/ interdisciplinary artist, scholar, and writer passionate about how art and the creative actions of everyday citizens transform city and society
affiliations
As of August 2023, I am now working as a freelance researcher and writer. I am presently re-establishing and leading the Institute for Art & Environment (I-AE) — an independent research platform exploring connections between the arts, environmental issues, and public urban space that I first established in 2009.
If you would like to support my research as an independent scholar, please consider making a contribution to the Institute for Art & Environment or to the LAX LAB 2.0 | school of climate fiction.
introduction
I am an interdisciplinary artist, scholar, and writer originally from Montréal, Canada. I am a dual Canadian and British citizen and Norwegian permanent resident. I have lived in various cities in Canada, Greece, Hungary, Norway, and Sweden. I have lived in Oslo since 2013.
My work is ultimately concerned with how to build more creative, democratic, inclusive, and sustainable cities and communities. I engage with environmental issues, especially the climate crisis, in my work.
I am at a transitional point in my career where I find myself moving toward a more hybrid approach, balancing academic work within institutions and developing my artistic practice. I prioritise creative, nourishing, and impactful independent and collaborative projects. This includes establishing an independent arts-based research practice and freelance writing career. I welcome invitations to collaborate, especially on creative projects that have social and environmental justice themes that benefit local communities. I am particularly interested in working with activists, artists, and arts intstitutions.
When I am not conducting research or making art, you can find me tending to my little garden, out exploring on my electric bicycle, avoiding jellyfish while swimming in the Oslo fjord where I am a part-time mermaid in summer, and trying to remember how to ski in the Oslo forest in winter.
academic/professional profile
I completed my PhD with specialisation in urban geography at the Department of Sociology and Human Geography at the University of Oslo in 2018. In August 2023, my contract as Postdoctoral Research Fellow ended, concluding ten years of employment at the University of Oslo. Both my doctoral and postdoctoral research fellowships were fully-funded, independently-led research projects in which I carried out creative and innovative arts-based research within the social sciences (not the easiest of tasks!). For my doctoral research project, I combined photography with aesthetic walking practices to explore the lasting impacts of zero tolerance policies against graffiti. For my postdoctoral project, I broadly explored connections between art and climate change and led the creative laboratory LAX LAB that I also designed. Through this laboratory, I lead a popular climate ficiton book club and have engaged in different empirical investigations and experimentations while studying the artistic dimensions of climate activism.
While a doctoral research fellow, I had a 25% teaching contract. I have experience teaching at undergraduate and graduate levels on courses in human and physical geography and environmental studies. For two years, I led the undergraduate course Geographic Information Systems at the University of Oslo. I also have teaching experience from previous employment at Concordia University and the University of Ottawa in Canada.
I have a multi-disciplinary academic and professional background spanning environmental sciences, arts and humanities, and social sciences. I have an Erasmus Mundus Master’s of Science (with merit) in Environmental Sciences, Policy, and Management (MESPOM) from a consortium of four leading European institutions: Central European University (Hungary), Lund University (Sweden), Manchester University (United Kingdom), and University of the Aegean (Greece). I also have a postgraduate degree in Environmental Impact Assessment and a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Geography (with distinction) from Concordia University (Canada).
Prior to my graduate studies in Europe, I worked as a policy analyst developing environmental regulations for the Canadian Government, working in Legislative & Regulatory Affairs for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency in Ottawa.