Digital Futures Grad Student Quinn Rockliff collabs with H & M & Rethink Breast Cancer

H & M tee Quinn Rockliff
Wednesday, October 24, 2018 - 2:45pm

Article by Josh Paglione, Graduate Studies

Digital Futures MFA Graduate Student Quinn Rockliff has teamed up with H&M Canada and Rethink Breast Cancer, the young women’s breast cancer movement, to design a five peice t-shirt collection in an effort to promote breast cancer awareness. Quinn, a surival of sexual assault, began creating her illustrations as a way of healing from the trama she experienced, and eventually, she began sharing her designs on social media sites as a reflection of life as a survivor, while transferring the responsibility of repeating and distributing these reflections onto a digital platform. The work has also inspired her thesis research which takes an autoethnographic approach to understanding how one can use social media as a survivor of sexual assault. She specifically investigates how a virtual embodiment of self can perpetuate narratives and recall information, allowing for a transference of her emotional labour.

"When I began to seek traditional routes towards justice and healing after my assault, I was repeatedly required to recount, justify, and relive trauma, in order to be believed. My simplistic line style has always explored the representation of women's bodies, this project challenged me to think in a new medium by considering how a t-shirt can serve as a reminder to self and signifier to others to check yourself for breast cancer.- Quinn Rockliff

Tee

Photo courtesy of the artist

Quinn said she began sharing her illustrations digitally as a means to interact remotely with people who have the potential to challenge her selfhood, without retraumatization through one-on-one interaction. For Quinn, the technological interface becomes a means to speak loudly and bravely about her assault, as well as a way to confidently explore issues and creative expressions, such as body positivity, nudity, and feminist art. Quinn was then approached by H & M Canada to design the t-shirt collection as a fundraiser and awareness initiative for the Rethink Breast Canacer capaign, in which 100% of the proceeds go directly to Rethink Breast Cancer.

"This was such a great project for me to work on alongside my thesis work, it provided both a creative shift while still fitting into my larger interests of the way in which we can talk about issues with social stigma, especially those who effect women, and how art can be used to inspire new perspectives of the body. I wanted to create art that raised awareness around breast cancer while still being t-shirts I would wear every day and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with a charity that gave me the artistic freedom to stay true to my style while highlighting their important cause. I've admired Rethink Breast Cancers work for a while, their style of conveying hard to talk about topics in a bold and accessible way for young people continues to inspire me to rethink my understanding of the cause and continue to support it, it was such an honor to collaborate with them and H&M to raise funds this October." -Quinn Rockliff

For more information:

Related article by Fashion Magazine: https://fashionmagazine.com/lifestyle/hm-rethink-breast-cancer-shirts/

For more informaiton about the Rethink Breast Cancer campaign, visit: https://rethinkbreastcancer.com/get-involved/shop/

The Rethink Breast Cancer t-shirts are available at the H & M Eaton Centre and Yorkdale Mall stores.

Follow Quinn on Instagram: Instagram.com/quinnrockliff 

wouldurather

3rd Annual Walk To End Child Sexual Abuse

youth out loud
Sunday, June 1, 2008 - 3:00pm to 8:00pm

CAASA/ACCAS at OCAD, affiliated with Canadian Artists against Sexual Assault/Artistes Canadiens Contre L'Assaut Sexuel, invite the OCAD community to participate in this fundraising and awareness walk.

Registration: 11 am

Event: 12 noon

Walk: 1 pm

Closing ceremony,live music and browse until 4 pm.

Speakers and performers include Lee Maracle, Raw Taiko Drummers, Sharon Simone, Glenn Marais, The Raging Grannies, The Tooners, No Boundaries, and others!

Venue & Address: 
Dundas Square (Dundas and Yonge), Toronto, Ontario
Cost: 
Free

Playing Doctor

Shannon Gerard
Wednesday, September 26, 2007 - 4:00am to Sunday, December 9, 2007 - 5:00am

AGYU presents PLAYING DOCTOR with OCAD Instructor Shannon Gerard and artist stef lenk at York University's Bookstore. Gerard's multi-media presentation, featuring models in crocheted strap-ons, guides the audience through a self-examination of their bathing suit areas, while lenk's life-sized game of Operation has participants digging for anatomical treasures on a fully functioning game-board. The installation will be on view from 26 September to 9 December 2007.
Books and comics by Gerard and lenk will be on sale in AGYU Bookstore for the duration of the exhibition.
PLAYING DOCTOR is part of a larger project called BOOBS & DINKS: Early Detection Kits:
Shannon Gerard's BOOBS & DINKS Early Detection Kits are crocheted breasts and testicles containing small lumps that can be found by following instructions provided in accompanying booklets. Warm up on these plush privates and then examine your own precious bathing suit area! The softness and humour of these BOOBS & DINKS aims to eliminate some of the fear surrounding monthly self-exams. Five dollars from each purchase will be donated to Cottage Dreams'a cancer recovery initiative in the Muskokas (cottagedreams.org).
The dates and times of PLAYING DOCTOR:
Opening Wednesday, September 26 2007, 6 to 9 pm
Get along on the Performance Bus! On the Harvest Full Moon, Wednesday, September 26, spirit yourself onto the AGYU performance bus with artist Katie Bethune-Leamen to the opening reception of PLAYING DOCTOR and FASTW'RMS Donky@Ninja@Witch. The free bus departs OCAD (100 McCaul St.) at 6 pm sharp and returns downtown at 9 pm.
The AGYU is located in the Accolade East Building, 4700 Keele Street Toronto. Gallery hours are: Monday to Friday, 10 am'4 pm; Wednesday, 10am'8 pm; Sunday from noon'5 pm; and closed Saturday. Admission to everything out there is free.

Venue & Address: 
Art Gallery of York University 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario
Cost: 
Free

Sessional Instructor Ilene Sova presents: To Be

Portrait Painting of Alex Pangman
Saturday, April 2, 2016 - 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Sessional Instructor Ilene Sova presents:  To Be, an exhibition in partnership with the Ontario Gift of Life Network for organ donation awareness month

You are invited to the special reception for the opening of 'To Be' an exhibition in partnership with the Ontario Gift of Life Network for organ donation awareness month.  

Enjoy a wine reception with Ilene Sova in attendance along with the portrait subjects and their families, Saturday April 2nd from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm

In partnership with the Ontario Trillium Gift of Life Network

Regular gallery hours -  Wed to Sat - 1 to 6 pm | or by appointment

For the past year and a half Ilene Sova has been working with the Ontario Trillium Gift of Life Network to create a portrait project around Organ Donation Awareness Month. This show will include 10 large scale portraits of both recipients and donors who's lives are affected by organ donation. Through this unique exhibition the Ontario Trillium Gift of Life Network would like to encourage Canadians to see the human stories behind the people who give and receive organs. To register to be an organ donor online click here.

 

 

 

Venue & Address: 
Walnut Contemporary 201 Niagara Toronto ON
Website: 
http://ilenesova.cmail20.com/t/ViewEmail/i/2AF0D9D5A251ED6E/8C83A8814995AD94C68C6A341B5D209E
Cost: 
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Mindfest

Image of a brain made out of gears
Wednesday, October 7, 2015 - 1:00pm to Thursday, October 8, 2015 - 12:30am

Mindfest is happening on October 7th and it is bigger and better than ever! The University of Toronto’s Department of Psychiatry has teamed up with Ryerson, OCAD, Kids Help Phone, Family Navigation Project, and many other community partnerships to continually increase awareness of mental illness anti-stigmatization. Join us at Hart House on October 7th for our 3rd annual day of awareness! Workshops, community resources and interactive sessions will be held between 9am - 4pm. Can’t make it during business hours? We’ll be having a Mindfest walk to Ryerson and an after party from 4 pm - 8 pm!

Venue & Address: 
Hart House - 7 Hart House Circle Toronto, ON
Website: 
http://www.mindfest.ca
Cost: 
Free!

Mental Health Awareness Fair

Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - 2:00pm

Learn more about mental health and ways of coping with stress in order to maintain a healthy, creative mind.

Having a healthy mind requires balance, taking time for ourselves, connecting
with others and taking part in physical activity. A healthy mind leaves
room for imagination and creativity!

 

Free

 

Venue & Address: 
Lobby 100 McCaul St. Toronto, Ontario

Seven Days of Remembrance and Hope

Seven Days of Remembrance and Hope
Thursday, November 7, 2013 - 11:00pm

Part of Holocaust Education Week

7 Days of Remembrance...and Hope is focused on 6 Canadian university students, from different regions of Canada, who join 60 other students on a yearly sojourn to the concentration camps of Poland. It is there, through the voices of the survivors and the remnants of the camps, that these students witness the harsh reality of bigotry and indifference and vow to change it.

The students themselves, Rudi, who escaped with his family from the war in Sudan, Shakira, who left Africa at age 10 to come to Canada, Ola, who is Muslim Canadian, Jeremy, a history student at U of T, Navid, whose family had to leave Iran because of their Baha’i faith and Spencer, a gay activist, artist, and OCAD U faculty member, are all featured in this film.

Director: Fern Levitt

Director Fern Levitt and one of the featured participants in the documentary, Spencer J. Harrison, will be available for a Q & A after the film.

About Holocaust Education Week
Holocaust Education Week 2013 explores different national, generational and cultural narratives of the Holocaust and its aftermath: the historical narratives of countries and regions where the Shoah occurred, the personal and collective narratives of individual survivors and communities who rebuilt themselves elsewhere in the world, and the next generations who will perpetuate their legacies. This year’s program focuses its lens on the dynamic process that unites historical events with personal experiences.

Presented by the Faculty of Art and supported by the Office of Diversity & Equity

 

Free

 

Venue & Address: 
Room 284 100 McCaul St. Toronto, Ontario