Focus on Graduate Research
Ongoing Projects and Latest Achievements from Cultural Mediations Students (also browse our Graduate Virtual Bookcase)
June 2023: Congratulations to Cultural Mediations doctoral student Xiaofan Wu who, together with co-members of the Shanghai-based Grey Matter research group, was awarded a Sigg Fellowship for Chinese art research! Awarded by Hong Kong鈥檚 Global Museum of Visual Art Culture, the 鈥supports new research on Chinese art in dialogue with the M+ Collections.鈥 The fellowship will support Grey Matter鈥檚 22-23 Undercurrent research project, focused on 鈥outlining a feminist narrative of Chinese conceptual art from the late 1970s to mid-1990s 鈥 to present a richer and more diverse picture of China鈥檚 development of contemporary art. 鈥 Created in 2022 in Shanghai, Grey Matter is a research group founded by Yun Qiu, Xiaofan Wu, and Luqi Lin, with a research focus on the conceptual practices of Chinese female artists in the last three decades of the 20th century. More details on Undercurrent: A Feminist Retelling of Conceptual Practices of Women Artists in Contemporary China can be found . To find out more about Xiofan鈥檚 research, her doctoral profile can be found here.
January 2022: Kevin Pat Fong, a doctoral candidate in the Cultural Mediations program, will be giving a on alternative comics and how they help shape today’s American comics industry at the (room B125) on Thursday February 2 at 6 pm. Kevin鈥檚 doctoral research focuses on the relationship between characters of Asian descent and the practice of racial passing in contemporary/alternative comic books. Read here for more information on his project and profile.
December 2022: Cultural Mediations PhD candidate Patricia B茅rub茅 successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, 鈥淭owards a more inclusive museum: developing multi-sensory approaches to the visual arts for visually impaired audiences鈥. Congratulations from all of us at ICSLAC, Dr. B茅rub茅! A Trudeau Foundation Scholar, Patricia was co-supervised by Professors Jesse Stewart and Lois Frankel. More can be read here about Jessica’s work and profile.
December 2022: Congratulations to Cultural Mediations PhD candidate Victoria Nolte for the publication of her article 鈥淭oward a Formal Language of Resonance: Diaspora and Place in the Video Works of Jin-me Yoon.鈥 Verge: Studies in Global Asias, vol. 8, no. 2, Fall 2022, pp. 91-118. To read this article: For more information on Victoria鈥檚 research, you can view her profile here.
November 22: Congratulations to Cultural Mediations PhD Candidate Krista Ulujuk Zawadski on being nominated as a . Krista is an Arctic anthropologist, curator and Inuk researcher. Her doctoral project focuses on Qatiktalik (Cape Fullerton) as a 鈥渘exus of colonial encounters鈥 and offers 鈥漚 (re)interpretation of known history 鈥 written and oral 鈥 through Inuit eyes and voices.鈥 Krista鈥檚 doctoral research is being supervised by Cultural Mediation professor and Canada Research Chair holder . Recipient of a Polar Northern Resident Scholarship and an Inuit Cultural Repatriation Award, Krista is an engaged and prolific Inuk curator, with an impressive body of exhibitions and collaborations spanning the new Inuit Art Centre, Qaumajuqat, at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (INUA), The National Art Center (Breaking Ground), Canadian Heritage (Echoing the Land) and the 杏吧原创 University Art Gallery (Nuvisi: Threading Our Beads at Qatiktalik).Nominations for a are highly prestigious, with only three finalists selected nation-wide, The award recognizes 鈥渙utstanding achievement by someone who currently holds a SSHRC doctoral scholarship or fellowship or postdoctoral fellowship鈥, in areas of academic excellence, research and knowledge mobilization and leadership potential. Congratulations on this tremendous achievement, Krista! For a fuller article with updates on Krista’s work, read “Threading the Needle” on the FASS page.
October 22: Some sincere congratulations to Dr. Pansee Abou ElAtta, who is graduating from the Cultural Mediations PhD program with a Senate Medal for Outstanding Achievement. What a tremendous and well-deserved recognition! Titled Unruly Appreciations: How contestation shapes the value of Pharaonic things,Pansee’s dissertation focuses on how public contestations inform the struggles to repatriate and retain Pharaonic artifacts, from the 18th century to the present day. Pansee’s research is aimed at understanding how such struggles shaped the value and meaning of these artifacts and influenced museum practices. Her profile can be found here. Much gratitude to her co-supervisors, Drs. Monica Patterson and Ming Tiampo.
August 2022: Cultural Mediations doctoral candidate Jessica Marino was selected for a Fellowship at the Summer Institute on the Holocaust and Jewish Civilization (Holocaust Education Foundation of Northwestern University). In the summer of 2022, Jessica was a Fellow at the Summer Institute on the Holocaust and Jewish Civilization of the Holocaust Education Foundation of Northwestern University. This two-week residential fellowship is aimed at emerging and established scholars in Holocaust studies. It offers an intensive and in-depth course to broaden and deepen knowledge of the Holocaust and provides pedagogical training to teach higher education courses related to the field. The fellowship is held annually on the Evanston campus of Northwestern University and taught by well-known Holocaust studies scholars. It covers topics such as, history of the Holocaust, Jewish religion and history, Jewish and US responses to the Holocaust, intermarriages and postwar trials, gender, art history, museums, literature, and film, as well as workshops centered on pedagogical training, such as syllabus development. Information about HEFNU鈥檚 Summer Institute is available on their . For more information on Jessica鈥檚 work, her graduate profile is accessible here.
April 2022: Some warm congratulations to 尝补濒别&苍产蝉辫;贰蝉办颈肠颈辞臒濒耻, PhD candidate in the Cultural Mediations program, on the successful oral defence of her doctoral dissertation! Titled Beyond Postcolonialism: Urban and Social Realist Turn in Indian and Nigerian Literatures, her dissertation investigates contemporary city literature, with a focus on Mumbai and Lagos in the works of several Indian and Nigerian writers. Her profile can be found here. Much gratitude to her supervisor, Dr. Sarah Casteel.
March 22: Jessica Marino, PhD Candidate in the Cultural Mediations program, contributed a lecture to the Hear Our Voices: Holocaust Survivors Share their Stories of Trauma and Hate project or HOV. HOV is a bilingual online course that aims to educate students on the Holocaust and Antisemitism by placing the voices of Holocaust survivors at its centre. The project is led by Prof. Deidre Butler, and coordinated by ICSLAC PhD Candidate, Marie-Catherine Allard. It has been developed in conjunction with 杏吧原创 University鈥檚 Max and Tessie Zelikovitz Centre for Jewish Studies, Concordia University, The University of Ottawa, Nipissing University and eCampus Ontario. Jessica鈥檚 contribution was in the form of a guest lecture for Module 5: 鈥淢emory and the Holocaust.鈥 (Marino, Jessica. 鈥淗OV Module 5: Memory and the Holocaust: An Introduction.鈥 Hear Our Voices: Holocaust Survivors Share their Stories of Trauma and Hate/ 脡coutez nos Voix! Survivants de la Shoah partagent leurs moments de haine et de traumatismes, eCampus Ontario and the Zelikovitz Centre for Jewish Studies, 2022, ) For more information about HOV, see /jewishstudies/holocaust/hear-our-voices-project/ and . For more information on Jessica鈥檚 work, her graduate profile is accessible here.
March 2022: Some warm congratulations to Curatorial Studies and Cultural Mediations PhD student Fara Abn, 2022 recipient of the . Fara鈥檚 doctoral research focuses on the Venice Biennial, which she approaches through a comparative study situating Iranian artists鈥 participation from 1956 to present. The Reesa Greenberg Award will support her current curatorial research on location in Italy. For more information on Fara鈥檚 work, her graduate profile is accessible here.
March 2022: 4th-year PhD candidate Patricia B茅rub茅 is featured as one of Five Inspiring Student Leaders Making a Difference in Their Communities in a 杏吧原创 Story marking International Women鈥檚 Day:
Accessibility of visual art is a focus of PhD candidate Patricia B茅rub茅鈥檚 research. She started by exploring tactile translations of paintings to improve accessibility for visually impaired museum visitors in her master鈥檚 program. As part of her PhD in Cultural Mediations, B茅rub茅 is adding an audio component to help these visitors experience art in their own terms and with autonomy.
You can read the full story and find out about Patricia鈥檚 research on her Cultural Mediations profile.
January 2022: We are delighted to announce that Amy Bruce (Resistivity in Contemporary Art Biennials: A Synchronic Analysis, Supervisors, Drs. Birgit Hopfener and Ming Tiampo) and Nicola Oddy (Seeking Awareness of Our Selves and the Environment through Vocal Improvisation in The Singing Field, Supervisor Dr. Jesse Stewart) successfully defended their doctoral dissertations. Congratulations to both, with much gratitude to their supervisors for their support and mentoring.
November 2021: Some warm congratulations to Christina Williamson, PhD candidate in the Cultural Mediations program, on the successful oral defence of her doctoral dissertation! Christina’s project, Inuit Women, Labour and the Parka: A History of Sewing in Arviat, Nunavut, is detailed on her graduate profile. Much gratitude to her co-supervisors, Dr. Michel Hogue and Dr. Ruth Phillips.
October 2021: Congratulations to Cultural Mediations PhD candidate Gemey Kelly on the successful defence of her thesis proposal. Gemey鈥檚 project is entitled Place and Standing in Canadian Art. The Discourses of Regionalism and the Nationalization of Culture in Canada, 1930鈥1967. For more information, consult Gemey鈥檚 profile.
September 2021: Congratulations to Cultural Mediations PhD Candidate Krista Ulujuk Zawadski for the exhibition 鈥溾 she is currently curating at the (running from September 28 to December 12, 2021).To find out more about this exhibition, see
Summer 2021: Congratulations to Cultural Mediations PhD candidate Patricia B茅rub茅, who was announced as one of the two inaugural Student Accessibility Champions, helping to shape and inform accessibility across campus. For more information of this announcement and Patricia鈥檚 involvement in the READi (Research, education, Accessibility and Innovation) program, . Patricia鈥檚 full profile can be found on the Cultural Mediations students profile page.
Summer 2021: Some warm congratulations to all seven Cultural Mediations PhD candidates who successfully defended their thesis proposal over the summer: Patricia B茅rub茅, Wahsantio Cross, Kevin Pat Fong, Jessica Marino, Kelsey Perreault, Helen Roumeliotis, Krista Zawadski.
March 2021: Doctoral student Krista Ulujuk Zawadski and Cultural Mediations graduate Professor Heather Igloliorte are both guest curators of , the inaugural exhibition of the the new Inuit Art Centre, , which recently opened at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Audio guide and virtual tour: Photo Supplied by Winnipeg Art Gallery (from left: Kablusiak, Krista Ulujuk Zawadski, Asinnajaq, and head curator Dr. Heather Igloliorte.)
March 2021: In collaboration with the CTCA, Cultural Mediations doctoral students Marie-Catherine Allard, Jessica Marino, and Anna Paluch along with alumna Dr. Trina Cooper-Bolam organized a roundtable at the on the theme of 鈥淢emory Entanglements: Dialogues on Memory, Community, and Remembrance in Local/Transnational Contexts鈥 (moderated by doctoral student Emily Putnam and Dr. Rebecca Dolgoy, a former ICSLAC postdoctoral fellow).
February 2021: Cultural Mediations PhD candidate Nicola Oddy premiered the , a film documenting some of her doctoral fieldwork. Nicola undertook this project 鈥媋s a part of her dissertation (under the supervision of ICSLAC Professor Jesse Stewart) on vocal improvisation.
Winter 2021: Some sincere congratulations to Cultural Mediations winter graduates Dr. Hicham Gourgem and Dr. Emma Lind, who successfully defended their doctoral dissertations. Some warm thanks to their supervisors for their support and mentorship.
January 2021: Cultural Mediations PhD candidate Emily Putnam is curating the exhibition Sites of Memory: Legacies of the Japanese Canadian Internment, programmed by the 杏吧原创 the 杏吧原创 University Art Gallery until January 26. Drawing on documentary records, artists Norman Takeuchi, Emma Nishimura and Cindy Mochizuki negotiate the complexity of reflecting on this traumatic history while articulating a delicate balance between remembering and forgetting.
December 2020: Cultural Mediations PhD candidate EuiJung McGillis is curating an exciting exhibition on Korean traditional attire at the in Ottawa. EJ and Ilyoung June (exhibition designer) came together to produce , which showcases an array of Hanbok ranging from a baby’s first birthday dress to ceremonial robes for weddings to the royal wardrobes of pre-modern Korea to everyday clothes.
November 2020: Cultural Mediations PhD candidate Patricia B茅rub茅 receives media coverage from Accessible Media Inc for her doctoral research on interpreting colour in art works for the blind and visually impaired community:
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October 2020: Cultural Mediations PhD candidate Cara Tierney is cocurating, with Anna Shah Hoque, To Be Continued: Troubling the Queer Archive at the 杏吧原创 University Art Gallery. The exhibition is running from September 24 鈥 December 12, 2020. To find out more about this exhibition, see You can also listen to weekly podcasts of this project here:
Summer 2020: Our warmest congratulations to 2020 Cultural Mediations graduates Dr. Trina Cooper-Bolam, Dr. Konstantinos (Dino) Koutras and Dr. Matthew Purvis, who were recognized for the excellence of their doctoral dissertations. All three were nominated for a university medal, with a Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement awarded to Dr. Cooper-Bolam and Dr. Purvis. ICSLAC takes tremendous pride in their achievements and extends congratulations to their supervisors for their support and mentorship.
December 2019: Cultural Mediations PhD candidate Krista Ulujuk Zawadski and Danielle Printup are curating hosted by the National Arts Centre, NAC Indigenous Theatre and 杏吧原创 University Art Gallery. This exhibition features drawings and prints selected from 杏吧原创 University Art Gallery’s permanent collection.
For more details on some of our Cultural Mediations students and their doctoral projects: /icslac/student-profiles