivek Shraya

  Artist, Race, Color

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• If anything, I have witnessed the ways my art travels, or is rendered more accessible, when sanctioned by or connected to white artists.

  Vivek Shraya

  Art, White, Way

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• I am more likely to get paid for my art if it's presented alongside a white artist, so the questions around value and agency arise: What choices should I make, or do I have to make, if I want to be compensated for my work? Why isn't my art valued on its own?

  Vivek Shraya

  Art, Agency, White

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• As a person of color, I know race can't be stripped from admiration or preference.

  Vivek Shraya

  Race, Color, Admiration

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• In poetry, I didn't have to provide resolution. I could ask hard questions without feeling responsible for the answers.

  Vivek Shraya

  Feelings, Answers, Resolution

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• As a general rule, I tend to collaborate with artists whose work I admire.

  Vivek Shraya

  Artist, Admire

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• I continue to explore poetry.

  Vivek Shraya

  Source: www.guernicamag.com