What brought you to CBC Arts in 2021? Our 10 most popular stories of the year

As we close out 2021 and enter into whatever 2022 will bring (fingers ever-so-tightly crossed it's somehow not mostly horrible things!), CBC Arts took a look back at our most popular stories this past year. It was a mixed bag, just like 2021: from a listicle of the best Catherine O'Hara performances to a look into the pandemic tattoo boom to a beautiful essay by actor Fuad Ahmed about changing his name. Thanks for enjoying them this year, and happiest possible 2022s to all our readers!

10. Here's how the Dune sequel can fix the first movie's white saviour problem

Rukhsar Ali writes: "Villeneuve's Dune seemed like it would be a counter to Hollywood's white saviour obsession (see movies like Avatar, The Last Samurai, and Lawrence of Arabia, just for starters) — but Part One fell back into the same age-old trope and sacrificed much of the nuance from the novel while simultaneously erasing the cultural influences Herbert was inspired by. Now, with a sequel having just been confirmed for 2023, Villeneuve will have to course-correct and make sure the second film rectifies the shortcomings of the first if he wants to make Dune more than just the same type of story Hollywood has told time and time again." Read the entire article here.

9. By drawing her body over and over, Quinn Rockliff sees herself — and is helping others do the same

Sarah MacDonald writes: "For Toronto-based interdisciplinary artist Quinn Rockliff, her nude self-portraiture portrays control and consent, self-love and empowerment. But it also serves as a way to reclaim her body: her striking single-line style began as a personal healing exercise that has blossomed in an online space where others have used her work to understand and feel more at home in their own bodies, too." Read the entire article here.

8. The 10 best performances from Catherine O'Hara, Canada's true national treasure

Peter Knegt writes: "Very few people qualify as a Canadian national treasure quite as iconically as Catherine O'Hara. The Toronto-born actress, comedian and writer has been giving us endless reasons to be proud across a career that spans nearly 50 years. And this week, she'll be honoured for that work with a Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award at the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards (adding to a heavy mantle that already includes Emmys, Golden Globes, SAG Awards and Canadian Screen Awards). It could not be more deserved. And we figured this would be a welcome opportunity to take a trip back through the decades of O'Hara, highlighting her 10 best performances across film and television." Read the entire article here.

7. Shawn Hitchins turned his grief into an achingly beautiful memoir after two former partners passed suddenly

Peter Knegt writes: "'I have written for many reasons,' says Shawn Hitchins, author of the new book The Light Streamed Beneath It: A Memoir of Grief and Celebration. 'For social clout, because people have paid me, because I wanted to make people laugh. This book is the first time that I've had to write myself out of a situation that was directly for me.' That situation was one of emotional intensity few of us could imagine: Hitchins experienced the sudden deaths of Matt and David, two of his life's great loves, five months apart from one another. And he has poured that journey into the pages of The Light, an astoundingly beautiful book that offers readers a heartbreaking yet hopeful story of resilience that ultimately celebrates life — even if it does so in the shadow of insurmountable loss." Read the entire article here.

6. Get ready for the pandemic tattoo boom

Leah Collins writes: "For eight months, Kate Doucette has kept her tattoo studio closed, and for eight months, she's been watching her inbox fill with appointment requests. 'Honestly, it has not stopped since we've been shut down,' says Doucette (a.k.a. Kate Somebody), owner of Toronto Tattoohaus, an all-female shop that she founded five years ago. The messages keep piling up, she says — 'and piling and piling and piling.' But her super-keen clients won't have to wait much longer. Last week, Ontario announced that it will enter Step 2 of its reopening plan on June 30, and that means personal care services — including tattoo studios such as Doucette's — will be permitted to resume business for the first time since November 2020." Read the entire article here. 

5. This artist spent the year photographing an iconic Canadian discount store

Chris Hampton writes: "She noticed the colours first. For a modest concrete box of a building, the Giant Tiger in Sara Heinonen's neighbourhood sure came alight in the late afternoon. When the sun hung just right, its yellow burst marvellously against the blue sky. She had to take a picture. The Hamilton-based artist uses her camera to explore the ways the urban environment feels. Heinonen walks downtown (the sidewalk is the truest experience of a city, she says) with her eyes peeled for interesting confluences of colour and form. After that first golden moment, the discount retail store became a regular photo stop along her route." Read the entire article here.

4. Bhangra dancing to Celtic music in the Yukon wilderness is the mash-up we didn't know we needed

Mercedes Grundy writes: "Bhangra dancing to Celtic music may not seem like an obvious pairing, but for Yukon's Gurdeep Pandher, who loves to blend unexpected genres, the two art forms are a great fit. 'I feel that dance and music are universal languages,' says Pandher. 'As long as the tempo matches, the dance moves match too.' Pandher's Bhangra dance videos have become hits on social media with audiences appreciating the boundless energy and joy that he brings to his performances, usually shot outdoors against the backdrop of Yukon's stunning landscape. In his latest dance video filmed at Lake Laberge, Pandher performs to traditional Celtic music played live by local Whitehorse musicians Crooked Folk." Read the entire article (and watch the video) here.

3. Paper dandelions will be sprouting all over Canada this year

Leah Collins writes: "It's odd to be planting flowers in winter, and stranger still if you're cultivating dandelions, a plant that's never seemed to have much trouble proliferating on its own. But then, Monique Martin's not in the business of honest-to-goodness gardening. Rather, the Saskatoon artist tends dandelions of the paper variety — and now through Jan. 15, the Estevan Art Gallery & Museum in Saskatchewan is blooming with Martin's hand-crafted flowers." Read the entire article here.

2. When Elliot Page was ready for his closeup, he wanted photographer Wynne Neilly behind the lens

Peter Knegt writes: "When Elliot Page knew he was set to become the first transgender man on the cover of TIME magazine, he had a special request: that the cover be shot by fellow Canadian trans artist Wynne Neilly. 'I don't want to say that this opportunity came out of the blue, because I have truly been working toward this as my goal for a very long time,' Neilly says. 'But it definitely came to me when I was least expecting it. I had gotten an email from the senior photo editor at Time wondering if I was taking on work right now, and frankly I thought the email was fake at first. I was so confused and curious to know what this was all about.' Read the entire article here. 

1. I had to change my Arabic name to make it as an actor. Now, I'm reclaiming it

Fuad Ahmed writes: "August, 2006:

My name is Fuad Ahmed. I work in the laboratory supply sales industry while trying to act on the side. I take a long lunch at my office job in Mississauga and trek into downtown Toronto for an audition. The AC in my 1996 Ford Taurus station wagon has decided to quit. I fight traffic the whole way. It's hot. I'm sweaty. I arrive at the audition, sign in and collect myself in the waiting room.

The casting assistant walks in. 'Fod Akhmed?' she asks.

I smile, cringing internally. 'Uh, it's Fu-Ad ... F, U — '

Read the entire article here, and thanks for reading and/or watching CBC Arts during 2021.