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Exhibitionists·Video

Throwing knives — literally — at oppression

Artist Scotty Dont is exploring the politics of both queer and black identity through the lens of circus performance.

Artist Scotty Dont is exploring identity politics through the lens of circus performance

Mercedes Grundy · CBC Arts ·

Throwing knives — literally — at oppression

7 years ago
Duration 3:10
Scotty Dont gives us a behind-the-scenes look at his knife-throwing performance that explores gender and race.

The art of performative knife-throwing goes way back, and often conjures up images of a performer hurling sharp objects at an assistant on a spinning wheel of death. But for multidisciplinary artist Scotty Dont, knife-throwing is a way for him to express himself, and perhaps change perceptions about his identity — and the art of circus itself.

In this video, we go behind-the-scenes with Dont at Buddies in Bad Times in Toronto for a rehearsal of his Rhubarb Festival performance Dur à cuire. While pushing apart boards and throwing knives between them, Dont shares his hope to use circus to "explore or maybe for some people debunk these tropes and hoaxes that we have in society regarding gender and race."

(CBC Arts)

Watch CBC Arts: Exhibitionists on Friday nights at 12:30am (1am NT) and Sundays at 3:30pm (4pm NT) on CBC Television.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mercedes Grundy

Mercedes Grundy is a producer for CBC's Unscripted division. She has played an integral role in the creation of series like Exhibitionists, The Filmmakers and Canada's a Drag as well as special projects like Superqueeroes and The 2010s: The Decade Canadian Artists Stopped Saying Sorry. Collectively, these projects have won Grundy 5 Canadian Screen Awards. She has an educational background in photography, and produces film and theatre when not busy here at the CBC.

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