Island-born Russell Louder is one of these artists, and wearer of many hats; musician, promoter, curator, fashion designer, producer. Louder is continuously exploring a variety of mediums and there are few things they won’t attempt to push their artistic practice further. From the inception of their artistic practice at the age of sixteen, to a career in performance art beginning at seventeen, Louder has recognized that the creation of a performance piece is not just about the performance itself. Rather, it takes on a multidisciplinary identity of its own where each of these experiences and disciplines needs to be explored and nurtured. Louder says, “All of these crops in my farm of artmarking, need to be in rotation.” Louder’s life is tightly woven into their art. While music is presently at the forefront, they believe this may change course over the next few years, but it may not. It depends on which direction they are headed that leads them; “everything that pertains to my body, is where my practice led”. It was trauma that first led Louder to bring their internal rhythms into fruition. Following a harmful incident in 2015, Louder took themselves to Iceland on a self-funded, self-directed residency. They locked themselves in their studio and composed a series of experimental tracks that were informed by intense grief. When Louder put the tracks created in Iceland on Soundcloud they weren’t expecting to garner much attention. Ideally enough people would like the music and maybe Louder could buy themselves a sandwich for their
trouble. However, in March of 2017, Michael Rancic, a writer from Vice, stumbled across Louder’s music and published an article claiming, “Russell Louder is the Performance Artist Putting Eastern Canada’s Electronic Scene on the Map”. Following this article, Louder’s music began to gain traction, receiving a review of 8/10 on Exclaim! Soon after, they were invited to play at Flourish Festival in Fredericton, which opened the door to multiple East Coast tours and festival invitations. Regardless of their growing success, Louder says, “I still don’t have food in my fridge, or a manager.” While channeling their grief into art while in Iceland, Louder noticed the strong similarities in creative mentalities as a result of living on an island. With regard to residing in Prince Edward Island, Louder says that their artistic and musical practice is super positive, “my work pace and social pace are conducive to PEI residency.” They likened it to the Island’s farming cycles; during the winter, Louder exists in an incubation process. Whereas during the summer, the Island population explodes, as does the artistic community; there’s more music to experience, theatre festivals, art projects, and more. They find the seasonal artistic rhythms to be shocking, but also comforting to their process. Island life allows the artist to ease into introspective studio time, and when the artist emerges, they are energized and ready to bring their art into their communities. Louder says Prince Edward Island is an aesthetically exquisite place for making work as an artist.
Artist life in Prince Edward Island provides opportunities that larger cities do not. Louder is able to create and hold artistic space for fellow artists, and the community, where they are able to be the ringleader. However, Island life for a queer artist does not come without hindrances. While Charlottetown is vastly improving its inclusionary frameworks for LGBTQ+ cultures, it is still highly governed by conservative mindframes. Louder says modestly, “I don’t see myself as being a huge resistor, I just live here - I’m a product of this place. I’ve never really been what one would call, passive or quiet about injustices. Now, I’m choosing my battles more wisely. I direct that energy to what I’m passionate about, which is the safety of my communities”. As an artist, Louder is extremely aware of the spaces that they occupy; who is present, who is not present, and why. As a trans artist, Louder recognizes their voice as one that is frequently marginalized from mainstream, however they remain conscious that they are still a white artist, and that that whiteness provides opportunities that are not as accessible for people of colour. The recent announcement from Prince Edward Island Government that gender affirming surgeries will be covered within the province means that Louder will hopefully be rotating their artistic crops on PEI soil for some time to come. The cultural and social growth of Prince Edward Island is crucial because our communities need to continue to develop in order to support politically and socially conscious artists like Russell Louder.
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SUMMER 2018 www.pei-living.ca
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