Creature Comforts

Short meditations on banal acts of comfort and joy.

Cramps

A meditation on the deep comfort of a hot water bottle.
video by @mishannlau, @mishmasher
music by @officialcibomatto “Apple”
special thanks to @kimikokaze
shot in 2020, edited in 2023

Passionate

Back when we were young and innocent, full of possibilities and promise #momentintime #weareallthethingswewere
performed by Tijiki Moris, camera by Mishann Lau, edited by Mishann Lau, music by @kraejiyaeji “passionfruit”

Found footage from 2015 with @tijiki.par.desi and @mishmasher.

Unstrip

Putting on clothes has never looked sexier.

Performer: Kimora Koi, Videographer: Mishann Lau, Music: Ituana “Tape Loop”, Editor: Mishann Lau From the documentary: With Love, From Dragon City – a moment with 3 performers from The Femme Fatale burlesque troupe and what burlesque means to them.

What are you Saying – 2024

2024 Toronto Nuit Blanche – Interactive Webcam Installation

Artist

 “What are you Saying” cures Nuit Blanche FOMO (fear of missing out) by bridging the event’s multiple installations and physical locations through interactive video chat stations.

Part webcam wallpaper and part soapbox TV station, “What are you Saying” is a way to connect through space and time, virtually and in person. Spread throughout the Waterfront Central exhibition, audiences can see and hear what is happening in the distance, in real time, connected through video chat windows. What are you seeing? Where will you be? How are the crowds? Does this sound familiar? Stay connected and find out what’s happening by checking in at one of the interactive video chat stations. This is your chance to talk about what you’ve seen and find out what’s happening at the various locations of “What are you Saying”.

Flowers While We are Living – 2024

Co-Director, Videographer, Editor

Flowers While We Are Living is a film and a portraiture project centering and celebrating 2S/ trans people from across Northern Turtle Island, focusing on joy and survival. Each drawing/painting in the series features a mixed media approach to depicting trans people alongside their favourite flowers. The short film Flowers While We’re Living focuses on the creation of the project during the residency at Fogo Island Arts in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2024.

With Love, From Dragon City – 2023

Co-Director, Videographer, Editor

With Love, From Dragon City grew out of a desire to peek behind the velvet curtain and find out what Burlesque means to the dancers themselves.

Mishann Lau is an interactive artist and filmmaker who has been making short films and working in the film industry here in Toronto. Together with Dainty Smith, a storyteller, performer, and organizer of “Les Femmes Fatales”, a femme burlesque troupe for Black and People of Colour performers, they created a space for showgirls to be their full selves.

With Love, From Dragon City opens up the mic and gives performers Dainty Smith, Kimora Koi, and Suki Tsunami a chance to tell their stories and talk about what the art form of burlesque means to them, personally, politically, and artistically.