Statement on Shibari Performance at Montreal Launch

I’m reposting the statement I made on Instagram here for those of you who may have missed it or want to share it. This is pertaining to a party we did in collaboration with Phile Magazine in Montreal on May 19th. 

I want to say sorry to everyone who felt harmed by the Shibari performance at our collaboration release party with Phile Magazine. When the performance was added to the bill, I assumed Isabelle Hanikamu (who owns Kinbaku Gakko in Montreal) was Japanese based on her Japanese last name. I was also trusting of the individuals that booked her for the event, but I see now that it was my fault for not doing my own research about Isabelle, as well as questioning the selection of Shibari as an appropriate type of performance for the evening. During the performance, I was anxious about the obvious appropriation of white people wearing kimonos, but not altogether sure what the politics behind white people doing a Shibari performance was. I know now this performance was not okay. I am sorry I wasn’t more careful when the event was coming together, as well as better at reacting in the moment during the performance. In retrospect I see I should have stepped forward and stopped the performance while it was happening, which is a lesson I’m taking forward for future events. In the future I will make sure to meet up with all performers and collaborators to discuss harm reduction before the event is booked. I’m also looking to hire a BIPOC collaborator for our next issues’ launch party to help with curatorial and decision making for the event. I want to share the resources that were shared with me on anti-oppression workshops in Montreal as well as some articles I found helpful written about Shibari as cultural appropriation. Pasted below this statement! Thanks for your patience while I learn from my mistakes, and thank you to the people who reached out to me about this. – Claire Milbrath, editor-in-chief, Editorial Magazine

CoCo (Anti-O workshops and other resources)

https://coco-net.org/

Anti-Racist Organizational Change Tool for Non-Profits from CoCo:

https://coco-net.org/an-anti-racist-organizational-change-tool-for-nonprofits/

Recommended reading on Shibari and Cultural Appropriation: 

http://www.beyondsafewords.com/shibari-and-cultural-appropriation/

http://www.beyondsafewords.com/shibari-appropriation-redux/