DIRECTOR

Miki Aurora is an artist, writer, and speaker based in Vancouver, BC. Her work explores cyberfeminism, the politics of beauty, occultism, utopias, and emancipatory politics. In 2019 Aurora premiered her feature-length art film, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, which documented a woman healing from sexual assault through the ritualistic ingestion of magic mushrooms at the Cinematheque, a local arthouse film theatre. A former homeless woman, she is the founder of the Social Sculpture Foundation, a non-profit (inspired by Beuysian social sculpture and Mark Fisher’s Acid Communism) that creates drop-in resource centres for the street community within art installations, as investigation on the impact of psychoaesthetics. Aurora’s work has been described as “contributing to the corpus of technology’s interface with the spiritual and sublime” (Jonathan Kew, Discorder Magazine) and an “inspirational template for a new wave of esoteric feminists” (Daniel Jones, UnReaL Mag). 

WORKS REGISTRAR & CO-ORDINATOR

J.E. Ahonen

J. E. Ahonen is an artist, scholar and equestrian who grew up in Vancouver. Since high school, they have been inhabiting the liminal art spaces of the DTES and immersed in the surrounding community. As a lifelong raver, they are a strong proponent of DIY ethos and the temporary autonomous zones of third spaces as exemplified by the Social Sculpture Foundation. Jupiter brings decades of experience in the arts and admin, including working at the Khyber ICA in Halifax during their BFA at NSCAD. They have spent most of the last decade in Montreal but have recently returned to Vancouver where they are completing their MFA at ECUAD with a focus on the intersection of ecology, the esoteric, and deep time via painting, printmaking and graphic novels.


BOARD MEMBERS

Growing up in Vancouver’s punk rock music scene Jim Sigmund’s life has always been focused on advocating for change. As a person with lived/living experience with substance use and recovery, a big part of that has been advocating for substance user’s human rights. He has worked with MHSU Services with Vancouver Coastal Health 19 years ago, starting with his time at WDMSservices in Vancouver Detox and Daytox. After 5 years of this he worked on Vancouver’sDowntown Eastside with a Primary Care Team supporting folks that live in DTES single room units. He was then involved in the DTES redesign and when the team he was on was dissolved he took a Coordinator position with VCH Peer Program supporting the SMART Recovery Program and Harm Reduction Services working alongside the VCH Harm Reduction Peer team. They collaborate with the Regional Addiction team on anti-stigma work and policies that support humanrights for substance users, and more inclusive services for the community. For the past 2 years he has worked for the Vancouver Junction as one of the core unionized staff. The Junction is a brand new Provincially funded Harm Reduction Recovery Community. As this is the first program of its kind, being part of the core team hired to run it he helped to create a “How To Manuel” for 6 additional Recovery Community Centers which have been funded to open throughout the Province.

Tatyana Achiro-Olal is a Vancouver-based writer, performer and producer. She has performed and been featured at JFL, OFF-JFL and MoMA PopRally amongst others. Tatyana has an extensive background in arts administration and currently works in feature animation.

Richard Raghunath is a music producer / DJ, radio host, event organizer, and harm reductionist. They also have served as a recovery facilitator for many years, and previously were a monk. During that period, cooking and distributing meals to people with zero, or limited, funds for food was an important part of their larger spiritual practice. Presently, as a peer harm-reductionist working the front lines of the Vancouver opioid crisis, they advocate for continued safety, and for the advancement of customized recovery opportunities and moments of respite for one of Vancouver’s most at-risk communities.