I first met novelist, playwright, poet, and essayist Sanita Fejzić in 2021 while we were both on the Mission Circle of SCALE, the Sectoral Climate Arts Leadership for the Emergency, where we had great debates about climate justice and the role of art in the climate emergency and you’ll hear more about this episode.
I also had the pleasure of doing sound design in 2023 for a series of short plays called Why Worry About Their Futures that Sanita produced for the Undercurrents festival here on unceded land of the Anishinaabe Algonquin nation, also known as Ottawa.
Sanita holds a PhD in Cultural Studies from Queen’s University where she articulated an artistic and political movement called ‘Peasant Futurisms’ and I think you’ll enjoy learning more about this.
I love the way Sanita’s work simultaneously explores the future, past, and present by grounding peasant ways of knowing, relating, and being in the world. Maybe we’re all peasants, or have that potential?
You’ll also hear Sanita talk about a new radio play for the National Arts Centre as part of its Irresistible Neighbourhoods project.
Our conversations begin with her long journey from Sarajevo to Ottawa and concludes with a book recommendation: Rita Wong’s Forage and Undercurrent.
excerpt from episode
I think artists can challenge us by showing our blind spots, in a way, educating us, but also inspiring us about what's possible, right? I think in SCALE we talk about re-authoring the world. That's what artists do. We re-author the world. We create alternative ways of even just thinking about what's desirable in the first place.