Conference Gallery (2022)
"Unbound"
A theme that connects a lot of my art is borders and lines. Lines are one of boundaries we create separating Truths from truths. There are truths that are only true for a time: volatile certainty that fades away. During their reign: the unshakable foundations. Only providing a momentary canon to live by like the keys to a home you no longer live in. How does one separate axiom from hypothesis? Elude the lowercase “t” truths disguised in false veracity. For too long we have grasped the ephemeral only to find our hands empty. Let us sift through the momentary and find the absolute.
In light of the conference theme, Moving Mountains: Uprooting and Pushing Boundaries in Education, Unbound seeks to demonstrate that too many of the obstacles we face are made in our own minds. New paths are needed. Through collective effort and creativity we can move both the mountains we have created and those left unconquered.
Greg Tyros is a 2nd year EdD Educational Leadership & Policy Candidate in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education at OISE. Greg takes inspiration from life on the Thai-Burma border. The architecture of nature grounds his craft and is woven into each piece. Greg has lived on the border for the past 11 years, owing much of his inspiration to the talented, determined, and resilient people he has met. For more work by Greg, please . All proceeds from art sales go to community-based organizations on the Thai-Burma border making a difference in the lives of the people they serve.
“A Better World"
The ‘Moving Mountains’ theme for the Graduate Student Research Conference 2022 inspires a vision of a terrain impossible to move, to change, but yet. That ‘yet’ is what we strive for as educators, to see inequities and prejudices that loom enormously, and yet to have the courage to face them, to break them, and to shape new realities.
My artwork is inspired by the land of Tkaronto, as well as Rudine Sims Bishop’s concept of literacy via windows, mirrors, and doors – a way to observe, see reflections, or enter another world. The small circles around this image are windows which suggest visions of betterment. The reflection at the base is a prospect of our existence in this re-imagined kinder world. Finally, the circular painted image of the mountainous landscape is our door – a better reality that we, using our ‘yet’ as a key, can enter through. The flower-laden pencils represent the place of both humans and the more-than-human in creating a more just narrative. It is with this sentiment and immense positivity that the GSRC and its diverse participants seek to create moments which lead to powerful, positive pathways collectively through radiant hope.
Maha Arshad (she/her) is a teacher candidate in the Master of Teaching program’s Junior/Intermediate stream at OISE. Her past experiences include having completed a Master of English program, an Honours Bachelor of Arts, and a TESL certificate, all with the University of Toronto. Throughout her academic career and work as an educator, she has found inspiration from Islam and her parents’ resilience to work towards infusing equity and social justice in all she does. Her art reflects a desire to both find and seed hope for futures where positive change for all is indeed possible and achievable.
