Theme: >You

In an increasingly globalized world, are we so focused on the details that we miss the bigger picture? As we gauge how it affects us as individuals, thinking about how we, in turn, create its future is more crucial than ever. What are the overlooked ways that we affect those around us? What will a more globally connected world look like if we consider the individual and the collective in a more balanced way? Here and now, any given day, mark the moment to investigate how much really connects us.

Emily Carr University of Art + Design
520 E 1st Ave
Vancouver, British Columbia, V5T 0H2
Canada

Alan Shapiro

Earth Science Communicator

Alan Shapiro is a Vancouver-based environmental professional and science communicator with a particular interest in engaging the public and policymakers on water issues. He is co-founder and director of Science Slam Canada – a Canada-wide non-profit organization focused on science communication and outreach. Alan also teaches geography at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, serves on the Youth Advisory Board for Waterlution, and consults on a range of water resources projects. Alan holds a MSc in Environmental Engineering from Columbia University and a BSc in Environmental Earth Science from the University of Alberta.

Angela Fama

Multidisciplinary Artist

After a near–fatal car accident, interdisciplinary artist Angela Fama has focussed her praxis on seeking unity through breaking down barriers surrounding “sticky” subjects. Recently, curiosity drove her to ask: What Is Love, a project in which she drove across North America in an RV/pop-up photo studio, individually interviewing over 300 passers-by. This investigation of love took her curiosity again to her greatest fear: death. Love and death are so interconnected it’s hard to see how love can exist without the presence of death so... Fama took it upon herself to start investigating the sticky subject of death and surprisingly, she found more joy and serenity in that quest than expected.

Char Loro

Street Dance Event Producer

Char Loro is a creative producer, curator and master of ceremonies for live music and street dance events, immersive art experiences, as well as video production. She joined the Vancouver Street Dance Association in 2017 as their Community Facilitator - building bridges and creating collaboration opportunities between the street dance community and various organizations such as the Vancouver Mural Festival, Public Disco, Granville Island, the Downtown/Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Associations, Vancouver Craft Beer Week, and Vancouver Civic Theatres. She has also been working with community builders in the street-dance community in Seattle and Portland to strengthen the Pacific Northwest region. Char is very passionate about bringing people together to activate urban public spaces and create accessible platforms for street dancers and music artists to share their artistry with the general public.

Chloe Kwok

Illustrator

Chloe Kwok is an Illustration student attending Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Exploring one of many mediums of Illustration, she opens the audience to the world of tattooing. Being a client of tattoo artists has inspired her to promote open mindedness to the subject, and break the taboo of mark making on skin. Drawing from experience, she exposes the positives and negatives of bearing visible tattoos as a taiwanese born Canadian. Chloe heartens mindfulness to the effect tattooing has had on Asian culture, encouraging the positive the art can bring in the future.

Claudia Hopkins

Interaction Designer

Claudia Hopkins is an Interaction Design student at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Her design interests span from inclusive design to designing for public service. Within her practice, she is dedicated to user research. She has worked in many areas across health care as a designer, communicator, and as a clinical researcher.

Emma Chin

Artist, Designer

Emma Chin is currently a Design student at Emily Carr University. Since embarking on an education in Art, she realized that there are many different ways to quantify learning. The belief that learning can be assessed in many different ways is an extension of her personal experience as a child in Montessori school. Emma is passionate in finding ways that can help every kind of learner to succeed.

Janani Ramesh

Interaction Designer

Janani Ramesh is an interaction design student at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Having lived in India, the Netherlands and China over the past 21 years, Janani puts a lot of care and effort into understanding multicultural contexts and how they shape us. She takes pride in incorporating her cultural background in her writing and designing practice. With the ability to speak 5 languages—English, Tamil, Hindi, Dutch and Mandarin—she empathizes with those who feel the need to express themselves through the power of language, whether it be through speech or gestures.

Nidhi Hira

Industrial Designer

Nidhi Hira is a foundation year student at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Driven by the passion and interest in the creative field, she aspires to be an industrial designer. She was born and raised in the diversely cultural environment of India and completed her high school in the International Baccalaureate curriculum. With the ability to look and analyze things with a different perspective, she is always looking for new ways and practical solutions to different problems.

PoChun Chen

Filmmaker

PoChun Chen is a Taiwanese independent filmmaker, photographer, and film student at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Her works include narrative short films, experimental, and fashion filmmaking for European and local brands. Aside from narrative filmmaking, she has an interest in environmental preservation, waste reduction, recycling, and human activity, and how to link artistic practices with an environmentally-conscious mindset. With the belief that media is the strongest and most influential means to educate, she hopes that through her practice, she can spread the goal of caring for the environment through film and photography.

Prakriti Mukhopadhyay

Visual and service designer

Prakriti Mukhopadhyay is a service designer pursuing her MDes at Emily Carr University of Art + Design (Vancouver, British Columbia) Born and raised in India, Mukhopadhyay graduated with a degree in fashion and worked in the e- commerce industry for 6 years. During her time there, in 2014, India felt the full-boom of electronic commerce. Mukhopadhyay found herself asking which side of technology did her work reside? One that organizes information for its own short-term benefits or one that liberates. Back in design school, her work, now questions social acceptance and affordances in design and their implications in the face of globalization. Her research interest lies in designing a platform for geographically displaced immigrants to network and share culturally relevant knowledge to better integrate into society. Mukhopadhyay is presently co-designing this platform in collaboration with PICS, Surrey.

Robin Stethem

New Media Designer

Robin Stethem is cofounder of the Museum of Other Realities, a virtual reality art gallery. Robin graduated from Emily Carr in 2016 and worked as an industrial designer before pursuing his current project, exploring new ways for people to socialize and interact with information.

Srushti Kulkarni

Senior Citizen Technology

Srushti Kulkarni is an Industrial Designer currently pursuing her MDes at the Emily Carr University of Art+Design with a particular interest in healthcare design. Having worked in India, on designing an emergency watch for senior citizens for two years, she has always been intrigued by the manner in which smart technology is persistently helping the older adult in advancing at the same pace as the evolution of technology.

Thomas Girard

Designer

Thomas Girard is a Continuing Studies Instructor at his alma mater, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, with a unique cultural perspective. Having lived and worked in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Vancouver and London, he is a person of many places. A 5x Emerging Scholar Award recipient, he speaks, receives awards and sits on panel discussions around the world. Once employed as a Staff User Experience Designer at Lenovo Innovation Design Center User Experience Center in Haidian District, Beijing, his days are often spent thinking about where he’ll be tomorrow as he designs possibilities for our future selves.