Author-Creator: Alycia Shanika Contributing Artists:
Bianca Weeko Martin
CC (Cat) Calica,
Hima Batavia,
Jana Ghalayini,
Miru Yogarajah,
Philip Leonard Ocampo,
Tamara “Solem” Al-Issa,
& Waard Ward

Alycia Shanika’s publication, Future Diasporas: Culture, Art, Identity, Space & Toronto’s Unaffordable Urban Landscape, celebrates the stories of racialized diasporic artists as they reconcile with their past, negotiate the present amid Tkaronto/ Toronto’s unaffordable urban landscape, and make space for just and flourishing futures.

Featuring conversations and artwork by eight racialized diasporic artists, Future Diasporas shares artists' stories about their diasporic identities, ancestral histories, commemorative art practices, migratory patterns, and displacement.

The artists also share stories about their experiences in Toronto—from facing institutional racism and tokenism, to precarious gigs, and displacement from community cultural spaces such as 888 Dupont, 187 Augusta, and Hearth.

The stories disentangle the shifting challenges, needs, desires and future possibilities of cultural spaces in this unaffordable landscape. Two visions, each with three actionable recommendations, provide generative ideas for building supportive systems and making space for generations to come.

Overall, Future Diasporas calls for a cultural shift that is centered on understanding the past, building collective agency in the present, and re-imagining the future diasporas.

Future Diasporas is a bestseller at Issues Magazine Shop! You can find us at Art Metropole, the Spacing Store, Another Story Bookstore, or contact Alycia to purchase the issue. Fewer than 30 copies of 300 are left, and this issue will not be reprinted.