Club Abinoojii Miikana gaye Bezhigowin Wajiw (Anishinaabemowin)
Passion Fruit Collective (Bom Bae, Alexi Pedneault, Raphael Sanchez, Tyler J Sloane, Kai Zhou)

Bezhigowin Wajiw
Passion Fruit Collective, 2023, noojigo gegoon aabadak mazinichiganing, gii-ozhichigaade gigishkiganImages
A sky blue arm chair is almost completely covered by a mound of objects, measuring 230 x 130 x 75 cm, which includes clothes, Covid-19 supplies, drug paraphernalia, makeup, alcohol bottles, tissues, and sexually explicit Polaroids. On the edge of the chair, starting in the back left corner, is a sculpture of popper bottles, the right corner has a box of tissues and a brown blanket and pillow. Outside of the chair, against the wall, is a pile of neutral colour laundry with splotches of glitter on underwear and T-shirts screen printed with the phrase “Stay Homo.” Attached to the back of the chair is the blue felt costume from the film behind precariously piled Covid-19 supplies, rapid tests, disposable blue and black masks, tissues and hand sanitizer. Clustered in the lower left corner of the installation is a paint pallet and a pile of cascading puzzle pieces spilling onto the floor. Moving toward our left, the mound transitions into a pile of books, liquor bottles, acrylic nails, make up products, books, candles, over dose prevention supplies, up close Polaroids of asses and pubic mounds covered by jock strops and other kink gear. Glitter is laid out like rows of cocaine, packed into used weed bags, and coating disposable food containers.
A large wall measuring 3 x 5 meters, of overlapping neon graffiti cardboard cut outs that frames a film projected on the wall. Starting at the top center of the work, the words, “Passion” and “Fruit” are spray painted on yellow brick walls. Moving clockwise around the installation is a yellow bottle with the word, “Rush.” Underneath that, a pink naked body with fat rolls pinches their nipples. On our bottom right hand corner is the word, “Cunt,” overlapping with a Chibi cartoon mushroom, an image repeated multiple times at various spots in the installation. Directly under the film projection, a glittery rainbow juts upwards topped by a red lily with penis shaped stamen, ejaculate erupting from the tips. The lily is framed on either side by silver figures, in the style of Keith Haring, holding neon orange music notes. In our lower left hand corner, is the word “Slut” in bright yellow, next to a portrait of a pink haired, blue bearded person. Above that, is an up close torso with blue chest hair and a figure with gold geometric glasses and purple spikey hair. In our upper left hand corner, a purple passion fruit with large gold seeds drips gold goo onto the film.
A strapless oversized purple circle gown painted in the style of Holi, with purple, pink, blue, yellow, and green explosions of color. At the neckline is a wide band of purple rhinestones. The pleated fabric of the gown is pleated at the band and flows out creating a voluminous silhouette. Ripples upon ripples of fabric embellished with rhinestones puddles at the floor. The hem of the dress is adorned with purple and white teardrop rhinestones. Two puffy sleeves made out of the same material hang off the mannequin.
Guided Tactile Descriptions
Isolation Mountain
Everything on the Isolation Mountain sculpture can be touched. Things may move when you interact with them, which is fine, so throughout your exploration, use a gentle touch. This description focuses on part of the installation from the perspective of sitting in the chair. Start by turning your body to the left. Feel along the slightly course left arm of the chair till you reach the back corner. Here you’ll find a mound of small popper bottles that have been stacked in a pile. You may find a small Polaroid photo stuck in this pile showing an up close ass with medium skin tone. These Polaroids are scattered throughout the entire installation and all depict various kink and sexual scenes including up close shots of asses, jock straps, and a mouth with a ball gag. Moving off of the couch arm to the pile below, feel for an open cigar box with small stiff plastic bags. These bags are full of chunky green glitter and have names of marijuana strands printed on them. This box also has a cigarette pack and a plastic blunt wrapper tube. Moving to down to our right, there are more objects including a toilet paper roll, alarm clock, tooth brush, part of a fringed costume, and carry out containers. If you stretch your arm out farther and to the right, you may find a plastic dildo that was painted blue by the artist and covered in glitter. Continuing to move to our right while slowly untwisting your body, you’ll find a stand with two large head phones that you can use to listen to the soundtrack and audio description of the film playing in front of you. If you want to touch more, feel outside of the chair on your right. There you’ll find a pile of clothes, underwear, and jock straps with splatters of glitter.
Outfit
A strapless oversized purple gown painted with explosions of a variety of colors hung on a mannequin. Let’s start at the top of the mannequin which is made out of a scratchy synthetic fabric and is not part of the artwork. Move your fingers down till you find a wide band of purple and lavender rhinestones tightly packed on the band, that continues around the entire bodice. Move your fingers to the bottom edge of the band till you find pleated fabric. This is the fabric of the voluminous dress. Begin exploring the fullness of the dress with an open palm noticing more rhinestones scattered throughout the dress. Find one of the many areas with a rough stiff texture and rub it between your fingers. This is a result of the dress being splattered with powdery purple, pink, blue, yellow, and green paint. If you reach your hand deeper into the folds, you may find softer lavender fabric where the paint didn’t reach. Feel all the way down the dress to the bottom edge where the fabric spreads out in a wide circle. The hem is made out of a stiff thick band which has been adorned with larger teardrop shaped purple and lavender rhinestones. After you’ve fully explored the body of the dress, go back to where we started at the top of the mannequin, finding the scratchy fabric. Feel outwards towards the shoulder on our right towards the sleeve, both sides are identical. Touching carefully, you’ll find a puffy sleeve of the same material and design as the dress. The sleeve is not attached to the dress and has been tacked onto the mannequin. Feel along the sleeve to the bunched hemline at the elbow where the voluminous fabric is gathered with elastic. The sleeve is also a purple with splotches of pink, blue, yellow, and green.
Club Abinoojii Miikana gaye Bezhigowin Wajiw
Passion Fruit Collective, 2022, mazinaatesijiganMazinaatesijigan
[Music plays: Strut through the 6ix by Sofia Fly]
Description:
Bom Bae, a South Asian Drag Queen in a sculptural blue thong bodysuit, climbs an outdoor staircase overlooking downtown Toronto. Other drag performers join her.
Strut thru the six
with my woes and shit
on my grown bitch shit
shit, shit
Description:
‘Passion Fruit Collective Presents / Club Kid Alley.’ Bom Bae enters a formal garden in her baby blue headpiece and wide-shouldered triangular costume. Her mouth falls open when she spots Babia Majora, an Asian drag performer in a red Toadstool hat and white embroidered dress with billowing sleeves.
Strut strut serve
strut strut swerve
strut strut serve girl
strut strut swerve girl
Strut strut gimme diva
strut strut gimme fever
strut strut gimme latina
gimme machisma gimme gasolina and
Strut strut serve
strut strut swerve
strut strut serve girl
strut strut swerve girl
Description:
Emerging from a hedgerow, Babia tips their toadstool hat and dips at the knees.
Strut strut baby move your butt
strut strut don’t give a fuck like
what what what you want what
like what what
Description:
Bom Bae climbs the front steps of a white brick estate house with an ornate wrought iron awning. She rings the bell, and the door opens.
I was strutting through the six with my hoes
Serving side eye to these bros
Growing from the concrete like a rose
Description:
Kuya Atay, a Filipinx Boylesque performer dressed in purple steps outside. Wearing a silk, tasseled, conical hat and elbow length gloves, Kuya beckons and leads us inside, steering us away from a taxidermied wolf in the foyer.
Flowing to the beat like I’m Hov
I was strutting to the beat like I’m Bey
Living in my own world like I’m Ye
Singing my own song chanté
I ain’t going nowhere I’m here to stay
Description:
In the formal living room, Coqetesh Fetish, an Indigenous Drag Clown in a floral crown, reads on an opulent woven rug. Gay Jesus, a Latinx Drag King, stretches in black fishnets and thigh high boots. And Tygr Willy, a Burlesque performer bedecked in shimmering streamers, plays a grand piano.
Nobody can kill my mood
Nobody can steal my truth
Nobody can walk in my shoes and make the same moves that I do
Nobody gonna kill my pride
Nobody gonna take me alive
Nobody gon fuck with my vibe
strut strut can’t fuck with my vibe like
Description:
Coqetesh points us to the solarium, where Babia has tea with Ocean LaVodka Giovanni, a Drag Monarch in a patterned dress and long orange wig, and Devery Bess, a Trans Black Drag King in red shorts and a leather chest harness.
Strut strut serve
strut strut swerve
strut strut serve girl
strut strut werk girl
Strut strut baby move your butt
strut strut don’t give a fuck like
what what what you want what
like what what Strut
Description:
Waving goodbye, Babia slips their dress off their shoulders, and twirls into the sitting room. There, Calypso Cosmic, a Drag Queen in a neon blue wig and fitted orange minidress, helps Bom Bae with her makeup.
I was strutting through the six with my bitches
Trying to mind my own damn business
Trying to maintain my fitness
Trying to maintain my riches
Bitch I’m trying to stay ambitious
Bitch I’m too big for my britches
Bitch I’m a snack I’m delicious
Bitch I got gifts like christmas
I roll deep like Adele
I’m on the creep like Lisa L
Description:
They admire themselves in a gold-framed mirror, then head off, sashaying through the house.
I need a freak like Missy Elliott
I need a beast like Belle
I beat the beat like Murda
I kill the club it’s a murder
I’m a problem like Maria
I’m so fly Sofia
Description:
They pass the billiards room where Coqetesh, Ocean, and Devery fan themselves while Gay Jesus lines up a shot on the pool table.
Strut strut serve
strut strut swerve
strut strut serve girl
strut strut swerve girl
Description:
Shaking her head, Coqetesh leads Gay Jesus into the hall, and directs them down a dark stairwell.
Strut strut gimme diva
strut strut gimme fever
strut strut gimme latina
gimme machisma gimme gasolina ya
Description:
She carries on through the dining room, where Kuya, Tygr, Bom Bae, Babia, and Calypso confer around the table.
Gimme passion gimme fashion
Gimme action make it happen
Make it clap and make it jiggle
Make it bounce make it wobble make it wiggle
Description:
Devery runs in urging Calypso to join him.
Make it hot let it burn let it sizzle
Make it rain let it drip let it drizzle
Open up taste the rainbow like skittles
Take chances make mistakes, Ms Frizzle
Description:
Calypso follows him onto a wide oak staircase. Up ahead, on the landing, Gay Jesus waits with their leg draped over the polished oak railing. Beckoning with a pair of wiggled fingers, Gay Jesus leads us to the second floor sitting room.
Girl, don’t be so fucking civil
Girl, don’t be so superficial
Girl, don’t be so apologetic
Girl take it take it girl get it get it girl
I don’t need nobody but myself
I don’t need no motherfucking help
I can win this fight by myself
Description:
Seated in a wooden chair, a burlesque Garden Fairy with a floral beard flexes for Bom Bae, Coqetesh, and Ocean.
I float like a butterfly and hit below the belt
ya hit it hit, hit below the belt (x3)
I float like a butterfly and hit below the belt
Description:
Tygr runs in, beaming. They take Bom Bae by the hand and pull her to a bedroom, where they gather before a vanity mirror with Devery and a Drag Queen in mint green sweats and a matching headwrap.
ya hit it hit, hit below the belt (x3)
I float like a butterfly and hit below the belt
Description:
They all pose for a group selfie, then head off one by one, leaving Bom Bae to admire her blue makeup, pointy orange nails, and long lean figure.
Strut strut serve
strut strut swerve
strut strut serve girl
strut strut swerve girl
Description:
Swinging her hips, Bom Bae leaves the bedroom.
Strut strut gimme latina
strut strut gimme diva
strut strut gimme fever
gimme machisma gimme gasolina ya
Description:
Outside, the other drag performers lounge on a tiered staircase leading down from the solarium.
Voice:
Wait, wait, wait, where’s Bom Bae?
Description:
Bom Bae pushes open the solarium’s double doors and poses for her friends.
Voice:
Wow [Applause]
Description:
She descends the staircase like a model on a runway.
Voice:
Legendary!
Description:
A person runs up.
Voice:
We’re late for the party! [Delighted screams] Go, go, go!
Description:
They all scatter. Teetering on boots with extreme heels, Gay Jesus and the floral-bearded Garden Fairy hold hands and scurry after the others. END CREDITS roll.
Strut thru the six,
with my woes and shit,
Strut thru the six
on my grown bitch shit,
Strut thru the six, all alone and shit, on my grown bitch shit
shit shit
Description:
Passion Fruit Collective: Bom Bae, Kai, Kuya Atay, Raphy, Tygr Willy
Featuring:
Babia Majora
Bom Bae
Calypso Cosmic
Coqetesh Fetish
Devery Bess
Gay Jesus
Kuya Atay
Ocean LaVodka Giovanni
Raphy
Tygr Willy
Director:
Tyler J Sloane / Tygr Willy
Passion Fruit: Club Kid Alley
“We are our ancestors’ wildest dreams, taking up spaces in the alleys of Toronto all the way to intervening in historic colonial sites like Spadina Museum. Our existence a resistance, dressed in our most authentic, glamorous, and Queer selves.”
Installation Details
Megwaa gii-nishikewizid, Gaa-zhiiwangin Gitigaanan Izhichigewin ogiimisawendaan ji-maawaji'idiwaad miinawaa awiyag. Omaa, gaa-gii-ozhitoowaad waabanjigaadeni iwe gaa-ozhi'oomagak bimaadiziwin gaawiin wiin biindig waakaa'iganing gii-ayaang megwaa gii-ayaamagak iwe gichi-aakoziwin. Gii-aabajichigaade mazinibii'igan, ikwekaazowin gaye gitochigewin, Club Abinoojii Miikana ogii-biminizhawaa' gaa-ikwekaazonid ininiwa' imaa Club Abinoojii Waakaa'iganing megwaa Bezhigowin Wajiw gii-naanaagadawendang bezhigowin. Igi gaa-zaagi'aawaad wiiji-ininiimiwaa' aaniin igo enendamowaad gaye waa-izhichigewaad daabishkoo nibi gaa-bimijiwang inendaagoziwag.
2019 gii-ozhichigaade owe, ya'aa dash Alexi Pedneault gaye Tyler J Sloan gii-niigaaniiwag, Gaa-zhiiwangin Gitigaanan Izhichigewin gii-izhichigewag bizaanigo igi gaa-bakaanenindizowaad, ikwewag wiijikwewaa' gaa-zaagi'aawaad gaye ininiwag wiijininiimiwaa gaa-wiijiiwaawaad Makawewininiwag, Anishinaabeg gaye godak gaa-waabishkiiwesigwaa Toronto gii-dagwiiwag.
Maagiszhaa gidaagoshkomigon gaa-ikidoomagak owe:
Maagiszhaa gidaagoshkomigon gaa-ikidoomagak owe. Ningichi-inendaaminn gaa-izhibii'igewaad gaa-gii-ozhitoowaad owe. Egiiwe-aabajichigaadeg izhigiizhwewin gaa-maji-aabajichigaadeg ako, onizhishin bakaan e-inaabajichigaadeg, wenizhishing edazhinjigaadeg gi-ga-wiiji'igomin gakina iwe izhigiizhwewin jibakinaageying.
About the Artist
