Doctoral Researcher

Cynthia Blanchette is a Canadian artist-researcher based in Finland, working as a Doctoral Researcher in the Department of Art and Media at Aalto University. Cynthia’s artistic research interests fall into the abject facets of human-microbial-technological evolution. Within her practice she re-evaluates ubiquitous cultural-societal notions of the lived experience through the artistic practices of ideation drawing and painting, artifact collecting, bioart, and textile architecture. Cynthia has a Master of Arts degree in Visual Cultures, Curating and Contemporary Art with a minor in Textile Design (Aalto University, 2021), and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (University of Saskatchewan, CA, 2014). 

www.cynthiablanchette.com

www.instagram.com/cynthia_blanchette/

Doctoral Researcher

Elina Koivisto is an architect (M.Sc.), educator and a doctoral researcher. Her curiosity and criticism lie in social, corporeal and environmental effects and possibilities of the material realities of architecture. She has worked on several architectural and educational projects in different scales and locations from Helsinki to Phnom Penh. She is currently on study leave from her position as the Lecturer of Sustainable Construction. In her practice-led doctoral research, she investigates, through a temporary architectural space and the process of its making, how a more bodily and caring approach together with human and non-human co-collaborators could change our relationship with the space and matter.

Doctoral Researcher

Aku Meriläinen (they/them) is a media artist who develops practices beyond the normative expectations in works that integrate digital technologies and performing arts. In their doctoral research project, Crip Sex Worker (Nakurampa in Finnish), they have started to do online sex work as a person living with multiple sclerosis (MS). The project aims to challenge the dominant male gaze in porn from a queer and anti-ableist perspective, and explore feminist, more ethical porn and the concept of porno-art, all while diversifying how disability and sexuality are perceived. Aku did their BA in Audiovisual Mediaculture at University of Lapland and MA in scenography at Aalto University. 

https://www.akumerilainen.com/ 

https://www.instagram.com/nakurampa/ 

https://onlyfans.com/cripsexworker/ 

Photo by Tuisku Lehto. 

Doctoral Researcher

Montana Torrey is an American artist, researcher, and educator. Her current doctoral research explores how expanded painting and printmaking can be used as a tool to investigate the geological and the archeological imaginary via overlapping temporal and spatial scales. Through this practice-based approach, she examines the intersections of palimpsests, material traces, weather, and time. Montana received a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a MFA from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been an artist-in-residence at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Headlands Center for the Arts, Vermont Studio Center, Catwalk Institute, and the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, among others. In addition, Montana has taught at Chiang Mai University, Lane College, UNC-Chapel Hill, and North Carolina Wesleyan University. 

Doctoral Researcher

Alejandra Vera is an interdisciplinary artist interested in art, craft, and design. She has a BFA from NSCAD University in Fine Arts, an MFA from the University of Barcelona, and a diploma in ceramics from Escola d’Art La Industrial in Spain. She is originally from Quito, Ecuador, and previously based in Toronto. After training in painting and sculpture, she discovered ceramics later in her career, a medium that dramatically changed her artistic practice. Her current research aims to investigate the connection between the land and the creation of ceramic artworks, specifically focusing on the role of nature in the ceramic production process and its implications concerning the environment. 

https://www.alejandravera.com/