(Foreground) Photo of Brain Cells in a Dish: Astrocytes from the brain growing in a culture dish. (Background) Dress: Black organza cap sleeve with sheer top & multicolour organza diagonal trim.
FASHIONING CANCER:
THE CORRELATION BETWEEN
DESTRUCTION AND BEAUTY
March 25, 2014 | 12-1pm
Free Public Presentation
Graduate Research Seminar Series:
Frederic Wood Theatre, UBC
If you are a woman who has battled cancer we would very much appreciate knowing your response to the gowns, negative or positive. Please send your comments to Associate Professor Jacqueline Fikins at jacqueline.firkins @ ubc.ca and indicate if you would consent to have your comments included in her research paper when goes to print at the end of March, 2014.
Fashioning Cancer: The Correlation between Destruction and Beauty is a “dramatic” new interdepartmental research project at UBC made possible through a Research Mentorship Grant from the Peter Wall Institute For Advanced Studies
(Foreground) Photo of Dying Brain Cells: Brain tissue showing an area injury (faded red) which is filled with dying neurons (stained green). (Background) Model: Rebecca Burks. Photo credit: Tim Matheson.
Fashioning Cancer: The Correlation between Destruction and Beauty
Free Public Presentation ~ Graduate Research Seminar Series: Frederic Wood Theatre, UBC
March 25, 2014
12-1pm
Fashioning Cancer: The Correlation between Destruction and Beauty is a “dramatic” new interdepartmental research project at UBC made possible through a Research Mentorship Grant from the Peter Wall Institute For Advanced Studies.
Can fashion design inspire deeper conversations about disease for women? Assistant Professor Jacqueline Firkins in the UBC Department of Theatre and Film believes it can. Firkins aims to encourage a dialogue about cancer, beauty, and body image by designing and exhibiting 10 ball gowns inspired by microscopic photos of cancer cells and cellular systems. These images were captured by her collaborator Professor Christian C.G. Naus, a Peter Wall Distinguished Scholar in Residence and Canada Research Chair in Gap Junctions and Disease, along with his colleagues in UBC’s Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences and Life Sciences Institute.
UBC theatre professor Jacqueline Firkins has designed a series of ball gowns inspired by cancer cells in hopes of inspiring those who are battling cancer. Photo credit: Olivia Law, The Ubyssey.
Many women who have battled cancer express a disconnect with the fashion imagery that commonly represents the disease. The most prevalent is the pink ribbon, a signature for breast cancer awareness and a useful tool for marketing campaigns that support cancer research. Firkins’ research is intended to generate artistic imagery that is more connected to the disease itself, and since it is being expressed in fashion, the imagery is also connected to body image.
‘My hope is that somehow through fashion, I more closely tap into what a woman might be feeling about her body as she undergoes the disease, but simultaneously reflect a strength, beauty, and resilience.‘ - Jacqueline Firkins
Cancer Cell 4. Photo Credit: Wun Chey Sin, Ph.D., Christian Naus, Ph.D.
Please join us at our first public exhibition where the researcher will introduce her project. A talk back will follow with an opportunity for you to provide your insights about the gowns: Are they too pretty to reflect something as destructive as cancer? Do they encourage you to tell your own story? Do they evoke any emotions related to your own experience?
Note: Contact our communications coordinator Deb Pickman at deb.pickman@ubc.ca if you would like to host a presentation of this project.
UBC Department of Theatre & Film Graduate Research Seminar Series
Fashioning Cancer: The Correlation between Destruction and Beauty – the presentation of research undertaken by UBC’s Department of Theatre and Film and Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences and Life Sciences Institute made possible through a Research Mentorship Grant from the Peter Wall Institute For Advanced Studies. | Tue. March 25, 2014 | Time: 12-1pm Frederic Wood Theatre, 6354 Crescent Rd., UBC | MAP: http://bit.ly/1fZ4bC8 Box Office PH:604.822.2678 E: box.office@ubc.ca | TICKETS: Free
