I’m presently a second year MA student at York University. Through Participatory Action, Indigenous, and Arts-Based Research Methods, myself and former youth in care are exploring the idea of the embodiment of transience created by having multiple placements in foster homes and group homes growing up. This idea of embodied transience overlaps with other systems that move and cycle people around a lot, including addictions treatment, the criminal justice system, and homelessness/shelters.

With 15 participating co-researcher artists from Toronto and the Yukon, and 3 art shows to date, this project has already generated media interest (here, here, and here), and expected thesis completion is May 2017. So far, emerging themes have been framing resilience as resistance, and the small community of the North being a protective factor against the alienation and displacement produced in care.

Below are a small selection of works by co-researchers.