selfed

human, artist, historian, maker, writer, thinker.

Policy & politics: drugs & harm reduction. poverty.  actual housing. mental illness. public space, public art, public life. vancouverist. downtown eastside. the goal is poetry and justice.

Was born near Hamilton ON 1973. attended mcmaster u; B.A. (Hons) in literature, edited & produced arts student paper, did a term at cambridge (3rd yr). m.a. in literature, dalhousie. worked for about 8 months at a mainstream publisher, hated it so much. quit and worked on a young-person type magazine which failed. made zines. moved to vancouver ’99.  m.a, in history 2001-05. wrote stuff, made stuff, did stuff. at some point became homeless. various things occurred. hospitalized.

associate Member of Gallery Gachet, since 2009. lived in the DTES from 2008; to woodwards in 2010. made more zines, poetry, art. did some stuff in the neighbourhood. listened.

member of DTES local area planning committee 2011-14, mental health task force (2013-15), people with lived experience working group (2015-present). wrote some articles and did some cover art for a paper or seven. curated some shows at gachet. have produced three solo shows of my work, with assistance of DTES Small Arts Grants. volunteered for a while with/for CCAP. made many of the “political” posters around the neighbourhood for several years. i use drugs so I advocate for user rights, dignity and safety; I was a VANDU board member from 2015 until I resigned Aug 24-17, as rights, dignity, and safety were in short supply. spent 2018 unpredictable and definitely involved. working as a consultant for the city since 2019