This event is part of the Art and Testimony Webinar Series 2024 co-hosted by the University of Victoria’s Survivor-Centred Visual Narratives project and the UBC-V Public Humanities Hub.
“Survivor-Centred Visual Narratives” is an international project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada under the title “Visual Storytelling and Graphic Art in Genocide and Human Rights Education” (SSHRC Partnership Grant; 2022-2029).
Join PhD students Raey Costain and Cal Smith as they present their research on how visual methods such as comic drawing have a unique capacity to explore and document human stories in the past and present. In conversation with Dr. Mary Chapman, they will challenge some of the traditional terminology applied to art and aesthetics. In this light, the expressive force and the lasting value of overlooked practices such as doodling and sketching will be explored with renewed intent and attention. Participants will have an opportunity to engage in a reflective “scribble comic” activity. Please have a pen and a piece of paper at hand as you join in this session. No arts experience is necessary.
Thursday, November 28, 2024
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM Pacific Time
Online via Zoom
Speaker Bios
Raey Costain (they/them): Raey Costain is a second year PhD student in visual anthropology at the University of Victoria. Their research explores the creation and application of drawing-led ethnographic research methods to questions of identity, creative development, and personal wellbeing. They hold a certificate in Therapeutic Arts from the Canadian International Institute of Art Therapy and seek to apply the therapeutic potentials of art-making to social research in their dissertation work exploring graduate students experiences with academic stress. Since 2023, Raey has held concurrent PhD fellowships with the Survivor-Centred Visual Narratives Project and the Smyth Chair in Arts and Engagement.
Cal Smith (he/him): Cal Smith is a first-year PhD student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. His research explores early Canadian queer comics in self-published and collective zines from the 1980s and 1990s. In that research, he takes up questions of ephemerality, visibility, presentations of the self, and archival ethics and policies.