Life Stories Quilt: Episode 6 – Part 1: Freda Guttman

Z Gallery's Podcast - Life Stories Quilt

Interview is recorded on October 19th, 2017 in Montreal.

To honour Freda Guttman, a great Montrealer and to celebrate her 85th birthday! A unique and wonderful Artist and Activist that we have the privilege to listen to her life story on this Quilt episode.

Happy BirthDay Freda!

“Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.” -Bertolt Brecht
One advantage of having had the good fortune to live into old age is that I can look back and see my life in art and activism as a story, a journey that begins with three facts about myself as a child: I was aware in some way of being in opposition to the society I grew up in; I was keenly interested in what was happening in the world; and I knew that what happened in the world had, in some way, an impact on my small life.
This longevity, (for which I am grateful!), offers me the opportunity to reflect on personal intentionality and processes of engagement against a changing social and political backdrop. Art and Activism. Although there have been many permutations and combinations in how I managed these activities, I can’t really separate my journey into political radicalization from my development as an artist, nor can I separate my activist intervening in struggles for social justice from the creative work I’ve done. They coincide. The same path, the same journey of learning, of opening. A journey conducted within specific social cultures of resistance to repression in the political conditions of specific times.
– Freda Guttman, from her website.

Music for this Episode is courtesy of Stefan Christoff from родина (rodina) album; an exploration of duets between Sam Shalabi on oud and Stefan Christoff on piano.