I defended my dissertation on September 3, 2015. Dr. Alan Sears, Ryerson University was my supervisor, and Dr. Blake Fitzpatrick, Ryerson University, and Dr. Deborah Barndt, York University, were committee members. Drs. Sears, Fitzpatrick, and Barndt also formed my committee for my qualifying (comprehensive) exams.

Also in attendance were Dr. Ken Hirschkop, University of Waterloo, as external examiner; Pierre Tremblay, Ryerson University, as internal examiner; and Dr. Tae Hart, Ryerson University, as defense chair.

While the content of the discussion was largely expected (e.g., specific criticism about the sample size of sites and interviewees being too small and not diverse enough), the ways in which the discussion was framed, and talk about strategies for deepening and expanding this research was eye-opening for me. I am deeply grateful to have had such a meaningful conversation based on such a close reading of my work. It is perhaps for this reason alone that I would suggest people on the fence about doctoral studies take the plunge. (Although it’s true I had a very critical yet caring committee; for others, your mileage may vary.)

I hope, whoever you are, you the work is meaningful to you.

The text is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) license; however, images are the intellectual property of their creators and/or respective copyright holders, and are reproduced in fair use (and with much gratitude; see pp. ix–x, List of Plates, for further information).Download (in PDF format, 2.3 Mb)

Seeing and Envisioning: Camera-Based Practice, Democratic Praxis, and Socially Engaged Arts in Toronto
Kris Erickson
Doctor of Philosophy in Communication and Culture, 2015
Ryerson University and York University

Abstract:
This project explores the varied ways cameras have become integrated into contemporary socially engaged arts practices. The emergent, participatory, and inclusive characteristics of these diverse practices are increasingly common in contemporary art and culture, with cooperative processes, community activism, formal experimentation, and public involvement being regarded, now more than ever, as legitimate strategies for developing artistic form and content. This project considers the innovative uses of cameras in these practices, arguing that such uses are not simply convenient or instrumental, but are often critical mediations between visual realism and cultural expressivity. The dissertation begins to address a gap in research on material practices in the cultural production of art by elaborating a theory of socially engaged camera arts. Drawn from ethnographic research in the Toronto community arts/socially engaged arts ecology, this theory begins to describe how camera practices seem to be moving beyond traditional image production practices in order to support and even help envision broader repertoires of practice in processes of social and cultural action. The dissertation develops three interrelated theoretical frames – expansion, organization, and pedagogy – to insist on the key place of socially engaged camera arts, and camera arts in general, in the iterative, activist-led revitalization of community cultural infrastructures.