In this episode, we begin at a local flower shop: Scrim's Florist on Elgin. Guest producer Matt Miwa and his invited guests Sumayya Mayet and Nesta Charles have all worked there and have each incorporated floral design into their art and creative practice. 

Flower shops are unusual retail spaces; they invite artistic engagement and collaboration more than most other retail realms. Scrim's was also the first employment opportunity for both Sumayya and Nesta upon arriving in Ottawa from Johannesburg and St. Lucia (via Toronto), respectively.  

This episode traces a day in the life at the flower shop and expands outward as the guests contemplate their queer identities, where they came from and how they navigate Ottawa and Canada's larger queer communities.   

Refreshingly, we learn how Sumayya and Nesta walk with an energized sense of hope through the streets of Ottawa.  

Credits: Season 3 graphic created by Hunter Dewache. Custom intro / outro sounds created by Bucko aka Chris Binkowski. Podcast editing is by fin-xuan, with post-production audio work by Nicole Bedford. This season of To Be Continued: Troubling the Archive is generously funded by a Digital Now grant from the Canada Council for the Arts.   

Participants: 

Matt Miwa 

Matt Miwa (he/him) hails from Aurora, Ontario. He moved to Ottawa in 2000 to attend theatre school. Matt maintains a theatre creation and performance art practice.  Prior to the pandemic, Matt toured his theatre piece “The Tashme Project: The Living Archives” across Canada (with co-creator Julie Tamiko Manning). This play traces the oral histories of twenty Japanese Canadian elders. Matt and Julie hope to perform this play for the rest of their lives.  Matt's dedication to this play is indicative of his broader love and appreciation for the Japanese Canadian community with whom he frequently works.  Most recently, Matt produced the event “Tomoni/Go Together” with CUAG.  Tomoni unites Japanese cultural practitioners with local non-Japanese artists in unique and surprising artistic collaborations.  @miwa.light.house    

Nesta Charles 

Nesta Charles (he/him) was born in Brampton, Ontario. He spent his childhood and adolescence in St. Lucia. As a young adult, Nesta moved back to Toronto, where he pursued studies in interior design, while balancing jobs in construction and landscaping.  

Landscaping led to work in flower shops, where Nesta's creativity sparked. Moving to Ottawa, Nesta joined the Scrim's Florist team and worked for years in the floral industry, running his own shop, Fine's Flowers.  Nesta now works professionally as a wine consultant and actively cultivates an extensive plant care practice.  He is currently pursuing his yoga teacher training and looks forward to contributing to and reaching out to the BIPOC community through his yoga teaching. @adio_charles 

Sumayya Mayet 

Sumayya Mayet (she/they) was born in Johannesburg, South Africa.  A painter by training, Sumayya likes to paint "the natural world."  She uses bright and vibrant colours and moves between landscape and intricate still life.  Her practice also encompasses ink drawing, watercolour and needlepoint. 

In 2020, Sumayya decided to move to Canada to accompany her partner, who is pursuing a PhD in Philosophy.  Living first in Hull, Symayya moved to downtown Ottawa and has become an integral member of the Scrim's Florist team, where she works in administration and floral design.  @rhag.art