 All right. Good afternoon, everyone. All right, guests, welcome. We're about ready to kick off Convocation 2023. It's great to see you all here. I do have a few housekeeping announcements to make just before we get started. My name is Kevin Byrd. I'm the registrar for the university. We just got noticed that the BC Emergency Alert System is going to go off at 1.55 p.m. today. This is actually going to happen. We at first thought it might have been a joke, but it's not. So that probably would be right in the middle of one of our speeches. So if you could turn your phones off, mute them. I don't know if that will actually mute it. It may still come through. But we all need to be prepared for that. So at 1.55 and with the acoustics in this room, it could be quite loud. So just be prepared for that. So the other thing, when the students are getting prepared to be processioned in first and they will be at the front of their procession will be our drummer and you will hear him. We could all stand as the students come in and remain standing. Once the students are in, they will go into these various rows. And then the platform party, which includes the president and the chancellor of the university, the senate, the faculty and so on, they follow right after the students. So remain standing. And as everybody kind of processions in, that group will come up here on the stage. And we won't take our seats again until the chancellor directs us to do so. Or the MC who will be the academic provost asks us to be seated. So if we're all ready, I'll give the cue to the students to begin the procession into the auditorium. And thank you again. Thank you, Alakden. I would like to now introduce the VP academic, Dr. Trish Kelly. I think Kevin forgot my name there for a minute. Welcome everyone. I'll be the MC for today's ceremonies. And as we begin, I mean, first I just want to give my congratulations to the graduating class. I'm super happy to be here in support of all of you and super proud of the work that you've accomplished. As we begin, I'd like to acknowledge that we are visitors on the unceded traditional ancestral territories of the Musqueam peoples here at UBC. I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge that Emily Carr University is situated on the unceded traditional and ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Slewa Toots peoples. Everyone can now be seated. So to begin, I would like to introduce our Chancellor, Carleen Thomas. And Carleen is going to come up and start us off here. Thank you, Carleen. Thank you, Trish. Good afternoon. It is an honor to join you here today to celebrate Emily Carr University's extraordinary class of 2023. It is easy to find oneself caught in the haste and hurry of such a moment. In recent weeks, you have sped through completing your courses, writing your exams, and preparing your work for the show. All while thinking about what comes next. But this is a moment for slow, intentional reflection. It is a moment to step out of the haste and hurry and bear witness to all that you have accomplished that has brought you here today. Today's ceremony is a culmination of millions of moments from your time at Emily Carr. The learning experiences, the triumphs and disappointments, the friendships and the communities you formed. They all live within you and have shaped the person you have become. The many paths you have walked during your time at Emily Carr have led you to this destination. Today, you are a graduate. I encourage you to sit with how that feels. I hope you feel the energy of all those who came before you. They're cheering you on as you prepare to share your gifts with the world. I also hope that you see all the people in this room today who believe in you, who support you, and who lift you up in the spirit of celebration. Emily Carr is your community now and is your community now and always. Yes, today you will earn a prestigious degree, but you leave Emily Carr with so much more. Your creative practice, your friendships and communities, these are the guideposts that will usher you forward as you begin this next chapter of life. I raise my hands to all the graduates who make up Emily Carr University's class of 2023. May you continue to shine brightly as you collect moments of greatness over the course of your fertile and fascinating lives. Thank you. I would like to now call upon President and Vice Chancellor of Emily Carr University, Dr. Jillian Seidel, who will deliver the presidential address. Thank you, Chancellor Thomas. It's so wonderful to see you all here today for this very special ceremony and very special occasion. My name is Jillian Sidall and I am the President and Vice Chancellor of Emily Carr University of Art and Design and I'd like to begin by congratulating the class of 2023 on your incredible achievement. Some of you may know that this is the last convocation over which I will preside as ECU's President and I do so from a place of distinct optimism. At its essence, a convocation ceremony celebrates a history defined by dreams. Your dreams are what brought you here today. This is an extraordinary thing. No less extraordinary for the enormous challenges you all overcame to get here today. Not only have you completed four years of an amazing educational journey but you did so under conditions that were literally unthinkable when you first walked through the doors of Emily Carr. You adapted to every new requirement, every new reality of a social world that changed sometimes by the hour and you went through it all with grace, composure and without sacrificing one iota of your aspirations. Nor did you fail to contribute in myriad ways to shaping the future of this institution. We gathered today to celebrate you not because you allowed the present to define you but because you refused to do so. We celebrate you today because of your clear-eyed sense of purpose, because you persevered and you persevered together. History reveals more than dreams. The history of a community speaks to the values that sustain it. Yours speaks of courage, decency, dignity, collaboration and justice. But celebrating your character and your accomplishments is only one part of why we're here today. A convocation is not only a conclusion, it's also a new beginning. You will walk from this room today with new horizons rolling out before you. You will be tasked with finding ways to apply all you've learned in new contexts, some of which we can't even imagine right now and to new effect. That might feel daunting. Our world stands at an inflection point. The choices we make today will have monumental impact within our lifetimes. But I have no doubt you are equal to any challenge you decide to take on. If the magnitude of the resilience you've already shown has faded for you, let me remind you as you sit here today having faced things few people in living memory have faced. The connections you forged while doing so are invaluable. Cherish those relationships, nourish them. They will sustain you and your practice. You are now among the leaders of this community you've helped to build. The generations behind you will look to you in this regard. Your integrity, your determination and your depth will be their great asset. I began this address by saying I appear before you with optimism in my heart. These qualities of character are the reason. I am optimistic not only because I've seen what you've done but because I know what you can and will do. So again my congratulations to you class of 2023. Today we celebrate not only a history defined by your dreams but a future that will be too. Thank you. So just one bit of housekeeping before we proceed. I think most everyone's already been made aware that the BC emergency alert will be going off in I think about a minute. So if you haven't silenced or shut off your cell phone we're all going to hear a really loud ring. So I just wanted to give everyone an opportunity one more time to to take care of that before we proceed. Okay so we're gonna begin by inviting Chancellor Carleen Thomas. Oh there we are we knew we were gonna get one so just one second Carleen. Okay but I think it's I think it's good news it's working we all want that to be working so there we go. All right I'd like to invite Chancellor Carleen Thomas who will now begin the presentation of the honorary degrees. Honorary degrees are the highest awards confirmed conferred by Emily Carr University. They recognize and celebrate the commitment dedication and service of individuals who have distinguished themselves by their significant achievements and contributions to the art world in BC Canada and beyond. I will now call on President Seidel to present the first honorary degree to Glenn Lewis. Thank you Chancellor Thomas. Glenn Lewis was born in Shamanus British Columbia in 1935. He studied at the Vancouver School of Art graduating with an honors degree in painting drawing and ceramics in 1958. He then attended the University of British Columbia and earned a teaching degree in 1959. He continued his studies under Bernard Leach the artist potter in Cornwall England from 1961 to 1963. Along with John Reeve and Warren McKenzie he founded a pottery in 1964 Longlands and Hennick Devon and in the same year left to teach ceramics in the education faculty from 1964 to 1967 and with the fine arts department 1971 to 1974 at the University of British Columbia with a break as a visiting professor in 1970 to 71 to teach in undergraduate and master's programs in the College of Ceramics Alfred University in Alfred New York. Although an intensely important part of his artistic repertoire his work with traditional pottery was replaced with an interest in the progressive avant-garde in the 1960s with conceptual and performance art. Always questioning the dialectic between conventional objects and art social obligation and natural instinct function and wonder his past experience with sculpture played an important role in his new projects attempting to reunite art and craft that the ancient Greeks called techni because they didn't have a term for art. Much of his work between the 1960s and 80s included some aspect of sculpture or positioning as a questioning of the dichotomy between the static and the transient. He was fascinated with seeking commonality and human links revealed by the conventional items and popular myth. He worked with photography, film and even horticulture becoming increasingly interested in nature particularly topiary. He was involved in a number of artist collectives and artist-run centers which included Intermedia the New Era Social Club in 1968 and the Western Front in 1973 as one of its founders. Many of his works were collaborative and included members of these collectives often questioning the perception of reality by a public manipulated by the media. New media in all types became the catalyst for much of his work through the 80s an investigation into its power to influence and broadcast and yet limit perception at the same time. He was awarded with five Canada Council grants throughout this period. His attention to new media eventually led to his appointment as head of media arts at the Canada Council from 1987 to 1990. From 1993 to 2006 he built a plant nursery called Fragment Flora on the Sunshine Coast and founded the Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden. All of this was an outgrowth of his photography in gardens around the world based on his research of the elements inherent in Paradise Myths. He was awarded the Emily Award from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 2000 and received the Governor General's Award for Visual Arts in 2017. An innovative first-generation conceptual mixed media artist Lewis has worked with pottery, sculpture, performance, correspondence, photographs, video and installation since the early 1960s. The scope and intellectual pursuits of his work range across concept, fiction, myth and community concerns. He was one of the earliest innovators in performance art with flower piece in 1968 at the Vancouver Art Gallery and video performances Japanese pickle and blue tape around the city around city block both in 1969. Now in 2023 he made a body of work ceramic things used in photographs of still life that both speak to a history of painting and the actual things in still life. Chancellor Thomas on behalf of the Senate of this university I now ask that you confer upon Glenn Lewis the degree of Doctor of Letters Honoris Causa. Glenn Lewis by virtue of the authority vested in me and in the Senate of Emily Carr University I hereby admit to you to the degree of Doctor of Letters Honorarius Causa Dr. Glenn Lewis will be hooded by Dr. Trish Kelly, Vice President, Academic and Provost. Thank you very much. Greetings President Dr. Sidal, the Board and Senate, Faculty and Staff of Emily Carr University of Art and Design, graduates, students and friends thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm deeply grateful to be here today to receive this honorary doctorate from this institution. In 1958 I graduated from the Vancouver School of Art, the direct ancestor of this university. So this time span gives me a certain creative overview I think. In those early days we were taught drawing, painting, sculptures, ceramics and commercial design with an emphasis on drawing in a traditional method from live models, from a skeleton, from plastic casts and drapery, from plants, trees and landscape in nature. Now I make performance, ceramics, photographs and installations. Traditional methods are valuable because they teach you how to see especially in drawing and ceramics. Repetition in practice reveals slight differences in form, the gradations between light and shade and the in-between, permitting discriminations between each, training the connection of eye and hand. This practice over time generates tacit knowledge, the way things are made intuitively. In ancient Greek this was called tekne. They didn't have a word for art even though their tekne produced the sculpture, painting and ceramics that later became the canon and basis of western art. Fine art arrived in the 18th century through the philosophy of Baumgarten and Kant with their invention of the theory of aesthetics, the study of beauty which was the basis for making reasoned formal fine art, painting and sculpture. In this educated upper class colonial thinking useful crafts were hived off to the common folk and because they were not educated it was therefore thought that common people could not appreciate beauty until recently this division between craft and art was maintained. Now that we have universal education it would seem that this class division between fine art and craft would no longer be operative. I'm working to reunite art and craft as tekne with our contemporary life from world as a more authentic relevant and stronger practice for our turbulent times. I should also mention that this idea of tekne is not really radical it just has not been identified as what is already going on in many places under different names and practices. Notably it's the practice of most of the world outside of the western canon in aboriginal and indigenous practices in most Asian cultures and indeed in some postmodern and contemporary practices. One could say that art is a rendering of tekne as poetical thinking and making of poesis, bringing into being a revealing of the truth of something not existing before that opens a world through the work poetically knowing it disclosing it naming it. This includes lots of creative people hobbyists, amateurs, craft persons, artists, gardeners, chefs, etc. in an egalitarian decolonized community. The intention of the creators is dependent on the framing or purpose of the work not whether it is high or low art or craft. In Japan for instance the wrapping of a parcel can be a work of art embodied as part of everyday life. I'm not saying that the students of Emily Carr should spend years studying parcel wrapping although I've heard that sushi chefs study their art for 10 years three years making rice and sushi making for eight years before beginning their practice but graduates would realize that their learning process is ongoing a lifelong journey discovering your relation to the earth and world in a reciprocal eye-opening perception. Thank you. Congratulations Dr. Lewis. President Siddell will you please present the second honorary degree to Paul Wong. Thank you Chancellor Thomas. Paul Wong is a media maestro making art for site specific spaces and screens of all sizes. Sorry let me I'm gonna start that again because I didn't read that very well. Paul Wong is a media maestro making art for site specific spaces and screens of all sizes. He is an award-winning artist and curator known for pioneering early visual and media art in Canada, founding several artist run groups and organizing events festivals conferences and public interventions since the 1970s. Paul has produced projects throughout North America Europe and Asia. Now in his 40th year as a creator of events performances videos pictures sculptures and cultural institutions Paul has made himself a virtual intersection of activities both solo and collaborative affirmative and critical stoic and ludic. Paul was the winner of the Bell Canada Award in video art in 1992 the first recipient of the transforming art award from the Asian Heritage Foundation in 2002 and the inaugural winner of the Trailblazer Expressions Award in 2003 created by Heritage Canada National Film Board and Chum Limited. In 2005 he received the Governor General's Award in visual and media art. In 2008 he was awarded Best Canadian Film or Video at the Toronto Real Asian International Film Festival. In 2016 he was awarded the Odain Prize for lifetime achievement in visual arts. Paul recently completed the multi-year interdisciplinary project called Occupying Chinatown. Inspired by hundreds of letters and familiar artifacts familial artifacts of his late mother Sukfong Wong Paul Wong created intimate exhibitions public art pieces artist talks events workshops and a website called Occupying Chinatown. Occupying Chinatown was a public art project commissioned by the City of Vancouver Public Art Program in partnership with the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden. The Occupying Chinatown book was a finalist for the 2022 City of Vancouver Book Award. Now in its 50th year the satellite video exchange society was co-founded by Paul. For the first 25 years he was a driving force involved in making this a vibrant and important center pioneering video art in Canada. He is the artistic director and curator of On Main Gallery on the Cutting Edge Productions Society. Established in 1986 Paul has facilitated hundreds of arts artists projects most recently as the producer and artistic director of the Pride in Chinatown Festival 2018 to 2022. This annual event focuses and claims and makes a safe space for Pan-Asian queer communities to come together and celebrate being out loud and proud in Chinatown. Chancellor Thomas on behalf of the Senate of this University I now ask that you confer upon Paul Wong the degree of Doctor of Letters Honoris Causa. Paul Wong by the virtue of the authority vested in me and in the Senate of Emily Carr University I hereby admit you to the degree of Doctor of Letters Honoris Causa. Dr. Wong will be hooded by Dr. Trish Kelly Vice President Academic and Provost. I needed that drink thank you um wow good afternoon everybody excited to be here uh President Siddle esteemed members of the board graduating students staff faculty my family and colleagues thank you for inviting me to be here today and for awarding me this honor and thank you Henry Jung for the nomination. What makes this day extra special is to be able to share this honor with Dr. Glenn Lewis you are an artist who I have admired and respected from when I first came onto the scene in the early 1970s thank you Glenn for shining a light. I grew up on Main Street in East Vancouver and never had the opportunity to go to college or university so this honorary degree is meaningful to me in ways I can scarcely find words for. I am humbled by this recognition it is fitting that this first honorary degree should come from Emily Carr although I was never a student here over many decades I have been a guest lecturer I have mentored employed and have collaborated with dozens of grads more recently as an MFA thesis external reviewer and a mentor for the Sumka Center's art apprenticeship network many of my best friends and favorite artists are all graduates all of you have worked hard to get to this day I'm thrilled to be sharing this moment with you and one of my best friends Claudia Fernandez who has taken 15 extraordinary years to formally get her bachelor of fine arts degree is here today congratulations everyone many years ago when I was in high school I wrote an essay about a famous painting that painting was Guernica's by Picasso this was my way this was way before the internet I had I had not seen the painting in real life it existed only as a small image in a book but it touched me and when I graduated I was lucky enough to travel to New York City where I saw it in real life at the museum of modern art I was not much younger than some of you when I first stood in front of that stunning newspaper toned masterpiece and something inside me broke open in fact I often think that this experience at that moment understood I wanted to be an artist Guernica has since moved to its permanent home in Spain and just days ago 50 years after I had first seen it I was given the chance to see it again for the first time since I was a teenager in fact I just returned from Spain where I would likely still be had I not been surprised by a wonderful phone call from President Siddhal asking whether I would accept this great honor for those of you of you who know my work it might sound strange that a Picasso painting was what set me on the path I've been walking this past half century I make videos I make projections I make events I make experiences and I do so with the aim of reflecting the world back at itself of exploring the beauty and adversity of the everyday but looking at that painting revealed something to me it bought me to a place I'd never been before it stood me toe to toe with the anguish and fear of people I've never met it showed me their hope and courage and it convinced me that their pain and their promise was real and Guernica does all those things without moralizing it holds its grandiose themes in a pointed ambiguity this is the mark of a great work of art ambiguity it doesn't tell you how to feel it doesn't shame you for not doing more but does bring its reality to your very doorstep it makes that reality impossible to ignore and it does all of this to an indelible aesthetic experience art I'd like to remind our graduating students here today that you needn't travel to a foreign country and see a masterwork to have this experience Guernica was a spark but the flame that I conjured that I've tended now for half a century has been fed by what I've found in my own backyard here this is something I've said before but truly community has been my mentor community has been my greatest and most enduring source of inspiration throughout my career the people and places and events that happen right here in Vancouver have fed my curiosity and never once has it gone hungry each of us gets involved in creative practice for unique reasons some of some of us dream of traveling to far-front places and will do so but if that's not what you hope to do doesn't make your dreams or your practice any less profound the world by which we are surrounded is richer than our wildest imaginings all of what is mean what all of what it means to be human struggle triumph agony love happiness darkness light sound is everywhere you look all that matters is you keep looking keep working and I promise that work will reward you after 50 years this much I know to be true thank you for this great honor congratulations dr wong the Emily award recognizes outstanding achievements by members of the alumni community whose creative pursuits in the arts media and design have brought honor to Emily car university president sedal will you please present the Emily award thank you chancellor thomas zady cha draws upon her own background to inform an ongoing engagement with hybrid and diasporic identities global histories and folklore as well as spiritual and religious rituals she creates installations that incorporate painting sculpture textile sound and performance her art seeks to elevate narratives that that have been erased and repressed by the west and occupying powers for her art is a means to analyze socio-political conditions and cultural behaviors through a lens of masquerade play costuming and storytelling zady's practice is highly collaborative and she has developed ongoing exchanges with dancers and musicians since 2006 she has worked closely with artist bonito mayor together they have staged live performance moving images and installations zady earned an m a in painting at the royal college of art in 2014 and a bfa at the emily car institute of art and design in 2007 recent solo exhibitions include the white chapel gallery 2023 the box plymouth 2022 leads art gallery 2021 and remay modern 2020 group exhibitions and performances include the deus ropac soul 2023 copenhagen contemporary 2023 hauser and worth somerset 2023 jeju binale 2023 somerset house 2023 jessica silverman gallery san francisco 2022 it's an impressive list uh institute of contemporary art los angeles 2022 jeffrey dikes gallery 2022 blind spot gallery in hong kong hauser and worth in los angeles national gallery uh castello de rivoli hausta kunst shanghai binale in 2021 freeze london in 2020 the art gallery of ontario and toronto in 2020 art night in 2020 venice binale in 2019 the hayward gallery in 2018 and serpentine galleries 2018 and 2017 zady lives and works in london england emily car university of art and design is pleased to present zady cha with this year's emily award everyone um i'm a little bit nervous it didn't remember it being so big with so many people i'm just going to have a sip of water before i start um thank you so much president sidal and chancellor thomas i'm deeply um humbled to be here and um i tend to talk a lot so i've written a script i don't normally read i try to kind of connect with the folks i'm speaking with but for the sake of brevity i'm just going to read off the paper today so good afternoon friends family distinguished faculty and of course the graduating class of 2023 it is a genuine pleasure and honor to stand here alongside you all to celebrate this hard-earned achievement it's been 16 years since i too once sat here nervously awaiting for my turn to walk down across the stage to receive my undergraduate degree and as i stand here with you today i'm reminded of the early days of my artistic practice being full of fun excitement late night studio sessions creative frustrations breakthroughs and breakdowns most importantly i remember the deep relations and friendships that were forged during this time alongside my studies at emily car as you know i also hold an ma from the royal college of art in london where i have lived and worked for the past 11 years and while i am wholeheartedly indebted to the openness and generosity of the uk arts community i've always affirmed that it was my time at emily car that laid the foundations for who i have become as an artist and is very likely the bedrock from where so much of my tenacity as a cultural worker stems from the critical thinking skills and intellectual rigor which is widely associated with ecu graduates is something i too inherited and i'm fiercely proud of i'm very fortunate to have shared space with brilliant artists and professors like dr rajdeep gill whose teachings had a profound and meaningful impact on me as a person as well as the very excellent elizabeth macintosh whose endorsement of me as an artist with heaps of potential her words no doubt helped me secure an interview for grad school each time i reach a new milestone in my life whether it be professional or personal i am reminded of the significant positive impact family relations collaboration and artistic kinship has had on me this is particularly felt when i reflect on my relationship with my mother who not only supported me on her own but has also helped me to create some work making appearances as a voice actor in two of my most important sound installations another artistic relation i am indebted to is with fellow artist benito mayo rebajo whom i studied with at emily car in 2006 while he was on an exchange from spain he has since become my life partner and is a key artistic collaborator who has supported me in the production of my work for the past 15 years in every major and minor presentation including my bfa degree piece for emily car it is through these relationships with artists and curators almost all of which i've met through a network of school alumni both here and in london which has led the way for opportunity and timing to meet me favorably time and time again in 2019 i had my first canadian solo exhibition which was the result of an invitation from curator rose boutilier rose also attended emily car and graduated from photography in 2007 and while we weren't close while we were together at school it was this link that made our eventual collaboration so special for me to be given this opportunity and to be seen by someone whom i studied with so many years before was deeply meaningful now it's really important for me to drive home the point that in no way was i ever the class star or singled out as someone who was going to make it not here or at royal college to be honest it's pretty amazing to me that i'm standing here speaking to you and receiving this award however i was and i still am an incredibly driven person who's also had the great fortune of benefiting from from a network of stellar like-minded friends and colleagues who believe in lifting each other up i truly believe that the folks you have around you and the mutual support given to one another is the keystone to the longevity as an artist most of us are familiar with the romantic mythologized narrative of singular artistic genius the lone artists hold up in their studio doing it all by themselves i'm not convinced instead i'm here to speak in favor of a long term fulfilling artistic practices which bring joy and transformational change built upon stone by stone through working together i recently came across an interview with american writer producer and actor issa ray where she speaks candidly about networking and the misguided tendency to try and network upwards instead she suggests we should be networking horizontally that is to say who's around you who's sitting across from you who's out there in the trenches with you grinding it's those folks you want to reach out to and build with the professional acknowledgments and achievements i have been so lucky to encounter are due only in part to an unyielding self-determination ultimately these possibilities have been the result of someone i know usually other artists and curators speaking my name in rooms full of opportunity and advocating on behalf of my practice and so with that i'd like to once again thank you for allowing me to share this space and to congratulate you on this hard one achievement of which there will be many more and remember once you have a foot hold in please be sure to hold the door open for those coming up alongside and behind you thank you thank you zady the governor general's gold medal established in 1873 is one of the most prestigious awards that can be received by a student in a canadian educational institution for exceptional academic achievement the governor general gold medal is awarded to the student who achieves the highest academic standing from a master's degree program upon graduation on behalf of their excellency the right honorable mary simon governor general of canada i am pleased to present the academic medal to jessica bonin jessica is not able to attend our ceremony today on behalf of emily car university i accept this award and congratulate her on this wonderful achievement the governor general silver medal is awarded to the student who achieves the highest academic standing upon graduation from a bachelor degrees a bachelor's degree program i am pleased to present the academic medal to azadeh merar i'm sorry if i mispronounced that azadeh please come up and receive your award the lieutenant governor's medal program was created to recognize students who excel in their studies and contribute to the life of their institution and community for nearly 40 years british columbia's lieutenant governor has awarded the medal to outstanding students who have distinguished themselves through their post-secondary education the lieutenant governor's medal is a prestigious badge of recognition for recipients granted for outstanding contributions in support of inclusion democracy and or reconciliation on behalf of honorable janet austin british columbia's lieutenant governor i am pleased to announce this year's winner of the lieutenant governor's medal is kashish huka jani i would now like to call and vice president academic and provost dr trish kelly to introduce our graduate student speakers i'm honored to introduce the 2023 graduate student speakers leah nadir contractor in julia day olivera barba leah nadir contractor graduated from the indus valley school of art and architecture in 2017 with a distinction in communication design she was awarded the prestigious founders award along with the agha hasen abidi award for demonstrating a high level of compassion humility and generosity she worked as an editorial designer for the dawn media group in pakistan prior to moving to canada for her postgraduate degree today she will be graduating with a master of design at emily car she worked as a research assistant on multiple projects with our faculty ranging from publication design to website and exhibition design and was a teaching assistant for both undergraduate and graduate classes she was also elected graduate representative for the emily car students union leah has always been curious about design's role in amplifying endangered cultures particularly her own as such the themes of culture identity and storytelling drive her practice her graduate thesis project reimagining rituals takes the form of an app which acts as a guide and an invitation for the parcy community to connect more profoundly to one another through the practice of their cultural rituals and to share their knowledge with other parcies across the world julia de olivera baba graduated in 2021 summa cum laude with a bachelor of arts and visual communication and in global and international studies from la yoyola university yoyola university chicago today she will be graduating with a master of design at emily car she worked as a research assistant on multiple projects including publication design and literature research she was hired as a teaching fellow increasing her interest in expanding her practice into teaching and was accepted as part of the curriculum planning and review senate subcommittee as the graduate student representative she is a brazilian interdisciplinary designer whose current practice consists of printmaking embroidery and editorial design her research takes on a phenomenological approach and focuses on understanding and addressing climate crisis evoked emotions through a creative practice and how the art of making can help us navigate those effects chancellor thomas i now call upon this year's graduate studies speakers leo nadir contractor and julia de olivera barber to address convocation thank you thank you trish for the wonderful introduction we would like to start by saying a big congratulations to everyone graduating today while we see how two people giving this speech might seem unusual both julia and i are extremely honored and humbled by the graduating sorry that the graduating master's cohort of 2023 trusted us to represent them here today and like most things over the past two years we love that we can do this together our experience has been remarkable we started this journey with only a few of us present physically present in vancouver while the rest of us trickled in over the coming months from pakistan to brazil and so many countries in between we brought our unique perspectives to this program over time we began to learn more about each other and about the world through each other's eyes even though some of us came into the program knowing our research space and some of us were still looking for it none of us could really imagine the incredible journey these past two years would take us on and how much our research would grow and we would grow with it time and time again we were told to trust the process and so we had to learn to let go we had to learn to explore we had to learn to relearn to only then learn how to work the process and allow our research to guide us instead being a master's student puts us in an incredibly unique position as each of us comes from different academic and professional backgrounds some of us came directly from undergrad some had years of design industry experience and some were artists that have been working in the field for a while what we had in common was that we were all in a in search of expanding our practices through this program together even though the master's program may seem to be very individualistic as we focus on our own projects what emerged was a group that kept motivating and pushing each other to do better we learned from each other and came together to discuss each topic in a deep and meaningful way without these conversations and the constant feedback they generated our research would not have evolved in the way that it did today it is thinking about this motivation motivated in the program that on behalf of all of us we want to acknowledge that none of this would have been possible without our families and loved ones who supported us through all the ups and downs of pursuing our masters the guidance and encouragement of our amazing faculty the constant help from all the technicians the care the staff puts in a big shout out to tasks who made us smile at the end of every day and our incredible supervisors who were by our sides by our sides in this process to you a big thank you especially to Bonnie and Sophie we know it was not easy putting up with the both of us on behalf of both Julia and I we want to thank our wonderful cohort it is an absolute honor to graduate alongside each and every one of you today we would also like to thank all those that started this journey with us but may be graduating later you were an integral part of our experience in the 2023 Masters of Design and Masters of Fine Arts please stand up today we stand as proud grad proud graduates of Emily Carr University of Art and Design we invite you to take in this wonderful moment together with us and recognize all that we have achieved all the joy the blood the sweat and the tears that have gone into officially becoming Masters of our chosen professions while this day marks the end of this amazing chapter we hope the lessons learned and relationships we've forged over the past two years will stay with us for the rest of our lives and now could we get a round of applause for all the lovely people that are standing up congratulations we have done it now let's finally celebrate okay I was so caught up in listening to that that I forgot that I was up next the members of the 2023 graduating class will now be presented to the chancellor to be admitted en masse to their degrees will the graduands please rise by the virtue of the authority vested in me and in the senate of this university I hereby admit you to your various degrees will the graduates please be seated the master of fine arts and master of design degrees will now be conferred our interim AVP research and dean of the jake care faculty of graduate studies Justin Langois will present the candidates and Mike Haver will read the names of the graduates as they cross the stage hello everybody and congratulations uh my name is Justin Langois and chancellor I have the honor of presenting the candidates for the degrees of master of fine arts and masters of design for the degree master of fine arts maru aponte siti Chen Maria Isabella Rossio Dagnino Sam Davis Jimena KJ Edwards Jenny Gao Marion Landry Yasin Pelé Connie Watts Oscar White Hill Sophia Zarders Melanie Beth Kamman Leah Nadir Contracto Julia de Oliveira Barba Angela Dion Yejinan Shraddha Kompar Sita Lakshmi Lakshmaman Wangrong Lee Stephanie Osler Daniela Montserrat Palencia Choa Isla Pedrana Amir Salim Rangwala Nargis Nasir Sheikh Anay Alanis Akilar Yasmin Bahtiar Karina Dawn Brewer Joyce Chung We're actually just having our master's students graduated and degree is conferred now we'll move to the undergraduate students but we have an undergraduate speaker so I'll ask all the students there I know it's a a little bit awkward now to sit back down because we're going to do this all again so so the students who are standing can find their seats again my apologies for the disruption somehow we didn't recognize that in time so we'll just give everyone a moment to get seated and then we'll bring our undergraduate speaker forward students can walk around the front if they need to just to to move towards their seats so I want to thank all the students for their patience as or or soon to be graduates for their patience as we've navigated that if you know anything about Emily Carr University of Art and Design you know we're a very enthusiastic group so we were just a little bit too enthusiastic there it is now my pleasure to introduce the 2023 undergraduate student speaker Sophia Suman Mok Sophia graduates from Emily Carr University with a Bachelor of Media Arts in 3d computer animation she is a 3d artist from South Korea whose work focuses on achieving a photo realistic 3d visuals for feature animation and live action films Sophia is the director and creator of documents of life a full cg film conveying the beauty of still life objects in which their stains and surface imperfections reveal people's lifestyles and personalities Sophia has been actively involved in the ecu community as a member of the search committee graduation committee and as curator for the 3d animation screening for the show 2023 she was a recipient of an Emily Carr University achievement scholarship in both 2020 and 2021 and a Christopher Foundation Scholarship and Simon Chang award in 2022. Chancellor Thomas I now call upon this year's undergraduate student speaker Sophia Suman Mok to address convocation we did it everyone as we gather here today to celebrate I want to take a moment to reflect on our individual journeys to become who we are today each and every one of us has a unique story to tell from the classes we took to the friends we made to the obstacles we faced no two journeys have been the same therefore gathered here now some of us may feel ready to jump into society while some of us may feel uncertain about what comes next during these times it is important to remember that we all grow at our own pace we can often feel like we're falling behind from our peers from the high expectations we can often doubt ourselves on our journey and that's okay the paths we walked and the paths we'll take will look different for each of us so let's embrace our individualities celebrate our successes how big or small it may be and tap ourselves on the back on how far and well we've come we are embarking on a new start whether you dream to change the world or continue to explore a new part of yourself I and the people gathered here today will support you on your special journey as we move forward into the future I want to take a moment to acknowledge the people who have made this opportunity possible for us our school administrators our professors our friends and our family they have supported us and encouraged us to be ourselves thank you to all that has made us who we are today lastly I want to congratulate my fellow students uh graduates now on this incredible achievement congratulations class of 2023 we've come a long way but the journey is far from over let's carry on and let's make the most of our lives thank you so the Bachelor of Design Bachelor of Media Arts and Bachelor of Fine Art degrees will now be conferred we'll begin with the Bachelor of Design candidates presented by the Dean of the Ian Gillespie Faculty of Design and Dynamic Media Celeste Martin we will pause between design sorry the design and then dynamic media then we'll move to for each degree we'll we'll pause in between so we're going to get this right this time no here's fine Celeste Celeste we're keeping you on your toes Chancellor I'm Celeste Martin I have the honor of presenting the Bachelor of Design degree candidates in communication design industrial design and interaction design as you know from your experience at Emily Carr the creative process can be chaotic and uh and this is an example of life imitating art so it's pretty appropriate and we're going to start again for the major of communication design it's a time loop yeah Alanas Aguilar Aani Yasmin Bakhtiar Karina Brewer Joyce Chung Choi Suim Sun Ho Choi Louisa Cullaud Fernandez Lee Din Nicole Lindsey Duff Lucy Fornier Madeline Fraser Zara Goldney Katie Gu Chase Hansen Zara Imran Hassan Shun Huang Kashish Huku Jani Stephanie Yip Yu Tang Jocelyn Yunji Kim Jin You Kwon Jin Ho Lee Yerin Lee Rita Lee Chi He Liang Joy Liu a Marwick a Haley Ing Clara Inghi Tal Nui En Nishio Ka Chan Ho Park Valeria Paz Garcia Alisa Ribeiro Ivan Sock Cameron Sproul uh sorry Kaia Tanskinan Kaia Tanskinan Tran Huang Tien An Rick Tuffle Tuttle Cheryl Wong Xia Hui Shu Owen Shu Ziyin Shi Zhang Shi Zhang Yvonne Yu Tong Zhao and now for the major industrial design Aksa Elizabeth Abraham Lena Balderas Darren Bennett Leila Berg Alisha Palinda Putri Calvin Sun Han Cho Bianca Del Rio Codato Erasmus Cody Fleming Powell Robert Robert Martin Fraser Khaleesa Faith Gagnon Kaden Howe Annika Hock Yo Saman Hurfar Yo Saman Hurfar Shuan Pu Huang Yon Loka Jonson Camille Captain Daisy Kim Paulina Krilikowski Edwina Liao Vivia Dehua Liu Aiman Maca Sock Ella Ma Nadia Marliah Mahmour Bennett Mollner Clyde Montgomery Daniel Morrison Aisha Aiman Natsutian Lacy O'Neill Jing Yang Oh Bum Truong Jiang Jayakrishna Zelvaraj Nolan Talbot Kelly Bo Xiaoxiao Wing Icy Heather Woolley Lan Yang Yu Jinran a.k.a. Keenan Yu Xiaona Zeller Joseph Zhu Megan Zeith Eden Zinchir and now for the major interaction design Chelsea Burke Lillian Zhao Tong Chen Jay Won Choi Myeong Eun Chung O'Esquivel Leonardo Julian Felix Giordani Tanisha Gupta Jessica Huang Cecilia Hubernett Ember Johnstone Euni Zhu Aram Kim Sarah Yunsu Kim Kisuko Peggy Lee Lian Jia Yi Liu Yijun Liu Nellie Maffey Oliver J. Perl Winkler Anushka Sharma Felicia Audrey Sugiyarta Xu Yue Wang Michael Wang Wilson Yuen Nancy Qing Zhu I now call forward graduates for the degree Bachelor of Media Arts for the major 2D and Experimental Animation. Angela Almero Nia Roque Amarillo Cleo Borgford Kristi Chan Andrea Chiang Adrienne Luis Raben Desidero Desiderio sorry Desiderio Celina Alokina Doubleday Alyssa Claire Duro Mia Fabre Dinsdale Qinglin Gao Kurt Gonzaga Emily Cao Cameron Klettke Christine Lee Kasha Ray Malinowski Bailey Martin Emma McKay Mia Milardo Maya Sigal Patrice Katrina Plezence Pedro Ramos Ferretti Christina Salschenberger Shui Aoya Shresha Sashank Zoe Simmons Chu Weiwei Wu Monica Yip Ting Yi Zhang and now for the major of 3D Computer Animation Bernardo Sebastian Damien Aguilar Madeleine Duval Tyler Tong Fu Joyce Gu Elizabeth Lepis Hills Jingya Huang Thomas Huang Mariela Haume Kevin John Healy Yunkin Yunchin Man Li Liu Sophia Suman Mok and Yixin Wang Tianyu Xia Sanling Marissa Xu Yuqi Yin Lingster Zhang Yashi Zheng for and now for the major film and screen arts Cameron James Bansie Patricio Alonzo Cartes Lopez Sherry Chan Hannah Chang Ni Chen Si Chen Pablo Garcia Garcia Karena Gulley Pedro Enrique Hernandez Mangaliz Mandy Hoiman Huyen Kidei Jennifer Lee Thomas Mai Justin Mao Matthew McCormick Emma Shang Xinro Takada Maria Jose Velez Yichia Nyao The Bachelor of Media Arts in New Media and Sound Art and the Bachelor of Fine Arts Degrees in Illustration, Photography, and Visual Arts will now be conferred. Our Dean of the Auden Faculty of Art Kyla Mallett will present the candidates. Hello everyone, I'm Kyla Mallett, I'm the Dean of the Faculty of Art. Chancellor, I have the honor of presenting the Bachelor of Media Arts Degree Candidates in New Media and Sound Art and the Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree Candidates in Illustration, Photography, and Visual Arts. For the major New Media and Sound Art, Mac Burgess Yambod Chavis Ayn Fu Nam Ho Haile Kira Madsen Linda Serrano Sam Street Alyssa Terbina and now for the major illustration, Joaquin Antonio Panasigi Aconia Christopher Carter Ashdown Esther Belfontaine Elijah Biscoe Audrey Boy Matthew Bowie Ah Cho Kristen Chao Haley Claire Su Rui Dong Hidenori Makino Goto Chloe Lee Groth Ash Guarin Alyssa Haig Kendra Lin here Tsuyu Huang Yon Jo-in Jung Si-Yon Jung Can't read my own writing Charlotte Lal Lindsey Lampa I-Jia Liu Jenny-Zi-Jun Luo Taylor McClement Natalia Morillo-Ruelas Mai Ban Nguyen Athron Pothickery Timothy Saxono Ishika Kaur Zandu Erin Scobey Angie Sobaranis Natasha Tatiana Sterling Athena Wang Chen Ni Wang Brianna Wang Henry Xu Pu-er-chu Yu Zhang Yu-wei Zhang And now for the major photography David Aquino Vanessa Denham Duncan Alexander Fitch Kim Mata Hippol Hippol Jordan Robertson Gibson Switzer Sky Tau And now for the major visual arts Orly Ashkenazi Dana Justin Belcourt And Blunt Chen Chen-chuan Jenny Shao-ching Chen Brian Choi Clarece Aaron Chupik Grace Connor Diego Cruz Coronato Katie De Jong Viss Ying-fa DeSandoli DeSandoli Novalen Digestini Alison Alice Faye Claudia Patricia Fernandez-Garza Maya Isabel Florey Muxhwang Gao Celine Ursulo Gonzalez Jayme Brocott Miranda Guo Deyong Li Lei Han Ashley Hick Nicole Angeline Johnston Shiva Karef Panap Lee Hu Kim Naomi Shane Fernandez Sing Yin Lao Jae Kyung Lee Yan Xiaoli Liang Yan Jessica Liu Miho Leah McLaughlin Azadeh Mehriar Cameron Monseth Megan Murray Shohui Nam Raquel Ama Pei Xun Sun Layla Ross Gabrielle Enrique Sainz Jade Sawaton Taylor Sherstone Kelsey Steves Avinlya Therian Avinlya Therian Maya Talion Tiersh Tiersh Alyssa Lemus Thompson Kimberly Tucker Damara Grace Voog James Keegan White January Wolodarski Tsu Chin Tsu Chin Tsujun Zhang Bo Zheng Our Interim Dean of the Faculty of Culture and Community, Dian Akjari, will present the candidates. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Dian Akjari, the Interim Dean of the Faculty of Culture and Community. Chancellor, I have the honor of presenting the Bachelor of Fine Art Degree, Candidates in Critical and Cultural Practices. For the major Critical and Cultural Practices, Kelsey Brill-Funk, Kaitlyn Irwin, Malivia Kondakar, Kondakar, Steph Schneider. This concludes the formal awarding of degrees. Some candidates recommended by the Senate for degrees today are unable to be present, and their names have therefore not been called. I now admit them to the appropriate degrees as shown in the program. Will the graduating class please rise? I congratulate each and every one of you on the completion of your degree. This is truly an impressive achievement. I would now like to ask your family, friends, and everyone assembled here to join me in a round of applause, which we've already done, but we can do it again, for the graduating class of 2023. Now I invite you, the members of the graduating class, to reciprocate by applauding your family, friends, faculty, and staff, and all those who helped you reach this goal. Appreciate the gratitude. Graduates, please be seated. I would now like to call on the Chair of Emily Carr University's Board of Governors, Dawn Abison, to deliver closing remarks. Chancellor Thomas and President Settle, honored guests, and graduates. This is my first opportunity to actually speak to the Emily Carr community, having only recently been appointed as the Board Chair of this institution. And I hope all of you here today have enjoyed this ceremony as much as I have. It's a little different for me because in my day job, I'm the Chief Executive Officer of the Law Society of British Columbia. And my favorite part of that job is the call ceremonies for new lawyers that are about to join the legal profession. It is a very subdued, very serious operation. So it usually begins with me issuing a stern warning that there will be no clapping. There will be no cheering. And I usually add to that that if that happens during the course of the ceremony, it could lead to proceedings in contempt or the possibility of disbarment. I have to say I like this so much better. This has been absolutely delightful. And it's impossible while you're sitting here not to pick up the enthusiasm, the extraordinary enthusiasm from faculty, from staff, and all of those who have supported you along your way. It's also interesting for me because I was sitting there thinking it was almost 26 years ago exactly that I made my first visit to Emily Carr. And I remember it fondly. I took advantage of the opportunity to come back on a number of occasions over the course of the years. At that first visit, I'd only been recently appointed as the Deputy Minister of Education and Advanced Education. And I didn't think you could really do that job well, unless you spent a lot of time out at the institutions in the company of the members of the professoriate and the student population. For me, the first visit and every subsequent visit to Emily Carr was something that I deeply cherished because this institution is one that exists in a category of only one, a national leader, a world leader in art and design. And I can say to all of you that when I was asked to consider whether I would join the board of Emily Carr, it took all of about two seconds and possibly less to say, yes, I welcome the opportunity to be a member of the community and to do my part to advance the interest of the institution and all of those who've learned within it. Now, graduates, you're a class that has been defined by resilience, by adaptability and perseverance. Students in the Class of 2023 completed their studies either partly and in some cases entirely during the uncertainty of the pandemic. You succeeded despite a generational challenge. Indeed, a challenge that had not really been experienced by the world population for 100 years. You exceeded every expectation. You fulfilled the promise of your potential and you're only beginning your journey and doing so much more on that front. Many are graduating, having already won awards or industry recognition for their work, demonstrated commitment to your values by consistently aligning your practices with your vision for a better world. There's been a commitment to equity and to justice in your community and beyond, both in the present tense and also for the future. Students have advocated tirelessly for conservation and sustainability initiatives, have contributed to major exhibitions throughout British Columbia and beyond, have landed major public and private commissions to create artworks, design solutions, and learning resources even prior to your graduation. These students have also contributed to Emily Carr's future through their input to the strategic plan and have already contributed in countless ways to overcoming the entrenched problems in communities across the province. You've made meaningful differences in the lives of your neighbors, your colleagues, and your fellow students, and it's a journey that's only beginning. You've heard this today from some of those who've been recognized through the Emily Carr Award and the honorary doctorates about the promise of future careers and the contributions that can come through the time that you have spent as part of or associated with this community. Congratulations again on your achievements and every success in the future. Thank you. Thank you, Don. This brings us to a close today's convocation ceremony. You're all invited to attend the graduation exhibition at the Emily Carr campus located on Great Northern Way. On behalf of the entire Emily Carr University of Art and Design community and the many honored guests who have joined us here today, I would like to thank you for coming and wish you a wonderful rest of your afternoon. Thank you. Thank you everyone. If you could please stand as the platform party leaves the auditorium.