Queerborough Speaker Series: Eugene King Aurelio Diwa Artist Talk

Event Description

The Queerborough Archival Project aims to document the past, present, and futures of queer Scarborough, an eastern suburb in the city of Toronto. This speaker series is part of a larger research project that seeks to develop a digital archive of queer Scarborough, affirming that queer people have been – and continue to be – present in Scarborough despite the common notion that queerness only exists in the downtown core. With a lack of existing archival material and formal documentation, we are looking to use creative practice to generate new artifacts that document and affirm our community’s continued presence and resilience. 

Funded by the Queer and Trans Research Lab at the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, this speaker series seeks to both spotlight the works of local queer of colour artists and open up space for queer youth to gather, and creatively think through questions around space, memory, and queer futures/possibilities of Scarborough. Each invited artist will facilitate a series of two events - a virtual artist talk that contextualizes their artistic practice and how queerness + Scarborough informs their work, and a subsequent hands-on workshop where participants are invited to directly produce personal artistic works with guidance from the facilitator. We encourage those interested to attend both sessions of each artist.

Speaker Bio

KING DIWA 
[aka DJ K-22]    

Toronto local and multi-disciplinary artist, King Diwa, exemplifies his deep passion and background of the arts towards his community and peers, providing art driven workshops used as tools to positively tackle one’s mental health and well being. 

At an early age King grew up playing the piano which later into middle school, had expanded his instrumental vocabulary to sounds from the trumpet, drums, guitar, alto sax, flute, French horn and more. It was when King attended Wexford Collegiate School for The Arts, when he pivoted his music career to become a dancer. While technically trained in ballet, modern and contemporary during the school program, outside King picked up learning the street styles of dance which included hip-hop, krump, house, afro, dancehall and recently, vogue. 

King’s career has taken him across the world working with artists like Kreesha Turner, Ginette Claudette and Inez while having the opportunity to teach in Spain, Scotland, Dominican Republic, London, United states and nationally across Canada. His favourite part of his career has been working as a guest artist for his high-school where he gets the opportunity to create, encourage and enlighten the next generation, while observing the direction, trends and spunk they bring. 
 
As King continues his journey in the arts, he strives to always be a student of life and accept opportunities that align with his goals as they come. Now stepping out as a DJ (K-22), King uses his platform to combine everything he’s learned into an art that he hopes resonates with his peers, cultivating community and ultimate vibes.  

“Sometimes we all need a moment to just let it all out and let loose. And that is absolutely, OK!” 

Keen In Nurturing Generations, KING encourages others to Spread Love, Spread Light and (most importantly) Have Fun, in everything you do.