Students

Current Research/Graduate Assistants

Precious Gauthier

Precious is a recent graduate of the University of Winnipeg with a BA and a BSc. She is currently a master's Student in the Cultural Studies: Text and Cultures program and works as a Research Assistant with Dr. Angela Failler for the Centre for Research in Cultural Studies. Her scholarly interests are focused on the experiences, inequalities and disparities in Black and Indigenous communities and the histories of Black people in Canada, specifically but not limited to exploring Black enslavement and mobility in central Canada. This is inspired by the knowledge that her family and a large number of other Black families travelled from Oklahoma and Tennessee North into the Canadian prairies and settled primarily in North Battleford, Alberta and Maidstone, Saskatchewan. She works with several non-profit organizations and enjoys creative writing in her downtime. One of her short stories will be published in Juice Volume 22, and her poetry was published in Auroras and Blossoms 2023 Haiku Anthology. 

Current Student/Alum Members

Shivanya Ra

Shivanya Ra (She/They) is an emerging visual artist, curator, and advocate for disability representation and accessibility. Originally from the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, on the unceded land of the Syilx/Okanagan Nation, they are now based in Winnipeg, Treaty 1, Manitoba. Ra holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a minor in Museum and Curatorial Studies (graduating with distinction) from Mount Allison University, along with a certificate in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Sociology. They are currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Cultural Studies at the University of Winnipeg, specializing in Curatorial Practices, and serve as the Student Representative for the CRiCS Advisory Committee.

Ra’s research and artistic work focuses on curatorial practices that dismantle barriers and foster dialogue through accessible, inclusive experiences. Committed to increasing disability and neurodivergent representation in the arts, they draw from their lived experiences as an Autistic, neurodivergent, and disabled individual. Ra integrates these perspectives into both their academic and artistic practice, striving to create more inclusive, reflective, and accessible spaces in the arts.

Katryna Barske

Katryna is a recent graduate from the Cultural Studies: Curatorial Practices program at the University of Winnipeg. She also received her BA in Classics and Art History from the University of Manitoba in 2013 and has a diploma in Residential Decorating and Marketing Management. She works with several arts organizations including the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq, Mentoring Artists for Women's Art (MAWA), and the Manitoba Crafts Museum and Library, focusing on digital communications, online resources, and art education. Her interests are in arts accessibility and diversity in museum collections.

Alireza Bayat

Alireza is a current Master of Arts student in the Curatorial Practices stream at the University of Winnipeg. He also has a Master degree from Azad University-Tehran in Art Studies, where he completed a thesis on the notions of gender and sexuality in 19th century Iranian written and visual texts (2018). Alireza published a book (from the cycle of silence-2018) on non-conformist forms of publication and distribution of literature in the USSR. He was selected for a curatorial exchange program between Iran and Norway which led to co-curation of a joint exhibition, “Shadows of Garden” (2016-2017). He has also worked as an art advisor in multiple artistic and commercial institutions. Alireza will curate a forthcoming exhibition for the 3.14 Art Gallery-Bergen, Norway- that centers around Post-Taliban situation of women and ethnic minorities of Afghanistan (2023). His research interests are intersectional curating, conjunctural analysis, socio-political activism, and study of power dynamics.

Taylor Boucher

Taylor Nicole Boucher is a current Master of Arts student in the Cultural Studies (Texts & Cultures) program at the University of Winnipeg. She completed her undergraduate studies in English at the University of Winnipeg in 2022 where she focused on Critical Race Theory and postcolonial studies. She’s been a member of a diversity and inclusion network for her previous corporate employer and she has spoken on panels regarding the Every Child Matters movement for the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. Her scholarly interests include biracial Indigenous and Asian American intersections in contemporary cultures. Taylor worked with Drs. Jason Hannan and Sabrina Mark as a Research Assistant for the Centre for Research in Cultural Studies (CRiCS) in 2022-23.

Claire Normandeau

Claire Normandeau is a current Master of Arts student in Cultural Studies (Curatorial Practices) at the University of Winnipeg. She graduated in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts from the Université de Saint-Boniface, majoring in Political Studies and minoring in French. In 2020-21, she completed a term as a Political Intern with the Manitoba Legislative Assembly. Claire currently works as Manager of Visitor Tours with the Legislative Assembly, researching, writing, and presenting about the legislature, its function, its architecture and art works, and its cultural context and significance. Claire is interested in exploring the relationship between formal political systems and the cultural engines around us. More specifically, she is interested in historical and future shifts in culture as a cause of and reaction to the politics surrounding issues such as global transition, identity, spirituality, rights, and accessibility.

Perry Thomson

Perry Thomson was born and raised in Southern Ontario. They are currently enrolled in the Cultural Studies: Curatorial Practices program at University of Winnipeg and serve as the Student Representative for the CRiCS Advisory Committee. They previously attended Brock University, where, in 2016, they graduated with a BA in Labour Studies. Professionally, Perry has worked primarily within the tattoo industry, as well as educational programming for youth in Eyoo Istchee communities, Wolastoqiyik Neqotkuk, and Windigo Islands of Animakee Wa Zhing 37. Their research interests include labour representation in popular culture, National identity myths of Canada, and platform capitalism’s effect on the art gallery.

Past Research/Graduate Assistants

Riel Lynch

Born on Treaty 1 Territory, Riel is the daughter of settlers from Irish, French-Canadian, and Ukrainian ancestries. During her undergraduate degree at UWinnipeg, Riel majored in English Literature, and Rhetoric, Writing, and Communications. Here, she also worked as a Research Assistant and writing tutor. After graduation, she travelled to both Ireland and Ukraine, seeking a deeper understanding of her own identity politics, a quest which soon cascaded into an interest to learn more the literatures and languages of origin. Although still considered very much a beginner, Riel has since been learning to speak Ukrainian, and aspires to one day comfortably converse, read, and write in the language. After travelling, Riel worked in higher education for 5 years, (Red River College, UofM) primarily as a writing tutor, but also held several roles within student accessibility services and the student counselling centres. During the pandemic, Riel co-founded a community free house plant giveaway program (Winnipeg Free Plants) which sourced and rehomed over 1500+ houseplants to folks and prioritized LGBTTQ+ and BIPOC individuals as recipients for majority of the greenery. While in her Masters in Cultural Studies (Texts + Cultures), Riel's scholarly research interests include cultures of both material (print) and reading groups. Riel worked for Dr. Angela Failler as a Research Assistant for CRiCS. 

Past Student/Alum Members

Brittany Bauer

Brittany is a recent graduate of the Cultural Studies MA program, and she received her undergraduate training in both Environmental Studies and Classics. Her work primarily focuses on underrepresented aspects of classical scholarship such as the lives of queer women and the poor. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Classics at the University of Bristol. Her research interests include recreating foodways and pathways of the poor in Roman Italy via ethnoarchaeology and experimental archaeology.

Thomas Boeckner

Thomas Boeckner is currently a student in the Cultural Studies MA program at the University of Winnipeg. They completed their undergraduate degree at OCAD University with a major in Visual and Critical Studies. Being a visually impaired, queer artist, they are interested in how disability studies and queerness intersect with the museum and art worlds. Thomas comes from a small Northwestern Ontario city and realizes the potential and importance the rural and peripheries have in being a part of a thriving network of art and culture beyond urban centres. Thomas is working with Drs. Angela Failler and Heather Milne as a Research Assistant for the Museum Queeries research cluster of the SSHRC Partnership Grant Thinking Through the Museum.

Kamal Dhillon

Kamal Dhillon is a recent graduate (2021) of the Cultural Studies (Texts & Cultures) MA program at the University of Winnipeg. She also received her undergrad and education degrees at the University of Winnipeg in 2016, majoring in English. She currently works full-time as a high school English Language Arts teacher in Winnipeg’s Seven Oaks School Division. Her professional and scholarly interests are focused on Critical Literacy, Critical Theory, Critical Pedagogy and Decolonial Methodologies. She worked as a Senior Research Assistant on the “Remembrance Practice After the 1985 Air India Bombings” project with Dr. Angela Failler.

Christian Higham