Blind artist Alex Bulmer takes the arm of people in her new neighbourhood. Together, they walk, listen, and share life stories — an architecture of place emerges. Experience their journeys through these multi-sensory moving-portraits that consider the past, illuminate the present, and evoke possible futures.
Originally created in 2018 as a live, interactive, performance installation, May I Take Your Arm? has been re-imagined into a 7-part multidisciplinary follow-at-home experience.
July 23rd at 7pm
May I Take Your Arm? Closing Party is presented by TPM & Red Dress Productions, with support from Common Boots Theatre. FREE and no registration is required.
Dial in number: +1 647 374 4685 Canada
Experience the work
Learn more
Video promo
Video by Hoffworks
Visual description: An image of two white hands gripping the top of a white cane are overlaid with images of Riverdale Park in autumn.
The image tilts up and widens to reveal Alex Bulmer wearing a black leather jacket and mint green sunglasses. With a casual smile, she adjusts her hands – overlapping them on top of her cane. A man in a dark grey shirt enters the frame and stands next to Alex, slowly extending his bent arm toward her. The overlaid image of autumn trees is now especially vibrant against their dark clothing. Alex reaches back behind the man, gently holds onto his elbow, and extends her cane in front of her.
A final close up of Alex’s face overlaid with images of autumn trees. Her cane outstretched, arm in hand – Alex and the man walk out of frame together. The image fades to black and credits appear.
Audio promo
Ticket information
Access to experience May I Take Your Arm? is FREE.
There is an optional, tactile portion to this production — A limited edition series of 200 handmade pocket accordion books will go on sale May 18. A number of books will be set aside to prioritize access to low-vision and blind audiences.
About the Books
Designed by Anna Camilleri
A limited edition series of 200 handmade pocket accordion books are similar by design and different by dimension and material application.
Techniques include | Paper cutting and decoupage | Paper and thread weaving, wrapping, and stitching | Botanical dyeing (I gathered Black Walnut and Sumac from the Don River watershed to produce botanical dye extractions “fixed” with salt and vinegar Dyed papers have an earthy and faintly acidic scent.) | Embedded foraged botanical elements (Silver Birch and Grey Birch bark, Eastern White Pine needles, Tansy, and Rosehip).
From the artist | I’m grateful to Katie Yealland, Annanda DeSilva, Sierra Sun, and Rhekia Fahssi for bookmaking production assistance.
Credits
Co-Creator & Performer
Alex Bulmer
Co-Creator & Environment Designer/Maker
Anna Camilleri
Co-Creator & Sound Editor/Dramaturge
Tristan R. Whiston
Co-Creator & Live Video Animation
Katie Yealland
Creative Access Support & Audio Description
Becky Gold
Website Designer
Wy Joung Kou
Sound Consultant & Field Recording
Charles Ketchabaw
To schedule an interview with the artist, or staff members at Theatre Passe Muraille regarding this production, please email Emily Jung at emilyj@passemuraille.on.ca. We will try out best to accommodate your media requests, however they are not guaranteed.
Named one of the most influential disabled artists by UK’s Power Magazine, Alex Bulmer has over 30 years professional experience across theatre, television, film, radio, and education. Alex is dedicated to inclusive collaborative art practice, fuelled by a curiosity of the improbable and deeply informed by her experience of becoming blind. She is activated by obstacles, well exposed to the absurd, and embraces the disciplines of generosity, listening, time, and uncertainty within her artistic and personal life. Alex is Artistic Director of Common Boots Theatre, co-founder and artistic director of Cripping The Stage with The British Council, and the lead curator of CoMotion Festival 2022, an international disability arts festival produced by Harbourfront Centre.
Anna Camilleri has been working with performance, image, and text for 25 years. Her inquiries span socially engaged practices, narrative, materiality, and the public imaginary. Her books have been recognized with distinctions from the LAMBDA Literary Foundation, the Association of Independent Publishers, the American Library of Congress, and are part of the University of Toronto’s Fisher Rare Books Library Queer Canadian Literature Collection. She is co-artistic director of Red Dress Productions.
Tristan R. Whiston is a Toronto-based theatre director, dramaturge, writer, performer, audio and community artist. He has written and directed five audio documentaries for CBC, including Middle C, which won the 2007 Premios Ondas Award for International Radio. Tristan’s film pINCO Triangle was honoured with three 2018 Queer North Awards, including Best Canadian Film. He is co-artistic director of Red Dress Productions.
For 20 years, Katie Yealland has worked in the commercial film industry primarily as a grip (film technician), and since 2010, Katie has worked with Red Dress Productions in various roles including community artist, live video animation, and production lead.
Becky Gold is an accessible drama instructor, creative enabler, and PhD candidate in Theatre and Performance Studies at York University. Her research explores disability-driven and inter-abled artistic practice, with a focus on interdependence, relation-building, care, and access-intimacy in the creation process. For the past three years, Becky has worked with Alex Bulmer on a variety of artistic projects as a support worker and collaborator. This work has and continues to influence her approaches to audio description and access aesthetics.
Wy Joung Kou is a queer, chronically ill, multi-disciplinary artist. Their body of work spans mosaic, poetry, sound, movement, performance, video, and installation. Grounded in a disability justice framework centering accessibility, community and interdependence, their artistic practice is interwoven with personal narratives of grief, care, and intimacy. They are a member of Raging Asian Womxn Taiko Drummers, the inaugural winner of a JRG Grant for Artists with Disabilities (2018), and an ILGBT Artist Residency alum.
Charles Ketchabaw is the Managing Director of FIXT POINT Arts & Media and Co-creator / Producer of The Tale of a Town – Canada, a national project which has brought him all across the country conducting interviews, recording sound and designing interactive audio performances. May I Take Your Arm x Theatre Passe Muraille makes Charles smile. Two incredible forces combining for good.
Visual Story –This Package aims to support people with communication difficulties, learning disabilities, English as a second language and Autistic People. It can be used to help anyone access and understand the installation.
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This edition of Ephemeral Artifacts draws from ĀNANDAṀ’s interdisciplinary practices, and moves the “body” to the exterior of Theatre Passe Muraille building, a venue with a history and commitment to alternative theatre that reaches beyond spaces, even during its absence.