WESTERN FRONT – Tulip(s), Footstool, Painting

A video still from a VHS recording shows two women hugging in a warmly lit indoor setting. The person on the right is smiling and wearing large 1980s-style earrings. The quality and visual noise (blur and scan lines) are characteristic of analog video formats.

Join us for an evening of archival excerpts, conversation, and new work by artist Darragh Amelia.

At the heart of the program is a preview of Tulip(s), Footstool, Painting (2025), a short film in which the artist reflects on her mother’s informal archival practice and bears witness to her enduring friendship with June Katz—a beloved jazz singer and regular figure in Western Front’s social world during the 1980s. What emerges is a personal meditation on friendship as archive, and on life itself as an act of creative expression.

The screening will be accompanied by a conversation between Darragh Amelia and Rebecca Corey, exploring the resonance of music and memory, the sacred bonds forged between women, and the beauty of lived experience as something held among friends.

A black-and-white close-up photo of two hands gently holding a ceramic ball. The ball has several horizontal stripes, with handwritten text partially visible on the stripes. Some legible phrases include "ON A CAROUSEL" and "OF TIME." The image emphasizes texture and emotion through the focus on the hands and the worn writing on the ball.

About the Artists

Darragh Amelia is a Canadian-born artist who produces, programs, and preserves audio-visual art and research, and has (co)created spaces for artistic engagement internationally and online. Her creative work in documentary and expanded cinema is grounded in long-term collaboration and sustained attention to the informal and the amateur.

Darragh Amelia stands indoors in a hallway with wooden floors and white paneling. She is wearing a white t-shirt featuring a blue abstract artwork on the front and a leopard print skirt. A framed mirror hangs on the wall behind her, and a narrow utility cart is visible to the side. The lighting highlights her calm, direct expression.

Rebecca Yeong Ae Mzengi Corey is an arts practitioner whose interdisciplinary work includes visual art, curation, filmmaking, and arts community and institution building as a creative practice. More than a job or a title, her efforts reveal a dedication to building inclusive, critical, and joyful spaces and ecosystems where art and creativity thrive.

Rebecca Yeong Ae Mzengi Corey stands indoors near large industrial windows in a well-lit room filled with vintage printing equipment and metal type drawers. She is wearing a white cropped t-shirt and high-waisted gray pants, with a small gold necklace. She has a calm and confident expression, and natural light streams in through the windows, illuminating the room and cityscape outside.

Accessibility

The Grand Luxe Hall is located on the second floor of Western Front, which is accessed by a flight of 26 stairs. While plans for a full building upgrade to facilitate access for wheelchair users are still underway, events in the Grand Luxe Hall are made available virtually via high-quality livestream (see link above).

What to expect: The event includes a screening of a film with sound and music, and a talk.

Further details about visiting and accessibility at Western Front can be found here.

Acknowledgement

Presented with support from the Hamber Foundation.

Darragh Amelia, Tulip(s), Footstool, Painting (2025), video still. Courtesy of the artist.

Darragh Amelia, Tulip(s), Footstool, Painting (2025), video still. Courtesy of the artist.
Darragh Amelia, Tulip(s), Footstool, Painting (2025), video still. Courtesy of the artist.

Darragh Amelia, Tulip(s), Footstool, Painting (2025), video still. Courtesy of the artist.
Portrait of Darragh Amelia.

Portrait of Darragh Amelia.
Portrait of Rebecca Yeong Ae Mzengi Corey.

Portrait of Rebecca Yeong Ae Mzengi Corey.

Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.

We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.