photography Archives | Research & Innovation

Professor Sarah Flicker to participate in Ottawa Café Scientifique on HIV and Aboriginal Youth

fmaquito — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Is it really such a stretch to think of art as a sort of medicine, or at least as a healing tool that can literally affect our health? wrote the :

Expand the definition of art as a health tool, and consider it as an essential link, as a bridge between those who heal and those who need healing. The art becomes a shared language, and if culture gets involved the artistic process becomes symbolic. It builds trust, which fosters communication, which lays the foundation for a discussion about, for example, preventing HIV

That's how art is used by Sarah Flicker, a professor in [the Faculty of Environmental Studies] at 91��ɫ, who studies HIV prevention in aboriginal communities across Canada and uses art to get the interest of young natives.

Flicker is one of three professors who will be a part of "Café Scientifique," a public roundtable of sorts that will consider how the arts are being used in health programs these days [organized by the ].

. . .

Flicker starts by telling me that aboriginals represent three per cent of Canada's population, but have nine per cent of HIV infections – and at a younger age. Flicker's project is to find ways of having a meaningful conversation about HIV with young natives. Problem is, some native communities are not interested in "traditional research methods." Enter art.

“From theatre to photography to carving to hip-hop,” she says, when I ask her what types of arts her project has employed. She adds throat singing to the list, and graffiti at the Kahnawake Mohawk reserve near Montreal.

“Using the arts in our particular project has been tremendously successful,” she says. “It’s fun, it’s participatory, it helps build pride and self-esteem. . . It really helps them relate to culture and tradition, in a way that’s non-threatening.”

Using contemporary or traditional art forms — created by the young natives, with the guidance of artists brought in by the project — enhances recall of the health information, she says. It also builds skills, as the artists pass on their own knowledge and inspirations, and many young natives have their first opportunity to handle photographic equipment or real artist’s brushes.

“We were just astonished with the creativity we had unleashed,” Flicker says, as the research visited reserves from B. C. to Atlantic Canada. “What’s incredible is how the themes have resonated from community to another.”

They resonated so well that the art of some communities is used in others to get the health message across — such as a hip hop song composed by young natives in Kettle Creak, near Sarnia. Another group made a stop-motion film, using photography to show how HIV was affecting their community. “It’s in their words that art is healing,” Flicker says.

You can see the art of her project at takingaction4youth.org. The Café Scientifique will begin at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 23 at Mambo Nuevo Latino, 77 Clarence St. in the Byward Market. “The idea is to make health research accessible to the public,” Flicker says.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Upcoming Health and Environment Forum in Sarnia to focus on First Nations youth

fmaquito — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Organizers of an upcoming environmental forum are hoping to engage First Nations youth, wrote :

The event, hosted by the Aamjiwnaang First Nations Health and Environment Committee, in partnership with 91��ɫ, is a follow-up to a 2008 health symposium held in Sarnia to share research findings with members of the scientific community, environmental groups, the media and government.

“The idea came about a year ago after [Aamjiwnaang community member] Ada Lockridge mentioned the idea of doing a follow up symposium,” said Sarah Wiebe, project coordinator for the Community Forum on Pollution and Action, and research assistant to , environmental law professor at 91��ɫ’s Osgoode Hall Law School [and executive director of the ], who has worked closely with Lockridge and the Aamjiwnaang community to investigate the links between pollution and health.

. . .

The one-day forum will include a series of workshops exploring the relationship between the Aamjiwnaang First Nation and Sarnia's Chemical Valley, to deliver "collective and creative legal education," said Wiebe.

Participants will be invited to familiarize themselves with using the Environmental Registry and accessing PollutionWatch data. A session will also be held exploring how money collected from environmental offences is distributed to affected communities.

"We're trying to look at legal remedies, so when fines are charged to local facilities, one option could be to reallocate that money to those who maybe have a health concern," said Wiebe. "We also want people to have a better understanding of how to provide input when new facilities and projects come up."

Another component of the forum, "Raising Voices," will invite area youth to share their thoughts and concerns on the environment, including a group of First Nations youth who have been working on an ongoing photography assignment since the summer.

"We've asked them to document the good, bad and the ugly in their context; what gives them hope and what gives them concern," said Wiebe. "We're planning to showcase some of their images."

Community members will also receive an update on the ongoing Lambton Community Health Study, as well as updates from researchers investigating cancer, child development and endocrine disruption on the reserve.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin

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Professor Susan Ingram's book explores history of fashion in Berlin

fmaquito — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 10:00:00 +0000

In her recent book, , 91��ɫ humanities Professor Susan Ingram explores the emergence of Berlin as a fashion capital against a backdrop of politics, ideology and war.

The launch of Berliner Chic will take place Wednesday, Feb. 2, from 4 to 6pm in the Senior Common Room, 010 Vanier College, Keele campus. Everyone is welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be served.

Ingram, who is affiliated with the (CCGES) and the Research Group on Translation & Transcultural Contact, co-authored the book with alumna (MA ’06), who also earned a Canadian Centre for German & European Studies graduate diploma at 91��ɫ.

Since becoming the capital of reunited Germany, Berlin has had a dose of global money and international style added to its already impressive cultural veneer. It is now a fashion showplace that attracts the young and hip.

Left: Susan Ingram

The book looks at fashion as it developed through a series of historical eras and events, including the confusion surrounding the split and reunification of East and West Germany, an unsuccessful effort to launch a fashion museum and the debut of Berlin Fashion Week in 2007. It explores the line between fashion and photography, its presence on the silver screen, the flux of corporate luxe and the state of fashion today.

Prior to 91��ɫ, Ingram lectured in the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Hong Kong and has taught in Germany and Poland. She is the author of (University of Toronto Press, 2003). She also co-edited a series of volumes on the mutually constitutive cross-cultural constructions of Central Europe and North America.

The launch is presented by CCGES and the Office of the Master of Vanier College.

For more information, visit the website. Attendees are asked to register in advance at ccges@yorku.ca.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin

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Professor Priscila Uppal collaborates on photography exhibit exploring dream-states, trauma, sexuality and texture

fmaquito — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ English Professor (BA Hons. ’97, PhD ’04) has a thing for dreams, sometimes dreaming fragments of poems. She adores the odd dialogue that can only happen in that surreal state of being. So when artist Daniel Ehrenworth, a former fine arts cultural studies student at 91��ɫ, asked her to collaborate with him for his latest photography ��Ի��mixed media installation – Curse.Sleep. (That’s the Thing With Trouble) – Uppal couldn’t resist.

The opening reception for the exhibition, which both Ehrenworth and Uppal will attend, will take place Thursday, Sept. 9, from 6 to 9pm at , 800 Dundas St. W., Toronto.

Right: A photograph from Daniel Ehrenworth's newest exhibit

Uppal has collaborated with Ehrenworth twice before, composing full lyrical poems, interpretations of his photographs, for his exhibitions Holocaust Dream in 2003, which was made into a book, and The Sea of Ending Pt. 1 in 2005. But this time was different. The idea for Curse.Sleep. (That’s the Thing With Trouble) was to “create poetic subtext” or “short, poetic expressions” of the photographs, says Uppal.

They both drew inspiration from the 1958 hit song Sleep Walk by Santo & Johnny. The exhibition also features three audio deconstructions by Ehrenworth of a little-known recording of Sleep Walk by Canadian-born singer Betsy Brye, which features the original lyrics that Santo & Johnny wrote for the song but never recorded.

“This time I see my contribution more as a poetic conversation. We are both very interested in dream landscapes and the space and emotions we inhabit when we dream,” says Uppal. The photos embrace a range of human experience while exploring dream-states, trauma, sexuality and texture.

Left: Part of the Curse.Sleep. (That’s the Thing With Trouble) exhibit featuring the photographs of Daniel Ehrenworth and the poetry of Priscila Uppal

When Uppal first saw Ehrenworth’s photos for his new show, she immediately felt that a brief poetic missive – a line, maybe expressed by the subject of the photo, or something someone in a dream might utter – would be the perfect fit, rather than a full poem. “They’re almost like inner confessions,” she says.

Ehrenworth’s and Uppal’s artistic visions clicked. “When it works it’s so exciting,” says Uppal. For this project, she was able to enter Ehrenworth’s dream space and he was able to enter hers. “Gallery goers can enter their collective dream.” The gallery space is meant to imitate a sleepwalking state.

Uppal describes Ehrenworth's photos as dark, surreal, stark and haunting. People in the photos take on a sort of mythical, hazy appearance. They blend, at times, into the natural landscape around them. Sort of like a dream.

Her poetry will be written on the wall in charcoal next to or below each photograph. Things like: “Anything from the past bites us like insects”, “Where did you misplace your heart?”, “Shake off memories like snowflakes”, “When you’ve forgotten your phone number, the gods will call” or “I’m headed for a fictional horizon.”

Right: A Daniel Ehrenworth photo on exhibit as part of his latest mixed media installation in collaboration with Priscila Uppal

Ehrenworth is a commercial photographer and a photo-based artist, who has exhibited his work at galleries across the country, including Gallery 44 (Toronto), The MacLaren Art Centre (Barrie), The New Gallery (Calgary) and the Khyber Gallery (Halifax).

Uppal is a Toronto poet and fiction writer and the author of the poetry collections , (which was shortlisted for the $50,000 Griffin Poetry Prize), and , and of the novels and . She is the editor of ��Ի�� and the author of . She is on the Board of Directors at the Toronto Arts Council and was poet-in-residence for Canadian Athletes Now during the 2010 Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic games. Time Out London recently dubbed her “Canada’s coolest poet.”

Curse.Sleep. (That’s the Thing With Trouble) will run from Thursday, Sept. 9, to Sunday, Oct. 3.

For more information and gallery hours, visit the Web site.

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer. Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Professor's new book re-examines the forces at play in interpreting photographs

fmaquito — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:00:00 +0000

A picture may tell a thousand words, but what if the image is distorted or the meaning misconstrued? The newly published Photographs, Histories, and Meanings, co-edited by 91��ɫ Professor Marlene Kadar, re-examines photographs and their social history, exploring the ideological, ethical, political and esthetic forces that influence their interpretation.

Photographs, Histories, and Meanings (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) looks at how photographs have shaped public perception and social meaning for the last century and a half. Its contributors trace shifting historical contexts, intentional or accidental interpretive distortions, and ambiguous and multiple meanings.

They search for the answers to how images can be believed given the public’s awareness of the uncertainty of meaning. In the end, the contributors believe the histories conveyed in these photographs tell the stories of our lives. To know the photographs is to know ourselves with all our ambiguities, distortions and complexities on display.

“Many photographs had a particular meaning at the time they were taken, but now something dramatic or traumatic has happened to change the way we’ve received these images,” says Kadar. She points to the practice of Nazi photographers taking photographs of concentration camps as they were constructed or altered so as to maintain a record of them. The photos were also used to demonstrate to organizations like the International Committee of the Red Cross that nothing was amiss in the camps’ operations.

Photos taken of Ravensbrück Concentration Camp portray women working on camp grounds, appearing healthy, well-nourished and adequately dressed, says Kadar. But these photos were completely staged. Some contemporary scholars, however, refer to them in their research as if they were accurate depictions of daily life. She contends that people must be vigilant in their interpretation of archival and artifactual materials, considering them in the context of politics, culture and history.

Right: Marlene Kadar

The essays in Photographs, Histories, and Meanings, range from “Strange Birth: Reading Hands, Reflecting Race in Richard Wright’s Twelve Million Black Voices” by Petra Dreiser and “Ambivalent Image: Twisted Use” by Kadar to “Captured Childhoods: Photographs in Indian Residential School Memoir” by Linda Warley and “Documenting Disaster: Rothstein’s ‘Steer Skull’ and the Use of Photographic Evidence in Environmental and Political Narratives” by James Hewitson.

Kadar is a humanities and women’s studies professor in 91��ɫ's Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and former director of the Graduate Program in Interdisciplinary Studies in the Faculty of Graduate Studies. She is the editor of the at Wilfrid Laurier University Press, which to date has published 38 books, and is the literary editor of Canadian Woman Studies. Previous edited works include the reader Reading Life Writing (Oxford University Press, 1993) and Essays on Life Writing: From Genre to Critical Practice (University of Toronto Press, 1992), which won the Gabrielle Roy Prize for Criticism in 1993.

She also co-edited Tracing the Autobiographical with Jeanne Perreault, Linda Warley and Susanna Egan. Her current research focuses on the life and career of a former concentration camp guard, and on the memoir of a Hungarian-born survivor of the Holocaust who spent the most difficult years in the former Yugoslavia.

In 2008, Kadar was named one of Canada’s most powerful women in the category of Trailblazers & Trendsetters by the Women’s Executive Network (WXN), an advocacy organization for women in the workplace. She was one of 100 top female winners chosen in eight categories from across Canada. Her inclusion in Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 by WXN recognizes her work in forging a new path for autobiography.

Photographs, Histories, and Meanings was co-edited with Warley, an English professor at the University of Waterloo, and Perreault, an English professor at the University of Calgary.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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