City of Markham apologizes after cancelling public artwork featuring queer subject in drag

The City of Markham's sudden, last-minute cancellation of a piece of public artwork one year in the making has the artist — and his subject — concerned about censorship.

In early September, Vancouver-based artist Julian Yi-Zhong Hou was scheduled to install a piece called "Bicycle" on the exterior of the Pan Am Centre sports complex in downtown Markham for a five-month period.

The printed vinyl banner, which measures 127 feet by 30 feet, features a person in drag and was to be unveiled at an event featuring local drag queens, artists and other performers. Then — one day before the installation and over the objections of Markham's own public art curator — the city cancelled.

At the time, it released a statement that did not offer an explanation but simply said the city had "made a determination not to proceed." 

In the month since, Hou, his collaborators, and supporters, say that's all they've been able to find out.

As a result, they say they've been left to speculate that it was a political decision that stifles free expression and was motivated by fear of a community backlash given the piece represents a queer person with a non-traditional gender identity.

"Cancelling a large-scale, highly-visible artwork that features a subject in drag should require an explanation, if only to make clear that they aren't simply repeating a history of stifling public representation of marginalized people," said Hou.

"It was just very confusing and seemed very disrespectful to myself, but also the curator and everybody else that was involved in the process."

The cancellation comes amid a political climate in Canada and the U.S. of rising hostility toward drag performers and the LGBTQ2S+ community at large. Protestors have repeatedly targeted drag storytime events in recent months, while Statistics Canada data shows police-reported hate crimes related to sexual orientation in Canada rose 90 per cent between 2020 and 2022.

James Albers, another Vancouver-based artist who is the subject of the piece, called the city's decision "an act of censorship against my queer body." 

Albers, who identifies as gender fluid, meaning their gender identity fluctuates, said it's a missed opportunity to show support for the LGBTQ2S+ community.

"We had this opportunity to have a person in drag be on this large billboard to kind of like, you know, be loud and proud and show that these people do exist and these practices do exist," Albers said.

"It was just like a major loss for that possibility."

In summer 2022, Markham's public art curator, Yan Wu, approached Hou to take part in the Façade Public Art program, which would explore "the identity of Markham," according to emails shared with CBC Toronto.