Visual Studies

Between Us: U of T alumna Cailleah Scott-Grimes focuses her lens on relationships, difficult conversations

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 14:48:10 +0000

Between Us: U of T alumna Cailleah Scott-Grimes focuses her lens on relationships, difficult conversations

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 07/13/2021 - 10:48

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With a degree in East Asian studies from U of T, Cailleah Scott-Grimes filmed her short Between Us over four days in rural Japan using actors from the LGBTQ2S+ and seniors communities (photo courtesy of Cailleah Scott-Grimes)

Rebecca Mangra

Topic

City & Culture

East Asian studies

Alumni

Faculty of Arts & Science

Film

Most people snap a picture or take in the panoramic views when in the mountains. Cailleah Scott-Grimes, however, decided to shoot a short film.

The ��Ƶ alumna recently screened her film, Between Us, at Toronto’s recent Inside Out film festival. The short, which won this year’s Lindalee Tracey Award at the Hot Docs Film Festival, follows Kei, a young transgender man, and his queer Canadian partner as they navigate conflicting desires in rural Japan.

Part of Scott-Grimes’s master’s thesis in York University’s film production program, Between Us was filmed in four days in the hot springs of Japan’s Yamagata mountains in November 2019. It features both the LGBTQ2S+ and seniors communities in Japan’s countryside – each important worlds for Scott-Grimes. She says it took her a long time to forge connections in Japan, but that she eventually found them within LGBTQ2S+ communities, and the trans communities specifically.

“Yamagata was where I was living and I decided to film there so I could engage with my friends in the behind the scenes of making the film and bring in new actors,” says Scott-Grimes, who was an East Asian studies (EAS) and visual studies student in U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science. “I wanted to weave a story that would talk about the relationship between immigrants in Japan and locals living in a rural area.

“It was cool to bring together trans folks and seniors who would never normally have a chance to meet or work on a project together.”

The filming and casting processes were arduous, but Scott-Grimes says she felt strongly about the project and its story. There were extensive interviews for casting since there was a priority to cast trans and non-binary people in the lead roles. Due to a lack of representation at traditional agencies, she used word-of-mouth to find the actors she needed to tell the film’s narrative in an authentic way.

“It was one of the hardest projects I’ve ever done – for that same reason, it’s also what made it exciting. All of it was about building trust because it was the first time for them [the actors] and also a challenge for me to work in Japanese. I think it set the stage for everyone being more vulnerable and open to trying something new together.”

Between Us (Official Trailer, 2021) from Cailleah Scott-Grimes on Vimeo.

Scott-Grimes has been travelling to Japan for many years on various projects since her graduation from U of T in 2011. A linguaphile and art lover, she says East Asian cultures and languages were not on her radar when she began her studies at U of T.

“I’ve been an artist of various kinds for my entire life,” she says. “When I first came to U of T, I thought I would focus on the visual arts side, but because I love all these other art forms, I eventually realized that film combines all of these mediums. Specifically, I was interested in Japanese films but didn’t know much about them until taking EAS courses. They opened my eyes to Japanese visual art, contemporary painting and film, which were huge influences.”

Scott-Grimes cites EAS Professor Eric Cazdyn and Associate Professor Jotaro Arimori as inspirations.

“There was a Japanese cinema course taught by Professor Cazdyn, which was absolutely pivotal for me. His courses demonstrated different types of filmmaking approaches, some of which, like [Hirokazu] Koreeda’s films, bridge documentary and fiction to create an intimate fly-on-the-wall feeling of family life.

Scott-Grimes adds that the department provided an ideal foundation for her later work.

“I loved Arimori sensei’s classes – he was really fun and so organized,” she says. “It was a great stepping stone to being in Japan and starting to use Japanese more frequently.

“At EAS, the focus was really on staying curious and open-minded. It was allowing other people’s experiences to really shine through – for example, taking interdisciplinary approaches and not looking at things from one angle. Those things were so important to learn – a film lives and dies in your ability to collaborate.”

Her advice for new graduates? “If you’ve got an interest or passion, follow it – no matter how small or niche it may seem.”

She offers an example from her own life in which she is an a capella singer in addition to being a film maker. One day, she says, someone called her about an opportunity to film a capella concerts in Japan – a collision of her interests she never saw coming.

“Whatever your interests or talents are, somebody is out there looking for you. Think about what your strengths are and what excites you.”

For Scott-Grimes, what excites her is film and the possibilities of artistic storytelling. When asked what people should take away from Between Us, she says she hopes that audiences can think deeply about the relationships in their lives and what tough questions are not being answered.

“I see this film as asking: How do we initiate conversations that are difficult to have? We know we need to have them, but don’t know where to start. Even within the umbrella of LGBTQ2S+, there is so much variety and so many different kinds of experiences. I wanted the film to be a bridge between generations, different cultural backgrounds and identities. It’s meant to spark questions and hope.”

Art in the time of COVID-19: Finding ways to 'render the invisible visible'

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 04 May 2020 16:44:05 +0000

Art in the time of COVID-19: Finding ways to 'render the invisible visible'

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 05/04/2020 - 12:44

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John Paul Ricco, a professor at U of T Mississauga's department of visual studies, says COVID-19 has led 'a whole new awareness of ourselves in the world, and with others' (photo courtesy of John Ricco)

Topic

With much of the world locked down due to COVID-19, art and creativity has burst into living spaces through platforms like Zoom, livestreams and over social media – a development that does not surprise the ��Ƶ’s John Paul Ricco, who says social upheavals and health crises has historically inspired artists.

“I do think this speaks generally to the value of art in all of its various forms, and that it is probably our principal and most developed way of being attuned to the world,” says Ricco, a professor in the department of visual studies at U of T Mississauga.

“It is a way to try to register, record and re-shape our perceptions and to really take stock. But also, I think art plays an incredibly important role in a moment when people are looking around and are really interested in art and humanities – and writing again – because when the world feels like it's imploding, art and aesthetics are there to save you.”

Ricco, who has been on faculty at U of T Mississauga since 2006, is an art historian and queer theorist whose research closely examines the relationship between art and ethics.

Ricco’s 2014 book The Decision Between Us: Art and Ethics in the Time of Scenes argues that scenes of intimacy are spaces of sharing, but that they are also spaces of separation, which has a particular resonance in the current climate.

He says the present situation is a time to ask how we can find ways of connecting while in solitude – space that allows the social to happen, but also the capacity for people to figure out how to deal with being physically separated from others.

Read John Paul Ricco’s contribution in Tilting, a publication by the Blackwood Gallery at U of T Mississauga

Ricco points to past health crises that have led to exploring similar concepts in art, particularly the AIDS outbreak when he was an undergraduate student at New York University. That health epidemic in the 1990s influenced his path throughout his graduate studies and he became involved in AIDS activism, exploring ways in which contemporary artists were contending with the situation.

For example, Ricco curated a contemporary art exhibition in Chicago in 1996 titled Disappeared that brought together artists contemplating the question of representation in relationship to AIDS. There was the “disappearance” of the people who died from the disease, as well as the loss of aesthetics that resulted from not being able to fully represent AIDS in a visual form.

He also points to a past exhibit by artist Félix González-Torres that challenged the prohibitions on physical contact to avoid the spread of the disease.

When it comes to the current COVID-19 crisis, there is once again a warning to avoid physical proximity and it is also difficult to put a shape to the invisible virus. However, Ricco feels this is part of the challenge for visual artists: rendering the invisible visible.

He suggests we are all taking part in the process by our inadvertent choreography of physical distancing in our homes and out on errands or on walks.

“I think one of the most interesting things that art can help us contend with is exactly those things that cannot be seen and what we do with that difficulty or that problem,” says Ricco.

“We can imagine art being made in the midst and in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis that takes up this prohibition of physical proximity – touching and contact – and uses that as the way to explore what it means to be in physical proximity, to have contact and how art can be a kind of stage that enables people to engage with that. I think one of the things that has happened in the midst of this is that there is a whole new awareness of ourselves in the world and with others.”

Listen to an interview with John Paul Ricco on the View to the U podcast

Going all-digital, U of T Mississauga art gallery addresses COVID-19 crisis, supports arts and culture

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 15:38:07 +0000

Going all-digital, U of T Mississauga art gallery addresses COVID-19 crisis, supports arts and culture

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 04/27/2020 - 11:38

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Adam Bierling, How to Swim in a Living Room, 2020. Photo: Marcus Marriott (image courtesy the artist)

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

Humanities

U of T Mississauga

Visual Studies

Learn to swim in your living room. Make music from tweets. Explore the folk remedies of pandemics past. The Blackwood Gallery at the ��Ƶ Mississauga has launched an ambitious new initiative to support artists and capture the creative energy of the current moment.

Earlier this month, the Blackwood Gallery published TILTING (1), a special two-part digital publication that marks several firsts for the on-campus art centre as it adapts to the new realities imposed by a global health crisis.

The Blackwood Gallery was among the countless galleries forced to close their doors in March, leaving gallery staff to find new ways to work with established artists from around the globe and support educational programming for curatorial students enrolled in U of T Mississauga’s art and art history program, as well as a joint visual studies program with Sheridan College. Programming is supported by U of T, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

“The closure of almost all public institutions across the country meant the simultaneous cancellation of contracts for the unprotected labour force, which [includes] the art and culture industry,” says Christine Shaw, Blackwood Gallery director and curator and assistant professor, teaching stream, in U of T Mississauga’s department of visual studies.

“An entire community of makers was left without income, without support systems and without resources. That became an immediate concern for us.”

Alison Bremner, Distancing, 2020. Acrylic on paper. (image courtesy the artist)

Shaw says her team was well-positioned for the challenge and saw an opportunity to re-imagine the gallery’s printed broadsheet series, The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK). The series launched in 2017 with the Blackwood’s The Work of Wind: Air, Land, Sea exhibition to connect artistic production and research with interdisciplinary debates.

The Blackwood team moved the SDUK series online, issuing the first-ever open call for submissions and launching the first-ever all-digital version of the series on a revamped gallery website.

“This is a way that we might be able to support artists who are working – both in reaction to the unique social conditions created by this crisis and their own realities as freelancers who are adapting to this situation,” says Blackwood assistant curator Alison Cooley.

Aisha Ali, Atanas Bozdarov, Craig Rodmore, Florence Yee, Alternate Forms of Delivery, 2020. Laptop, framed photograph, signage (image courtesy the artists)

The project asks artists to consider how the pandemic has shifted our ideas about the world as it was, as well as the world that could be.

“We intimately connect the COVID crisis as one of a long-term pre-existing condition of oppression and injustice,” says Shaw. “The community of thinkers and makers that we collaborate with and support have fairly critical perspectives on this current moment and propositions for how to think, work and do otherwise.”

Sydney Shen, Four Thieves Vinegar (installation view), Springsteen, Baltimore, MD, 2017 (image courtesy the artist)

The first of the two-part issue launched on April 20. TILTING (1) features works by 20 artists and researchers responding to the pandemic, including original images, poems and performance projects from artists who were paid for their contributions. Among the submissions are: How to Swim in a Living Room, a performance piece from Toronto artist Adam Bierling; Four Thieves Vinegar, an installation project about folk cures for plagues by Sydney Shen; W.E.I.R.D. Uncertainty, a real-time sound performance generated by Twitter posts by Venice-based musician and digital artist Nicola Privato; and Distancing, an acrylic on paper work by Tlingit artist Alison Bremner.

Nicola Privato, W.E.I.R.D: Uncertainty (video still), 2020 (image courtesy the artist)

U of T researchers have also contributed to the project, with concept pieces by John Paul Ricco, a visual studies professor who writes about resistance and reality; Andrea Muehlebach, an associate professor of anthropology who considers the virus and the commons; and Distinguished Professor Eric Cazdyn of the department of East Asian studies who ponders the relationship between critique and crisis. Blackwood post-doctoral researcher D.T. Cochrane responds to issues of employment with a proposal for job guarantees.

“There’s a sense in which this situation might allow some people to ‘tilt’ what’s happening in order to support decisions that might shape the world more justly and more equitably,” says Cooley.

There is more to come. The Blackwood team will launch a second instalment of the project, TILTING (2), on May 1, and are re-imagining how the gallery will proceed and continue to support artists in the coming months through publications, digital workshops and more.

“We might not be able to make physical exhibitions for a while, but we are committed to research and knowledge production, and have the tools that enable us to virtually convene, gather and exchange knowledge,” says Shaw.

“The Blackwood has what it needs to go forward.”

Cover of The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge 07: TILTING (1) featuring Sara Graham’s Conjecture Diagram no. 05, 2014.

U of T Mississauga course turns lens – and virtual reality headsets – on East Asian cinema

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 14:56:07 +0000

U of T Mississauga course turns lens – and virtual reality headsets – on East Asian cinema

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 02/19/2020 - 09:56

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A second-year course at U of T Mississauga taught by Elizabeth Wijaya introduces students to new ways of thinking about East and Southeast Asian cinema, including a film shot in virtual reality in Taiwan (photo by Timothy Fadek/Corbis via Getty Images)

Topic

Undergraduate Students

Virtual Reality

Visual Studies

Elizabeth Wijaya is one of the rare scholars who can claim a listing on IMDB, the Internet Movie Data Base.

The new assistant professor of East Asian cinema at U of T Mississauga studies the transnationality of cinema – how stories and people cross borders throughout Asia. She also has credits as a writer, director and producer with E&W Films, the film production company she runs with partner and U of T Mississauga sessional lecturer Lai Weijie.

Since joining U of T Mississauga’s department of visual studies in January, Wijaya (left) has introduced virtual reality technology, a filmmaker-in-residence program and established a new archive of short Asian films at the U of T Mississauga Library.

Associate Professor Alison Syme, chair of the visual studies department, is enthusiastic about the additions Wijaya has made to the cinema studies program.

“We have high demand for cinema production courses from students who want to produce their own films,” Syme says. “Because Elizabeth is a practitioner and is involved in a production company, she brings hands-on knowledge to the classroom that our students love.”

Wijaya’s second-year undergraduate course introduces students to different ways of thinking about East and Southeast Asian cinema with a syllabus that includes movies from Hong Kong’s New Wave and Second Wave periods, and films set or produced in China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia.

“The course offers a mix of independent films and canonical films that I think students should know, but might not be on their radar today,” Wijaya says. “I want students to have a historical awareness of Asian film, but I also want them to have curiosity and excitement about what is happening now.”

Not all cinema takes place on the big screen, which is why Wijaya is also interested in how emerging technologies, including virtual reality, can push storytelling into new territories.

Working with U of T Mississauga’s new Collaborative Digital Research Space, Wijaya has secured four Oculus Quest virtual reality headsets for cinema students to watch Only the Mountain Remains, a dramatic VR film that debuted at the Venice International Film Festival in 2019. The film, produced by E&W Films, follows migrant Thai workers as they attempt to flee Taiwan in a harrowing 30-minute drive along a twisting mountain road.

The Oculus headsets put the viewer in the centre of the car with a 360-degree view of the action. “I want students to consider how this technology affects their analysis of the film, and what is the impact of watching this with a 360 (-degree) point of view instead of a conventional view,” Wijaya says

In February, Wijaya will welcome French-Cambodian filmmaker Davy Chou for a weeklong filmmaker-in-residence program. Chou will host public screenings of his documentary Golden Slumbers at U of T Mississauga, and his feature film Diamond Island at a second event on the St. George campus. He will also lead a graduate studies workshop to discuss the practicalities of film production and financing.

“There is not a lot of understanding of recent changes in Cambodian cinema,” Wijaya says “I wanted to really open up discussion about independent filmmaking in southeast Asia today.”

Wijaya is also working with the U of T Mississauga Library team to establish a new Asian short film archive that will be available to stream for U of T library users.

“I'm tremendously excited about working with the library to start and grow this collection,” Wijaya says. “Short cinema is often neglected in academic study, but it’s important for independent filmmakers who make a lot of short films before they can make feature films. This collection will be a valuable resource for research and teaching.”

From Mississauga to Massachusetts: Sonic 'Futurity Island' art installation hits the road

noreen.rasbach — Mon, 26 Aug 2019 14:04:27 +0000

From Mississauga to Massachusetts: Sonic 'Futurity Island' art installation hits the road

noreen.rasbach Mon, 08/26/2019 - 10:04

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“Futurity Island” was part of a 10-day outdoor art festival exploring climate change, environmental crisis and resilience that was curated by Christine Shaw, the director of U of T Mississauga's Blackwood Gallery (photo courtesy of the Blackwood Gallery)

Topic

What does it take to move an island? Lots of planning, a big truck and plenty of patience.

“Futurity Island,” a towering art installation built from blue water pipes, is being moved from Mississauga to its new home at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass. where it will be reassembled on site next to the Charles River.

Created by MIT-based artists Gediminas & Nomeda Urbonas, “Futurity Island” was a showcase feature of The Work of Wind: Air, Land, Sea, 10-day contemporary outdoor art festival exploring climate change, environmental crisis and resilience that was curated by Christine Shaw, the director of the ��Ƶ Mississauga’s Blackwood Gallery.

Installed next to Clean Harbours Canada, the pile of municipal water pipes broadcast an ambient sonic creation inspired by swamp creatures and environmental contamination.

“This is not just a sculpture,” says Shaw, who is also an assistant professor, teaching stream, at U of T Mississauga’s department of visual studies. “It’s a transmission device. There’s a sense that it’s meant to be on the move, or that similar ‘Futurity Islands’ could be formed.”

It’s no small feat to move the intsallation, which was presented by the Blackwood Gallery in partnership with the MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology. Plans to relocate the sculpture, which is constructed from 20,000 lbs. of municipal water pipe donated by The Work of Wind sponsor IPAC Services Corp., have been in the works since December 2018. That’s just a few months after The Work of Wind closed and “Futurity Island” was packed away into shipping containers stored on the site of another festival sponsor, Musket Transport Inc.

Over the past week, Blackwood Gallery project co-ordinator Fraser McCallum has been working with the Musket Transport team to re-pack the pipes into a single tractor-trailer container. “It’s really just figuring out how to fit it all in and keep the pipes organized so it can be reassembled in exactly the same way,” says McCallum, who will accompany the piece on its cross-border trip.

The resurrection of “Futurity Island” coincides with the launch of climate change action initiatives at MIT. “There is a gathering of minds that is happening around that initiative for the university,” Shaw says. At MIT, the sculpture will be reassembled in time for two days of programming, including talks, performances and panel discussions.

Shaw will attend the opening celebrations on Sept. 6 and Sept. 7, where she will deliver a talk about the The Work of Wind and “Futurity Island” alongside the artists and Etienne Turpin, editor of the “The Work of Wind” book series. Chilean artist and “Futurity Island” collaborator Nicole L’Huillier will contribute a live performance of the sculpture’s “Amphibian Songs” experience.

“Sending the work to MIT enables the Blackwood Gallery to think about different ways to tour an exhibition, which is standard practice for museums and galleries,” Shaw says.

“I love the thought of ‘Futurity’ on the move. I would love to see ‘Futurity Island’ travelling from site to site, to different localities, inspiring more thinking about the environmental conditions of each place.”

From AI to immigrant integration: 56 U of T researchers supported by Canada Research Chairs Program

geoff.vendeville — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 18:56:08 +0000

From AI to immigrant integration: 56 U of T researchers supported by Canada Research Chairs Program

geoff.vendeville Fri, 06/14/2019 - 14:56

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Three of U of T's 56 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs (from left to right): Jonathan Kelly, Marzyeh Ghassemi and Vincent Kuuire (photos courtesy of Jonathan Kelly and Marzyeh Ghassemi, and by Blake Eligh)

Geoffrey Vendeville

Topic

Our Community

Pediatrics

Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research

Cell and Systems Biology

Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation

Artificial Intelligence

Biochemistry

Canada Research Chairs

Chemistry

Computer Science

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Drama

Economics

Electrical & Computer Engineering

English

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Faculty of Arts & Science

Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education

Faculty of Medicine

Geography

Hospital for Sick Children

Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering

Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Mechanical & Industrial Engineering

Molecular Genetics

Mount Sinai Hospital

Occupational Therapy

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Research & Innovation

University Health Network

UTIAS

Vector Institute

Visual Studies

Women's College Hospital

Survey after survey show doctors face burnout from heavy workloads. But what if they could use a machine learning algorithm to shoulder some of the burden?

Marzyeh Ghassemi (left), the first ��Ƶ faculty member to be cross-appointed to the departments of computer science and medicine, is looking to lighten the load on health practitioners – and, by extension, improve patient health – by developing algorithms that can estimate the length of a person's hospital stay, need for intensive care or mortality risk.

“We have a really good body of clinical research that suggests patients respond better to all manner of treatments when it’s provided with compassion and with focus, and with an understanding of where they come from,” she said.

“So I think we should use machine learning to let doctors do the doctoring, to actually interface with patients and make decisions about care.”

Ghassemi is one of 56 U of T faculty members awarded new Canada Research Chairs, or whose chairs were renewed, as part of a double, fall-spring cohort announced Friday by the federal government. Established in 2000, the federal program invests about $295 million annually to recruit and retain top minds in Canada. It supports research in engineering, natural sciences, health sciences, humanities and social sciences.

U of T’s total allotment of research chairs in the program is 315, making it the largest in the country.

“I want to extend my warmest congratulations to U of T's new and renewed research chairs,” said Vivek Goel, U of T's vice-president of research and innovation.

“The work supported by the Canada Research Chairs Program benefits all Canadians by advancing our shared knowledge and fostering innovation.”

The new and renewed research chairs at U of T focus on fields ranging from artificial intelligence, or AI, to studies of immigrant integration and well-being.

Ghassemi, who was named a tier-two chair in machine learning and health, is continuing work she began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during her PhD studies. That includes developing an algorithm to help physicians determine the best possible patient treatments by predicting the onset of acute conditions and the need for intervention. Part of her research involved tagging along with doctors and nurses at a Boston hospital during their morning rounds to get a better sense of their daily routines and determine where AI could offer assistance.

Also a faculty member at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Ghassemi said her research chair will allow her to expand the scope of her research beyond acute cases. In fact, she said her research is increasingly focused not on sickness, but on being in good health.

“The majority of the research we’re able to do looks at people when they’re at their very sickest, and then tries to understand whether there are small differences in outcome that we can have at these very, very sick moments,” she said.

“We don’t really know what it means for a person to be healthy.”

She sees her tier-two chair, a five-year award reserved for “exceptional emerging scholars,” as a vote of confidence in her work.

“It’s recognizing that this area of research is one that Canadians care about,” she said.

Jonathan Kelly (left), an assistant professor at U of T’s Institute for Aerospace Studies, or UTIAS, is putting artificial intelligence to work for a different purpose. The new tier-two chair in collaborative robotics designs the software brain for machines with a wide variety of applications, from self-driving wheelchairs to robotic space explorers.

One focus of Kelly’s research is on warehouse-dwelling “cobots” – short for collaborative robots – that are intended to work side-by-side with people in logistics, packaging and assembly. The machines would be sophisticated enough to respond to a worker’s movements without being told explicitly what to do.

“In a manufacturing scenario, maybe both of you are working on adjusting a bolt on a part, but you need the robot to help support the piece so a bolt can be tightened,” Kelly said.

“We’ve actually looked at trying to program the robot to interpret forces that are applied to the part by the person, because that can guide the machine as to what the person’s intent is.”

Kelly sees cobots in the warehouse as a first step toward a Jetsons-like future where robots are interacting with humans in more unpredictable environments – including on the street or in the home.

The Canada Research Chairs Program, Kelly said, provides an advantage when trying to recruit top research talent.

“We want to attract really great students,” he said, “and when you’re in the pool with the MITs, the Stanfords and Berkeleys and Carnegie Mellons, anything you can do to enhance your visibility is extremely valuable.”

At U of T Mississauga, health geographer Vincent Kuuire (right) said his tier-two chair in immigrant well-being and global health gives him more resources to explore health and well-being among newcomers to Canada.

The assistant professor in geography is presently focused on Greater Toronto’s Eritrean and Nigerian communities, which are among the fastest growing groups in Canada. He relies on both census data and information painstakingly gathered by visiting local churches and grocery stores, where he explains his research purpose and looks for volunteers.

He considers himself a “serial migrant,” having lived in seven different regions of his native Ghana before coming to Canada for graduate studies.

Kuuire said the goal of his research is to better understand Canadian immigration, which has been pursued as a population growth strategy for over three decades in response to an aging population and low fertility rates. In one recent paper in the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, he traces the relationship between an experience of “childhood adversity” – such as physical and sexual trauma before age 15 – to psychosocial health outcomes among immigrants later in life.

“It’s important to be able to understand the factors that are related to their (immigrants) general wellbeing and integration,” Kuuire said.

“Those findings can contribute to broader policies that may enhance or promote a more cohesive Canada.”

Here is the full list of new and renewed Canada Research Chairs:

New Canada Research Chairs (applied fall of 2018)

Jennifer Campos, in the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science and University Health Network, tier two in multisensory integration and aging
Sabine Cordes, in the department of molecular genetics in the Faculty of Medicine and Sinai Health System, tier one in molecular mechanisms of mood and mind
Ken Croitoru, in the department of medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Sinai Health System, tier one in inflammatory bowel diseases
William Derry, in the department of molecular genetics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in genetic models of human disease
Natalie Enright Jerger, in the department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in computer architecture
Michael Garton, in the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering in the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in synthetic biology
Marzyeh Ghassemi, in the department of medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in machine learning for health
Maria Hupfield, in the department of visual studies and the department of English and drama at U of T Mississauga, tier two in transdisciplinary Indigenous arts
Noah Ivers, in the department of family and community medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Women’s College Hospital, tier two in implementation of evidence-based practice
Zhengping Jia, in the department of physiology in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in synaptic plasticity and brain disorders
Brian Kavanagh, in the department of anesthesia in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in acute lung injury
Jonathan Kelly, at ��Ƶ Institute for Aerospace Studies in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in collaborative robotics
Heather McFarlane, in the department of cell and systems biology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in plant cell biology
JoAnne McLaurin, in the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Faculty of Medicine and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, tier one in Alzheimer’s disease therapeutics
Aleixo Muise, in the department of paediatrics and department of biochemistry in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease
Emily Nalder, in the department of occupational science and occupational therapy in the Faculty of Medicine, tier two in resiliency and rehabilitation
Patricia O'Campo, at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Unity Health Toronto, tier one in population health intervention research
Meaghan O'Reilly, in the department of medical biophysics in the Faculty of Medicine and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, tier two in biomedical ultrasound
Christopher Pearson, in the department of molecular genetics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in disease-associated genome instability
Beate Sander, at the Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and University Health Network, tier two in economics of infectious diseases
Bojana Stefanovic, in the department of medical biophysics in the Faculty of Medicine and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, tier one in neuroimaging
Sandra Styres, in the department of curriculum, teaching and learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, tier two in Iethi’nihsténha Ohwentsia’kékha (land), resurgence, reconciliation and the politics of education
Lillian Sung, in the department of paediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in pediatric oncology supportive care
Wendy Ungar, at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in economic evaluation and technology assessment in child health
Lu-Yang Wang, in the department of physiology in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in brain development and disorders
Ding Yuan, in the department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in systems software
Gang Zheng, in the department of medical biophysics in the Faculty of Medicine and University Health Network, tier one in cancer nanomedicine

Renewals of Canada Research Chairs (applied fall of 2018)

Evdokia Anagnostou, in the department of paediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine and Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, tier two in translational therapeutics in autism

Michael Baker, in the department of economics in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier one in economics and public policy
Timothy Chan, in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier 2 in novel optimization and analytics in health
Brendan Frey, in the department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier one in machine learning for genome biology and therapeutics
Marney Isaac, in the department of physical and environmental sciences at U of T Scarborough, tier two in agroecosystems and development
Catherine Sabiston, in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, tier two in physical activity and mental health
Bianca Schroeder, at the department of computer and mathematical sciences at U of T Scarborough, tier two in data centre technologies
Wei Yu, in the department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier 1 in information theory and wireless communications

New Canada Research Chairs (applied spring of 2018)

Isabella Caniggia, in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology in the Faculty of Medicine and Sinai Health System, tier one in placental biology in pregnancy and disease
David Curtin, in the department of physics in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in theoretical particle physics
Shiphra Ginsburg, in the department of medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Sinai Health System, tier one in health professions education
Tara Gomes, in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and Unity Health Toronto, tier two in drug policy research and evaluation
Annie Huang, in the department of paediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in rare childhood brain tumors
Mohit Kapoor, in the department of surgery and department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Faculty of Medicine and University Health Network, tier one in the mechanisms of joint degeneration
Vincent Kuuire, in the department of geography at U of T Mississauga, tier two in immigrant well-being and global health
Tony Lam, in the department of physiology in the Faculty of Medicine and University Health Network, tier one in diabetes and obesity
Hyun Lee, in the department of biochemistry in the Faculty of Medicine, tier two in biomolecular phase transitions in cellular repair
Philipp Maass, in the department of molecular genetics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier two in non-coding disease mechanisms
Julien Muffat, in the department of molecular genetics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier two in stem cell bioengineering and synthetic neuro immunology
Navindra Persaud, in the department of family and community medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Unity Health Toronto, tier two in health justice
Hannes Röst, at the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research in the Faculty of Medicine, tier two in mass spectrometry-based personalized medicine
Adam Shlien, in the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier two in childhood cancer genomics
Valerie Wallace, in the department of ophthalmology and vision sciences in the Faculty of Medicine and University Health Network, tier one in retina regeneration
Wendy Wong, in the department of political science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in global governance and civil society

Renewals of Canada Research Chairs (applied spring of 2018)

Aimy Bazylak, in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in thermofluidics for clean energy
Gustavo Bobonis, in the department of economics in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in the political economy of development
Goldie Nejat, in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in robots for society
Scott Schieman, in the department of sociology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier one in social contexts of health
Dvira Segal, in the department of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in theoretical chemistry

Passport to education: Meet Cherie Novecosky, U of T Mississauga's valedictorian

noreen.rasbach — Thu, 31 May 2018 19:06:08 +0000

Passport to education: Meet Cherie Novecosky, U of T Mississauga's valedictorian

noreen.rasbach Thu, 05/31/2018 - 15:06

Cutline

"My experiences abroad were absolutely incredible,” says Cherie Novecosky. “I learned so much about myself, the direction of my career and where I wanted my school career to take me."

Topic

Undergraduate Students

Visual Studies

Cherie Novecosky’s road to graduation has taken her around the globe and back. The Calgary artist who lives by the motto, “Travel is the only thing you can buy that will make you richer,” opted for a backpack and plane tickets at the end of high school and travelled for six years before discovering the path that ultimately led her to the ��Ƶ.

Novecosky will graduate in June with an undergraduate degree in art and art history, earned through the joint program offered by U of T Missisauga's department of visual studies and Sheridan College.

“This program is what brought me to UTM,” Novecosky says. “I wanted the academics, but I’m also an artist, through and through. The joint program offered me a really good balance and allowed me to study art and also attend academic lectures. I didn’t consider any other program after that.”

It was during her first year that Novecosky also realized her calling to become an art therapist. “Art therapy uses art as a medium for people to communicate and helps to get their feelings across," she says. "I originally wanted to go into social work, but I’ve always loved art. I use my own art to filter through what is going on. I realized that this was what I wanted to do.”

As a student, Novecosky threw herself into studio work, creating work with screen and mono print media and digital media. She also discovered a love of baroque art history through a course with Evonne Levy, a professor in the department of visual studies.

“I like the drama,” she says, joking that she doesn’t like drama in her life. “I also like the chiaroscuro technique and the drama between light and dark.”

Novecosky managed to add a few more stamps to her passport as part of her education. In 2015, she was awarded a travel scholarship through U of T Mississauga's International Education Centre to spend a semester abroad at New Zealand’s University of Aukland, where she studied Maori culture art history. That experience was followed by a summer abroad in 2017 to study modern art at the University of Siena in Italy.

"My experiences abroad were absolutely incredible,” she says. “I learned so much about myself, the direction of my career and where I wanted my school career to take me. It solidified everything – the lifestyle I wanted, how much I want to do art therapy and what kind of community I want to build.”

Novecosky’s busy schedule included volunteering, part-time work and campus activities. She served as vice-president of the student dance club and as the department of visual studies student society art and art history program liaison, and volunteered as a facilitator with an art therapy workshop at U of T. She worked as a gallery attendant with the Blackwood Gallery and as a studio technician in the art studios at Sheridan College, and volunteered as a program ambassador at student recruitment events.

“I'm happy to talk about this program because I love it so much,” she says. In her final year, Novecosky was recognized with a Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award and was selected to be the class valedictorian.

As with any journey, Novecosky experienced setbacks, including the challenges that came with building a community far from her home in Calgary, and struggles with her mental health. Novecosky says she found support through Peel Crisis helpline and U of T Mississauga's Health & Counselling Centre, as well as with her student colleagues in the art program.

“Spending late nights in studios and preparing for early morning critiques forged fast friendships,” she say. “We shared in successes, and sharing the art we created helped to create a community.”

Her personal struggles informed her upcoming solo art show, which will be exhibited in June at the Faculty Club on U of T’s downtown Toronto campus. The show will feature work from Novecosky’s “BED SERIES,” which touches on the #MeToo movement and invites the viewer into an intimate space through watercolour images of empty, unmade beds (see artwork below).

“I focus on what the sheets say,” she says of her work. “When I was struggling my own mental health, my bed was both my best and also worst place, because I could stay in there for days.”

Novecosky’s address to the 2018 graduating class carries a message about sharing stories and about finding one’s voice. “During my time at UTM, I learned to develop my critical thinking and I’m now able to solidify my voice more and express my opinions and thoughts clearly,” she says. “My time here included struggles, but it was finding my voice and who I was that made me who I am. I’m grateful for the community who supported me.”

With her convocation ceremony on the horizon, Novecosky is on the move again. This time, she’s headed to the other side of the country to begin a master's program in psychology to support her future work in art therapy. While the next step in her journey will take her far from U of T Mississauga, Novecosky hopes to continue her connection with the campus, and plans to found a community of alumni in Victoria.

Book by U of T professor explores humorous side of photography

ullahnor — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 20:57:08 +0000

Book by U of T professor explores humorous side of photography

ullahnor Tue, 04/18/2017 - 16:57

Blake Eligh

Author legacy

Blake Eligh

Topic

In his new book, Louis Kaplan turns his lens on the sometimes ticklish world of humorous photography.

The professor of visual studies at the ��Ƶ Mississauga recently launched Photography and Humour. The book details how photographers from the mid-1800s to today have found humour in the world, and how viewers have found amusement from photographs.

“Humour is what makes us human,” says Kaplan, who received a Jackman Humanities grant in 2015 to explore the topic. “Photographic humour gives us a view to our own mortality. It can be about about laughing in the face of death, defusing anxiety or even a discourse on identity and identification.”

The book, which is intended for a wide audience, chronicles the photographic use of humour from the early 1800s to more modern incarnations. The historical survey features 100 images from genres that include animal photo bombs, visual puns, absurdist humour, political satire and role-playing.

One of the earliest known photos to employ humour was created by Hippolyte Bayard. A pioneer in early photography, the French artist was overlooked when rival Louis Daguerre developed an alternate photo development process. Bayard registered his protest through his art in a darkly humorous 1801 photo, “Self portrait as a drowned man,” in which he pretends to have committed suicide.

“It’s sad and funny at the same time,” says Kaplan (photo above). ”Bayard has failed, but he’s trying to find a way to do something with the suffering and pain by transforming it into laughter for himself and his audience.”

For other photographers, a funny image is dependent on the kind of timing employed by stand-up comedians.

Kaplan explores the work by New York photographer Arthur “Weegee” Fellig, a crime and street photographer who was an expert at documenting tragedy but also had an uncanny knack for visual jokes. In Simply Add Boiling Water, Fellig’s photo of a factory fire (photo below) captures smoke and water streaming from a building topped by an billboard advertisement for frankfurters and the words “simply add boiling water.”

Humour can also help to shine a light on dark subjects.

“There’s a constant tension between what’s appropriate to laugh at, and what isn’t,” Kaplan says. “Humorous images can make it more comfortable to talk about what might be taboo. They can expose vulnerabilities and open up questions facing society.”

Photographers like John Heartfield, and Peter Kennard and Cat Phillipps who work under the name kennardphillipps, use photomontages to make political statements about war and politics.

“These images are biting satirical humour,” Kaplan says. “You can trace that over 100 years – that need to make authoritarian figures look ridiculous. They are good examples about how humour can be serious business.”

On the lighter side, Kaplan also explores the work of artist Vik Muniz, who photographs famous artworks recreated with unorthodox and mundane materials, such as the Gorgon’s head on a dinner plate made of pasta and sauce in “Medusa Marinara” or a reproduction of Jackson Pollock’s splatter paintings rendered in chocolate sauce.

“It’s funny and conceptual and makes us think twice about what we see and believe to be real,” Kaplan says.

With the modern explosion of digital photography, Kaplan also traces the emergence of new depictions of humour like animal photo bombing.

“It shows how contemporary this topic really is,” he says.