"The gayest lil' gift shop in all the land": How Brandy Mars turns lesbian life and love into an art form

  

Brandy Mars in her studio at the Eastside Atelier in East Vancouver. (Photo by Breanna Himmelright) 

Before finding her current studio, Brandy Mars ran her art business the way many artists did – out of her apartment. 

“I really wanted to be in the Eastside Culture Crawl,” said Mars. “I was talking to my family, and they were like, ‘Maybe you could get on a waiting list for your own space.’ So, I emailed them, and I’m like ‘Yeah, I’m just wondering if you have anything.’ And right away they replied, which is kinda surprising.” 

“I drove here, and I parked, and I was like, ‘There’s no way, are you serious?’ And then I was like, ‘Can I see it right away?’ Because it’s Vancouver. And they’re like, ‘oh, we can show you in the morning.’ So, I saw it super early in the morning and then I was like, ‘Can I sign the lease? Can I sign now?’” 

 

Top: The entrance to Mars’ studio Bottom: A neon sign displaying Mars’ slogan, “The gayest lil’ gift shop in the all the land” (Photos by Breanna Himmelright) 

From then on, the corner studio at 1310 William Street has been home to “the gayest lil’ gift shop in the land”, as Mars has called it. The business started as a blog Mars wrote after first coming out – “the funniest parts” being turned into cards, which she still sells. 

“I’ve been painting my whole life,” said Mars. “But I started doing a lot of line art, like gay line art. And so, I was doing that for a long time, like four or five years. And then in 2020-ish, I started doing all this flowy, ethereal stuff.” 

“I just felt like lesbian art was overly sexualized. And I do have some sexual stuff now, but it is only because it was more like a knee-jerk reaction to being censored. Because it sells well, and honestly, the sexual stuff out there for us is awful. It is so tasteless.” 

Paintings by Mars in her studio, some of which depict sensual moments of lesbian love (Photos by Breanna Himmelright) 

Mars’ studio exists in a tough market. While Vancouver takes pride in its arts and culture scene, finding space proved to be a challenge for the city’s artists – especially in East Van. With gentrification on the rise, many Vancouver artists have been renovicted by developers, most notably Chip Wilson’s Low Tide Properties in 2019.  

However, the recent rise in inflation has exacerbated the crisis. A report from the Province of British Columbia found that B.C.’s consumer price index in January 2023 was 6.2 per cent higher than the previous year, with food, transportation, and shelter being among the items with the highest price increase.  

“I definitely, over the years, have increased my pricing,” said Mars. “It started off absurdly low, just to get it out there. And then, it’s just a lot of work running this, so I’ve been increasing and increasing. But also too, I’ve really tried to keep it accessible on some level to everyone.” 

 

Top: A card designed by Mars for sale in her shop. Bottom: A jar of “Sapphic Sassy Candy Hearts”, containing candy hearts with phrases alluding to in-jokes in lesbian culture (Photos by Breanna Himmelright) 

“It’s just a lot of work storing them and the cost of everything going up, and now I have rent here too on top of the fee to run my website and it’s a lot. My originals are super, super expensive because I try to not sell them if I can.” 

Given the recent inflation crisis – and the state of the market for studio spaces in Vancouver – Mars believes she “lucked out” getting her current space.  

“It’s really hard to find studio space in Vancouver, that’s why I couldn’t believe – it was fate or luck or whatever,” said Mars. “Or hustling, or all those things combined. But it is expensive, and that’s why I ran it out of my studio apartment. Which, if you imagine a studio apartment and all this in there?” 

Two unfinished paintings by Mars in her studio (Photos by Breanna Himmelright) 

“That’s why when I moved into the little, tiny corner, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is life-changing, to have a place to keep all my stuff.’” 

For Mars, however, having this business has never been about money. “I’m obsessed with this business,” said Mars. “It takes up 90 per cent of my brain power, and then there’s the whole entire rest of my life.”  

“And it’s fun, but I just have faith I’m trying to build this thing that is empowering for people. And because I’m so passionate about it, it’s just going to work.” 

A wall in a nook in Mars’ studio holds photos of events Mars has hosted for other LGBTQ+ women in Vancouver (Photo by Breanna Himmelright) 

For artists looking to get their work shown, Mars stresses the importance of finding community. 

“If you do gay art, if you do environmental art,” said Mars. “Whatever it is, try to find a community, and if you find a nice group of people, you can continuously work with them. I’ve done a lot of stuff with LIPS [a group planning events oriented towards LGBTQ+ women], and just happened to meet them.”  

“So, in that way, I’m grateful for this community. I love them, so much” 

 

A print of one of Mars’ most well-known works, which has become associated with the studio and her business. (Photo by Breanna Himmelright) 

 

 

 

Blacks, Arabs, and Muslims experience highest numbers of hate crimes, according to Statistics Canada

     Arabs and Muslims in Canada were the targets of increased hate crime from 2014 to 2019.

    According to Statistics Canada, police-reported hate crime in the country has seen an overall increase of 50 percent between 2014 and 2019, with Black people in Canada reporting the highest numbers of incidents during those years. However, reported hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims have dramatically increased during that five-year period, with Arabs experiencing the highest increase at 86 percent.

    These statistics reveal a sobering truth about the continued prevalence of racism in Canadian society. According to a 2019 IPSOS survey, more than a quarter of Canadians believed it had become "more acceptable" to be prejudiced against Arabs and Muslims at the time the survey was conducted, with four in 10 Canadians believing immigrants were stealing jobs from white Canadians and three in 10 believing Muslims followed Sharia law instead of local law. 

    The five-year time period also saw its fair share of controversies involving systemic racism, with Muslims being a frequent target. During the 2015 federal election, former prime minister and Conservative leader Stephen Harper promised to prohibit public servants from wearing the niqab if re-elected. While this promise arguably ended up costing Harper the election, it was actually based on Bill 62, provincial legislation in Quebec with the same goal that ultimately passed in 2017. 

    2016 would later see the election of Donald Trump as president in the United States. The racist, xenophobic rhetoric frequently used by Trump during rallies, combined with policies such as the infamous Muslim ban, would serve to embolden many who shared anti-Muslim sentiments in both Canada and the US. One such individual was Alexandre Bissonnette, who, on January 29, 2017, shot and killed six Muslims at a Quebec City mosque.

    The continuing trend of Blacks being the most frequent victims of reported hate crime is consistent with more recent findings on the nature of anti-Black racism in Canada. According to a recent survey conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, Black residents in Toronto are 20 times more likely to be shot dead by a police officer, a finding especially pertinent in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis. In the workplace, Black workers are four times as likely as white workers to report racial discrimination in major decisions, while black university graduates earn only 80 cents for every dollar earned by white graduates - despite having the same credentials. And in healthcare, Black women in Ontario are three times less likely to have a family doctor than white women. When you combine these statistics with the numbers on reported hate crimes against black people from 2014 to 2019, it paints a very sobering picture of the quality of life for Black people in Canada.

    In Canada, however, hate crimes often go underreported - and the chances of prosecuting them as a hate crime are even lower. According to a report by CBC News, the Criminal Code does in fact have provisions for hate crimes. However, these provisions are usually reserved for offences involving hate propaganda or promoting/advocating for genocide. As a result, most hate-motivated crimes in Canada are prosecuted as regular offences under the Criminal Code, with any biases or prejudices regarded as aggravating factors. This has resulted in hate crimes in Canada being underreported until recently, as well as inconsistent sentencing of such offences in court.  

Data Update #3: Police reported hate crime, by type of motivation, Canada

 

Chart: 

As per Chad's feedback, I reworked the data set to show motivators greater than or equal to 25 cases of reported hate crimes to avoid a possible conflict. The result I found was that, between 2014 and 2019, Arabs and West Asians saw an 85.5% increase in reported hate crimes, followed closely by Muslims at 82.8%.

Source: Statistics Canada

Unanswered question:

Where in Canada has seen the most reported hate crimes during this time period?

How would you get the data?

In addition to reporting on the biggest motivations for hate crimes, Statistics Canada has a data set showing the number of reported hate crimes and the rate per 100,000 people. This data set is available to the public, so I would be able to download the data set from there and use it for further investigation. By comparing numbers for reported hate crimes by city and numbers of reported hate crimes by motivation, we would have a clear picture of the issue of hate crime in Canada.

Data Update #2: Police reported hate crime, by type of motivation, Canada

 Lead:

The percentage of reported hate crimes against women and transgender/gender non-conforming peoples has seen a dramatic increase since 2014.

Excel Workbook Link & Explanation:

3510006601-noSymbol (1).xlsx

The above Excel workbook contains two data sheets: one with the raw data, as downloaded from Statistics Canada, and the other containing a slice of that data that does away with the listing of overarching groups and includes the specific groups that have been the target of reported hate crimes from 2014 to 2019. The slice includes the calculated percentage increase in hate crimes during that time period. It is sorted from largest to smallest, with women and transgender/gender non-conforming peoples (categorized as "other sex" according to the official Statistics Canada website) having seen the biggest increases in reported hate crimes during that time.

Original dataset:

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=3510006601

News Story Link & Brief Summary:

https://newsroom.carleton.ca/story/transgender-hate-crimes/

The link above is to a story written for Carleton University about the specific rise in hate crime against transgender people in Canada and its factors. Factors discussed include the debate surrounding Bill C-16 (which proposed the inclusion of transgender and non-binary peoples in the Canadian Human Rights Act), prevailing cultural attitudes surrounding the trans community, and the previous lack of data on transgender people in public institutions both within and without Canada.

 

Data Update #1: Police reported hate crime, by type of motivation, Canada

1. What dataset will you use for your final report?  

For my final report, I will be using the dataset on police-reported hate crimes in Canada by type of motivation. I chose this dataset due to its relevance to current issues and concerns surrounding hate groups such as the Proud Boys following the insurrection in DC.  

 
 

2. What kind of data does it contain?  

This dataset contains data on the number of hate crimes reported from 2014 to 2019, including those motivated by race, religion, sexual orientation, sex, disability, age, and other/unknown motivations. Further filtering reveals what specific groups within those categories reported being the victims of hate crimes during this period.  

 
 

3. Is there anything about your data that you don’t understand?  

This dataset does not seem to elaborate on where in Canada saw significant increases in hate crimes; however, another dataset reports on the number of incidents and rate of hate crimes per 100,000 people in different metropolitan areas throughout Canada, which I hope will complement this dataset well. The dataset also does not discuss population growth or changes in societal and cultural ideals during this five-year period, meaning additional research into those aspects will be required. 

 
 

 4. What are some questions you hope to answer with your data? 

There are three big questions I hope to answer with my data. The first is to determine what percentage have reported hate crimes increased during this five-year period. The second is determining what groups saw the biggest increase in reported hate crimes during this period and by what percentage. The third and final question I hope to answer is what groups, if any, saw a decrease in hate crimes during this period and by what percentage. 

 

Data Visualization Analysis: "Men are from Chelsea, Women are from Park Slope"

Among the keys to a good data visualization are to keep your visualization as simple as possible and to make sure it makes sense with the numbers removed. I believe that the visualizations found in Pudding’s story, “Men are from Chelsea, Women are from Park Slope,” which focuses on the gender segregation of “gayborhoods” in 15 American cities, do well enough in both categories. The visualizations present themselves in this story are clear cut and easy enough to understand that, even without numbers, you can easily grasp what the visualization is telling you. The story itself also gives us the necessary information to accompany those visualizations and is transparent about where that information is coming from. Part of that transparency also includes acknowledging the potential flaws in their sources, which is undoubtedly important as far as accuracy is concerned.

However, despite satisfying the basic requirements of a good data visualization, this set is not without its flaws. While the visualizations themselves are easy enough to understand (as mentioned above), they would have been elevated with more precise figures on how many more gay or lesbian couples there are in each “gayborhood”, or how much more concentrated these populations are in these areas than in others. Additional demographics on intersections between race and sexuality/gender identity would have also been helpful, as race and class tend to play a fairly large role in where populations are most likely to be concentrated. I also feel that the focus on Pride parade routes and gay bars and the use of Yelp as a source of data was a considerable mistake, as the use of a LGBTQ-oriented directory such as The Pink Pages may have offered a more accurate picture of where LGBTQ-oriented businesses and services are concentrated.

To the authors credit, many of these flaws are acknowledged outright by the author, and most of the data used for this visualization comes from reliable sources (including the US Census). Overall, I believe the visualizations present in this story do a solid job on informing the audience about its subject – despite needing some improvements.

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