Andrew Awad - Remembering Series - Wherever you are

Don't say you


Don't say you - Andrew Awad at one of the many photo documentary shoots around and about,Toronto, 1993

Maddest, tell us why, tell us to our faces why. Jump off to the side, kick a bucket over. Smile, grin, slap my face so I feel pain no more...Go to the wall, stand there, probe me with a stick, its too late, Richard, I've gone off to the other side...Asylum, 2004

As I remember, Andrew Awad was an outspoken student, when I first met him he was part of a student union meeting. He spoke with an authority, but also was sensitive as a writer with a talent for English literature. Andrew and I were like oil, water and gas combined and we fought many times. But more when I think back, it was how unstable, close to the edge he behaved, yet he managed to get back on his feet.


Joseph Scoren as Kiki in Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs, David Cronenberg (1991), a character which Andrew had empathy of

On a bike trip from Montreal to Toronto or was it Ottawa, we passed the crest of the disputed Oka land. I remember, it was one of the most beautiful dust vistas I had ever seen. The journey on the roadways through Quebec was treacherous and dangerous not helped by those trailer trucks driven by a crazed Quebecer. Whoosh.....Holy fuck man. When we arrived back in Toronto, I think Andrew's bike's bearing bracket was completely worn. Since 1994, I have never heard from him, nor once a dear friend of mine, Shirin Mohtashami (Kouladjie)