Canada Council for the Arts -- Grant Application for Development of Life Lines as an Online Project

I wrote this application in 2007. I think it would have stood a good chance of getting some funding BUT they decided I wasn't really an artist. I'm not really sure why -- if it walks like an artist, if it talks like an artist...  But in any case, I was in some other country when the decision came through, and I didn't appeal it.


Significance of Activity Statement:

I am applying for a Canada Council for the Arts grant in order to expand Life Lines, a photography project in which I document and explore physical scars and their effect on identity. I photograph people’s scars and publish the in-depth stories of their origins. After this process I often receive personal letters detailing the transformative nature of this experience. I currently have no structure in which to represent or foster this reflection. A CCA grant would allow me to host a website with discussion features so that members of the public could participate in an ongoing dialogue. It would also allow me to print and exhibit several new photographs and possibly pay the participants an honorarium for their work.

    I began my artistic practice as a freelance photographer, focusing on decay in architecture. Influenced by recent work in front of the camera, I have now moved into portraiture, particularly of those who consider their bodies ‘different’. I am interested in the emotional and social components of photography and have been working on Life Lines since early 2006.

    I have exhibited at The Little Art Show (Fall 2007 and 2006), Resistor Gallery's Akin Bazaar (Summer 2007) Good For Her (Fall 2006) and the Riverdale Art Walk (Summer 2006). Life Lines has been published online since early 2006 and has received comments and submissions from around the world; in September 2006 I was interviewed by The Medium paper and CKUT radio about the project. I have also presented my findings at an academic conference (Bodies of Knowledge, 2006) and conducted an interactive workshop on scar narratives (Java Knights, 2006).

    This grant would allow me to breathe new life into a valuable project that has been pushed aside due to a lack of financial resources. People have fascinating things to say about their bodies, their scars and their experience of being photographed and displayed. I find this aspect of the project particularly interesting and would like to see it grow into a thriving area for online interaction. I would also be excited to further exhibit my work in a more accessible public context and to provide compensation to the people whose bodies I study.

Images Attached (screen shots from the project):