ART AS RESISTANCE AND REVELATION IN ACADEMIA
In partnership with Esker Foundation, WriteON writing workshops featured a Residency and Publishing Opportunity in September, 2021. Two authors (WriteON 2021 Alum Suzanne Chew and WriteON 2019 Alum Sue-Shane Tsomondo) were invited to develop a response to RELATIONS: Diaspora and Painting curated by Cheryl Sim, and organized by the Phi Foundation for Contemporary Art, Montréal. The exhibition is currently on view at Esker Foundation.
Each writer approached the residency independently and worked with Esker Foundation on the development of a written response. We partnered with Esker Foundation to produce two public talks to reveal the process and ideas each writer was exploring.
Suzanne Chew invited Romani Makkik for a conversation on their experiences in graduate student research, and how they have used art as a means to tell new stories, rooted in strength and self-determination. How might art uplift the voices of communities with whom student researchers work, within the framework of academia today?
Participants were encouraged to read/watch the following: Wounded Healers a short film by Romani Makeik, and read Suzanne’s short story Country Food, Soul Food, and poem Notes on a Caribou Hearing.
About the speakers
Suzanne Chew is an international student at the University of Calgary who has published poetry and short stories as part of reflecting on her role and responsibility as a doctoral researcher. Her research focuses on inclusive participation and environmental decision-making, learning from Inuit communities in western Nunavut. Suzanne also co-convenes a research working group led by graduate students called Voice and Marginality at the Nexus of Racism and Colonialism, a research working group led by graduate students, hosted by the Calgary Institute for the Humanities. This working group is a collaborative and creative research space that aims to build a community focused on critical reflection, interdisciplinarity, and engaged scholarship that contributes to social change. We validate different ways of knowing and being, and seek to uplift voices of students and scholars from Black, Indigenous, and racialized communities. Suzanne is a WriteON 2021 alum.
Romani Makkik is an Inuk film director who produced “The Wounded Healers”, an intensely powerful film based on her Master’s research with a counsellor training program in Kangiqtugaapik (Clyde River), about the powerful story of how one community transforms lives by drawing on its strengths.
A special thanks to Calgary Arts Development for making possible the WriteON 2021 program and our first critic-in-residence program. We'd also like to thank our partner Esker Foundation for creating space for these writers and making this residency a deep learning experience.