Sylvia Grace Borda: EK Modernism and Pacific Tides
The School of Art History and University Collections welcomes artist and researcher Sylvia Grace Borda to St Andrews to talk about her work.
Borda's major project EK Modernism (begun in 2005) is held in the Photographic Collection and is available for viewing. EK Modernism addressed how new towns like East Kilbride in Scotland were conceived as a one-stop solution for urban rejuvenation in the early 1950s. These centres were driven by modernist concepts in urban development and social planning. EK Modernism was designed to result both in the creation of an image archive of this New Modernist Town landscape as well as a conceptual photo series and a photobook.
In recent work, Borda employs a range of conceptual and digital tools to create artworks that map Pacific Ocean shorelines and their changing uncertainty in attempts to discern and describe this interface between land and water. Borda's Pacific tidal eco-artworks are currently presented at the 61st Venice Biennale at the Nauru Pavilion. See https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/6785818/aim-inundated-imagining-life-after-landSylvia Grace Borda studied both at the University of British Columbia (UBC 1991-1996; 1999-2001 MFA) and Emily Carr University of Art and Design (ECUAD 1993-95 BFA). Over the last two decades, Borda has taught, lectured and exhibited internationally over the last 15 years on photography and digital media arts. Her artistic practice is centred on the relationship between observation, recording, and sharing environmental knowledge systems in order to inform global audiences about eco-system challenges. She is a member of a growing field of artists tackling cultural policy, community development and engagement projects through the visual arts. See https://www.sylviagborda.com/
Sylvia Grace Borda is currently living and working on the shared, unceded and traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples–Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations, in Vancouver, BC, Canada.