Sylvia Grace Borda

Last updated

Sylvia Grace Borda
Born
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
NationalityCanadian and British
Education
Known for
Awards Mozilla Foundation: Rise 25 Award (2023), City of Vancouver Heritage Award (2023), Lumen Prize (2016), Creative Climate Commission, British Council (2021)
Website sylviagborda.com

Sylvia Grace Borda is a Canadian artist-urban geographer working in photography, video and emergent technologies. Borda has worked as a curator, a lecturer, a multimedia framework architect with a specialization in content arrangement (GUI) and production. [1] Born and raised in Vancouver, [2] Borda is currently based in Vancouver, Helsinki, and Scotland. Her work has been exhibited locally, nationally, and internationally. [3] [4]

Contents

Artistic practice

Borda studied anthropology and fine art as an undergraduate at the University of British Columbia (1991–1996) and then a MFA in digital media at the same institution. She studied and graduated with a BFA in photography and video at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design (1993–95). [5] [2]

Borda achieved early recognition for her photographic practice. Her first exhibition was a national, juried photography exhibition entitled Photoperspectives '88, which ran during November 1988 at the Presentation House Gallery in West Vancouver. Elizabeth Godley praised Borda's work as "[leavening] an otherwise deadly serious exhibit with her cheerful view from Grandma's Window." [6]

More recently, Borda has produced works as a part of Frontiers in Retreat [7] that captures "intimate insights into Finland's agricultural resources and peoples". [8] This is in line with her interests in "re-addressing public views about specific socio-cultural landscapes and how cultural symbols may be co-opted to form new media platforms", [9] an interest which has generated an array of stereo-works and multi-dimensional tableaux produced in Google Streetview. [10] The innovative [11] Farm Tableaux won her the 2016 Lumen Prize, [12] and was a product of the "first explorative artworks in Google Street View in partnership with Google Business StreetView photographer, John M Lynch". [13] She has since gone onto pioneer further works in Google Street View creating tableaux featuring kissing couples in Nelson, BC, [14] amateur athletes in 'What are you doing, Richmond?' (2019) [15] to collaborating and producing the first interactive park system for the City of Dundee [16] taken from the perspective of a small park mammal in "Internet of Nature' (2021) For presentation at the UN COP26 Climate Conference, she collaborated with youth and partners to create the world’s first earth community climate observation land artworks that are now supported by Earth Science and Remote Sensing (ESRS) group, ARES Division at Johnson Space Center NASA [17] and the International Space Station for global community agro-forestry learning and well-being. [18] This project led to a special collaboration and invitation for an agro-forestry artwork to be planted at the National Botanic Gardens in Ethiopia using indigenous flora. [19]

Research and teaching

Borda has held teaching positions as Senior Photography Lecturer at University of Salford from January – September 2010, [20] as MA Convenor in Photography and Imaging at Queen's University Belfast, [21] Associate Professor in Digital Arts at Emily Carr University of the Art and Design and Associate Researcher in New Media at the University of British Columbia. [22] From 2009–2016 Borda was an Honorary Research Fellow in Visual Arts at the University of Stirling, Scotland. [23] [2]

In her academic posts, Borda examined how "cognitive responses evolve over time in relation to a media stimuli" as part of her broader research interests in "examination of popular culture and in the emergence of convergent graphical user interface systems." At the same time, Borda conducted research on "accessibility standards, tools and the plausibility of their facilitation for projects supporting cultural collections". She has participated in research projects on PDA deployment and cultural/visual recognition, examined the Canadian Heritage Information Network's mobile technologies and new wireless (was) enabled catalogue, and was the architect behind EdWeb, an "educational on-line content generation tool, designed to meet England's National Curriculum needs for school children aged 8–13." [24]

Curatorial work

Books and publications

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Permanent Collections

Public Art

Borda has delivered several public art projects in the last decade from digital to land artworks. In a recent collaboration (2020-2022) with partners she developed a series of climate earth observation artworks in Ethiopia [42] for presentation at COP26. This project was featured as a BBC Earth Instagram story, May 22, 2022 [43] The project also garnered support from Johnston Space Centre, Earth Science and Remote Sensing team. [44]

As part of Borda's interests in climate change she was co-commissioned by the City of Dundee to co-produce 'Internet of Nature (2021),' [45] a portal of every civic park, seen from the perspective of urban park animals.

Portraying flora and fauna has also led to civic commissions to aid in economic regeneration and support for rural towns including the development of the, Lumsden Biscuit (2017) in Aberdeenshire, Scotland and a mural park system (2016-17) for Aizpute, Latvia.

In 2011, Borda created Working River, a landscape photomural which was installed at Number 4 Pump Station on the corner of No.4 Road and Bridgeport street. This work was commissioned by the City of Richmond Public Art Program. [46] It was also part of a submission that won an Award of Excellence Project of the Year from BC Public Works Association. [47]

Residencies

Public grants and awards

Further listening

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. ↑ "People at the Banff Centre: Sylvia Borda," Banff Centre, accessed 2006, http://www.banffcentre.ca/faculty_faculty_member.aspx?facId=432
  2. 1 2 3 "Fall arts preview: Sylvia Grace Borda finds art in farms and sequins," by Robin Laurence, published September 11, 2013, https://www.straight.com/arts/421776/fall-arts-preview-sylvia-grace-borda-finds-art-farms-and-sequins
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 "Sylvia Grace Borda", Helsinki International Artists Program, accessed March 18, 2017, http://www.hiap.fi/artist/sylvia-grace-borda
  4. 1 2 Cheng, Amy Huei-Hua. Ruins and Civilization. Taiwan: Jih-Tung art printing co., Ltd., 2004.
  5. ↑ "Sylvia Grace Borda," accessed March 18, 2017, https://www.digitalartarchive.at/database/artists/general/artist/borda.html
  6. ↑ Godley, Elizabeth. "Photoperspectives '88: A national, juried photography exhibition." The Vancouver Sun, November 19, 1988.
  7. ↑ "Frontiers in Retreat:Multidisciplary Approaches to Ecology in Contemporary Art 2013–2018," accessed March 18, 2017, http://www.hiap.fi/project/frontiers-retreat
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  15. ↑ "Public Art". Minoru Centre for Active Living. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
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  21. ↑ "Picturetext," CELT(NI):The Center for Excellence in the Creating and Performing Arts, accessed March 18, 2017, http://www.qub.ac.uk/cecpa/picturetext.html
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  35. ↑ "最新訊息," published July 25, 2004, http://ruins.bluecircus.net
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  45. ↑ Anania, Billy (December 6, 2021). "In Ethiopia, Artists Protect the Environment Through "Plant Graffiti"". Hyperallergic. Retrieved August 4, 2023. Researchers and artists are working to restore biodiversity in Kofele, Ethiopia, through a 50-meter tree nursery in the shape of a lion that will be visible from outer space.
  46. ↑ "Public Art Registry". City of Richmond: Culture and Heritage. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  47. ↑ "Engineering, Architecture Planning, Sureveying". Alpin Martin. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
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  58. ↑ Street Level Photoworks (March 5, 2021), Sylvia Grace Borda , retrieved March 5, 2021
  59. 1 2 "Re-Casting Modernism Seminar - Why EK Modernism matters? Sylvia Grace Borda - A&DS". A&DS. May 7, 2015. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
  60. ↑ "Kootenay Co-Op Radio" . Retrieved November 3, 2017.
  61. ↑ Mäntän Kuvataideviikot (July 7, 2015), Sylvia Grace Borda , retrieved November 3, 2017
  62. ↑ "Sylvia Grace Borda talking about the photography activity ' Take a Holiday in Your Own Back Yard'," accessed March 18, 2017, https://vimeo.com/122963584
  63. 1 2 StreetLevelPhoto (December 5, 2013), Sylvia Grace Borda - Street Level , retrieved November 3, 2017
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