24/25 CUES Recipients Announced

In collaboration with the Transformative Health and Justice Research Cluster (THJRC), Gallery Gachet will offer exhibitions and public programs to further illuminate the importance and intersections of public health and safety in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) and beyond, Blackness and sexuality, and decolonization and the contemporary state of marginality. This multi-part project engages diverse community members to introduce them to the works of marginalized artists and thinkers. 

Emblematic Elusions, a three-month exhibit, brings together Black artists and academics from across Canada, the US, and the wider Black diaspora to engage in critical speculation on the state of Blackness as it pertains to Black sexuality and the post-colonial landscape. Drawing off of Kechiche and Sharpley-Whiting’s film and literary works on ‘Black Venus’ as an emblem of Black sexualization, we explore how sexuality pathologizes Blackness and marks Black bodies as a ‘diminished other’, and propose the erotic as a tool for individual and collective liberation.  

A culminating symposium brings together Black artists, academics, and health practitioners to generate and disseminate dialogue on Black gender and sexuality studies and Black women’s public health and research. Alongside this symposium, an interactive art and zine creation workshop, hosted at the Enterprising Women Making Art’s space in the DTES, encourages community participation from Black and Indigenous women. 

The final component, Neuroaesthics and Neurodecolonization, offers a dialogue series with notable guest faculty, including Donna Haraway and Naomi Klein, and will culminate in a public panel. Through this series, we interrogate how we may begin to decolonize the brain, reclaim neuroplasticity, and advance neuroaesthetics to counter the hegemonic forces of cognitive capitalism. Neurodecolonization intersects with critiques of cognitive capitalism, which commodifies mental labour and knowledge production, often reinforcing existing power structures. Neurodecolonization resists the exploitation of cognitive and cultural resources by promoting more equitable and culturally sensitive approaches to education, labour, and mental health. 

Connecting the related areas of Black sexuality and neurodecolonization builds global awareness of the efforts of BIPOC scholars and artists while introducing Canada-based scholars to emerging areas to which they can contribute. This project allows the development of a shared language that can lead to global innovation in approaching neurodecolonization.  

Fire-related injuries and deaths are the fourth leading cause of injury worldwide, impacting millions each year (WHO). Most severe and fatal burn injuries happen at home. In Canada, older adults, children, and Indigenous communities are particularly at risk of home-related burn injuries. Statistics Canada reveals that First Nations Peoples are approximately ten times more likely to die in a fire compared to non-Indigenous populations. 

The increased fire risks in Indigenous communities stem from structural factors such as under-resourcing and insufficient funding for fire services. However, the focus is usually on individual factors, such as smoking, living conditions, and the lack of smoke alarms or sprinklers in homes. Indigenous Service Canada has committed to supporting community-based needs as part of their fiscal year 2023-2024 Fire Protection Strategy. Initiatives include education, prevention, smoke alarm installations, inspections for non-Indigenous Services Canada-funded buildings, firefighter training and fire department communication projects. However, many of these initiatives are led by industry experts and, to our knowledge, have little input from community members. While helpful, these strategies are often generic and do not address different communities’ unique fire risks. Effective fire safety education should be customized to each community, amplifying community voices and fostering collaborative knowledge creation in a participatory and inclusive way. 

The “SPARK” project aims to co-create a participatory fire safety plan that addresses both preparedness and readiness, drawing on the collective knowledge of community members from the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm First Nation. This initiative builds on a strong partnership between the Emergency Response Office of the kʷikʷəƛ̓ əm First Nation and the UBC School of Nursing. Community members—including leaders, Elders, adults, and youths, collectively referred to as knowledge partners—will participate in a series of sessions.  

In the first session, knowledge partners will come together to learn about fire safety and prevention with guidance from fire safety experts. The second session will engage knowledge partners within their respective cohorts, where each group will discuss the fire safety plan from their unique perspectives. In the third session, all knowledge partners will reconvene to share insights from their group discussions. The key themes from these discussions will then be collated and compiled by the organizers and circulated for review by the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm First Nation. This iterative and dynamic process will result in a tailored kʷikʷəƛ̓ əm Nation Fire Safety Plan, focused on both preparedness and readiness.