In January 2019, I was hired by The 519 to be a part of an amazing team put together to collect information regarding the gruelling and growing crystal meth epidemic. The project is called Breaking The Ice. Some of the main project goals were to interview 100 individuals in Toronto's Church and Wellesley area (an LGBTQ2S+-centric neighbourhood) and find out what social/economical supports are missing in the face of crystal meth use/abuse. We held focus groups and various workshops including a zine workshops where Individuals were encouraged to write "Dear Crystal Meth" letters. Some filled out templates we provided and some created artwork, spoken word, poetry and so on. Jonathan Valelly creatively seamed all these wonderful letters together, creating a physical full colour zine which was distributed at our project launch.

My role was to create an audio-visual component which would encapsulate every contribution shared with us. I tried my best to create audio and video tracks around all of these contributions and I hope that I succeeded in capturing every voice and every story shared with us. I particularly made a point of concealing faces to represent the fact that crystal meth and the very subject of it is still very much a taboo zone. The stigma is real and the lives it continues to affect are even realer. Please share this video as much as you can so the message doesn't get lost in the shuffle and in hopes that more support is created for the many who need it.  To further convey how important I consider this project and how privileged I am to be a part of it, I have attached my artist statement which is printed in the accompanying zine we created.

As the project moves into its second stage, I am happy to announce that I am part of a new team that focuses on harm reduction, community outreach, and a much-needed open dialogue on the rising crystal meth epidemic.