Serving Justice

Project Statement

Serving Justice: obscenity on the courtroom floor is a subversive and colourful interpretation of the legal trial Little Sister’s Book and Art Emporium vs. the Ministry of Justice. Canadian Border Services agents were prohibiting the importation of materials they deemed “obscene,” including gay erotica that was on its way to Little Sister’s. The bookstore went to court to defend their equal right to freedom of expression. 

The history of LGBTQIA+ stories being censored is relevant today in light of book-bannings, anti-drag laws, anti-SOGI policies, and violence against LGBTQIA+ people being enacted across North America. As a response to puritanical conservative backlash against queer representation, we refer back to a case that questions the degree to which “obscene” literature can cause real harm and highlights the life-affirming experience of having one’s identity reflected in media.

We approach the courtroom as a drag performance and we bring the so-called "obscene" into the space as a subversion. In this court case, so many hours were spent discussing material deemed harmful and un-Canadian. Our curiosity is in what happens when that material, which we consider not only harmless but also potentially necessary and liberatory, actually enters the room. 

We are interested in queering the courtroom by bringing play and transgression into a prescribed space, one where people are required to be palatable (as determined by the state) in order to be heard. This project is also an attempt at queering the process of re-enactment by finding pleasure and possibility in simultaneously following history and bursting it open at the seams. As performers, we tasked each other to follow our desires, and allowed the piece to emerge from there: resulting in excessive hedonism, and the sweetly obscene. 

Credits

Performers: Marita Michaelis, Liam Wilkins, Lauren Han

Community research: Marita Michaelis and Liam Wilkins

Video editing: Lauren Han

Videography: Lauren Han, Marita Michaelis, Liam Wilkins, and Key

First iteration (concept, development, performance, scenography): Marita Michaelis, Liam Wilkins, Jill Jarin, Lauren Han

Special thanks to:

All the workers at Little Sister's Book and Art Emporium

Key and Justin

Ryan Tacata