Concordia University, Faculty of Fine Arts

Dans un nouveau portrait publié par Québec Science, Hannah Claus, professeure au Département des arts visuels de Concordia et titulaire de la Chaire de recherche de l’Université Concordia en Onkwehonwené:ha (méthodologie autochtone), revient sur sa pratique artistique et son approche de la recherche-création.

À travers ses œuvres, elle propose notamment de décentrer le regard et de réfléchir à notre relation avec le monde qui nous entoure, en s’appuyant sur des perspectives et méthodologies autochtones.

L’article comprend également une entrevue avec Rémi Quirion, scientifique en chef sortant du Québec.

🎨 Studio Arts professor and Concordia Research Chair in Onkwehonwené:ha (Indigenous Methodology) Hannah Claus is featured in a new Québec Science article exploring how her research-creation practice offers different ways of seeing and understanding the world through Indigenous perspectives.

Her practice also challenges dominant approaches to art, research and knowledge in the university, emphasizing relationality, Indigenous methodologies and ways of knowing.

In the interview with Rémi Quirion, Québec’s outgoing chief scientist, Hannah Claus reflects on her academic journey, the challenges she has encountered as an Indigenous researcher, and the advice she would offer to the next generation. 💬

👉 À lire dans Québec Science : https://www.quebecscience.qc.ca/societe/hannah-claus-recits-dominants/

Concordia University

🎵 A full-circle moment for Charlotte Cornfield!

From her early days playing Montreal’s indie scene to the national stage, Concordia alumna Charlotte Cornfield, BFA 10 is now shortlisted for the 2026 Polaris Music Prize for her deeply personal album Hurts Like Hell. 💫

Charlotte moved to Montreal to study jazz drumming at Concordia — and quickly found herself immersed in the city’s music scene. She credits her Concordia teachers and fellow musicians with helping shape the songwriter and musician she would become.

Now based in Toronto, she’ll perform at the Polaris Music Prize ceremony on September 22 before heading back to Montreal to headline POP Montreal on September 24 — a festival where she first performed back in 2008.

From Concordia to the Polaris shortlist, and back to Montreal. ❤️

De Concordia à la liste des finalistes du Prix Polaris! Félicitations à Charlotte Cornfield pour cette belle reconnaissance de son album Hurts Like Hell.

Read the full story to hear Charlotte reflect on her Concordia years, her creative journey and Hurts Like Hell. 👇
https://bit.ly/46ePKLG

Photo by Colin Medley

Concordia University
Polaris Music Prize

Where can a Fine Arts degree take you? 🎨💻

For Martin-John Hearty, BFA 20, in Computation Arts & Computer Science, it led to a career as a UX/UI designer — combining creativity, technology and problem-solving to design better digital experiences.

Looking back on his time at Concordia, Martin-John remembers a defining moment in his final year: while working on a project, he realized he was enjoying designing the website to present the project more than the project itself.

“That was a defining moment for me and made me realize that I wanted to pursue a career as a UX/UI designer.”

Today, he loves that his work allows him to create new products and solve complex problems.

His advice to students? Focus on the things that matter, even when they take time:

“Not everything needs to be so efficient all the time. Building your career, friendships, relationships, and passions, the things that matter most, can take longer than expected, and that’s okay.”

Découvrez l'histoire de Martin-John : 👇
https://www.concordia.ca/profiles/finearts/dcart/alumni/martin-john-hearty.html

Concordia Alumni Concordia University

🎨 Alumna spotlight: Mathilde Bois

Congratulations to Mathilde Bois (BFA Studio Arts, 2025) on being featured in Le Devoir in a beautiful profile exploring her artistic practice and fascination with the relationship between humans and the living world.

Through painting, textile and watercolour, Mathilde creates strange, playful and sometimes unsettling worlds where animals become a way of questioning our desire to categorize, control and humanize nature.

As Le Devoir writes, her work invites us to consider animals “as mirrors” through which our own behaviour can suddenly appear strange.

Mathilde’s exhibition Les fables du singe is currently on view at the Chapelle des Cuthbert in Berthierville until August 30.

Félicitations à notre diplômée en arts plastiques Mathilde Bois (BFA, 2025), dont la pratique est à l’honneur dans Le Devoir! 🎨

Son travail, qui explore notre rapport au vivant et aux animaux, est présenté dans un magnifique portrait signé Jean-Christophe Réhel.

👉 Read the full profile in Le Devoir:
https://bit.ly/4qobBcX



Concordia Alumni

Dans l’univers de Mathilde Bois Le feuilleton de Jean-Christophe

Film student Eniola Oyinloluwa is the creative director of Through Our Eyes, a youth-led virtual reality project by the Montreal Black Community Resource Centre (BCRC) that aims to foster empathy and spark conversations about anti-Black racism and systemic discrimination. 👏

Through immersive scenarios, participants experience situations of discrimination and are encouraged to reflect on what they’ve seen — and consider how they might respond in real life.

The project is already making an impact, with the BCRC hoping to bring Through Our Eyes to classrooms, workplaces and, eventually, the Montreal police.

🎥 Proud to see Concordia Film students using creative practice and emerging technologies to engage with important social issues and help create change.

Félicitations pour ce projet Eniola!
Watch the full CTV News report to learn more about the project: https://bit.ly/45wm3Wk

Montreal’s Black youth are using VR to help fight anti-Black racism Montreal’s Black Community Resource Centre (BCRC) is using virtual reality to help fight racism and hopes to bring the technology to the Montreal police.

🌟 Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and , Kim Nguyen, BFA 97, returns to theatres September 4 with his new documentary, A Photo in Saigon: Shots Fired at Two Lives.

🏆 Following acclaimed festival runs in Toronto and Vancouver, the and Noble Films production explores two Vietnamese families connected by a legendary wartime photograph.

🎬 Une photo à Saigon prendra l’affiche le 4 septembre dans les cinémas suivants :
Cinéma Beaubien (sous-titres français) ;
Cinémathèque québécoise (sous-titres français) ;
Cinéma du Parc (sous-titres anglais);
Cinéma Le Clap (sous-titres français).

☀️ What can sunlight teach us about climate change?

In a piece for The Conversation, Concordia Theatre prof Meghan Moe Beitiks explores how artists can use sunlight, performance and site-specific practices to rethink our relationship with the natural world — and the climate crisis.

Through projects involving sunlight, mirrors, reflective materials and performances at sites, artists reflect on climate change considers how art can help us see our ecological relationships in new ways.

From Montréal to international stages, Beitiks’ research-creation practice invites audiences to pause, play and reconsider how we connect to the environments around us...

Meghan Moe Beitiks, du Département de théâtre de Concordia, explore comment les artistes peuvent utiliser la lumière du soleil, la performance et le jeu pour repenser notre rapport à la nature et aux changements climatiques.

👉 Read the full article in The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/sunlight-is-alive-and-through-play-with-it-artists-reflect-on-climate-change-286720

Sunlight is alive — and through play with it, artists reflect on climate change Montréal-area performances have seen artists explore our human connections to light and ecological forces, and reflect on grief related to climate change.

🧡 Following International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, we’re highlighting the Indigenous artists and Concordia Fine Arts alumni helping shape new permanent artworks for the Henry F. Hall Building terrace.

Professor Hannah Claus, MFA 04 and Onkwehón/French-Canadian artist Kaia’tanó Dumoulin Bush are co-creating Teionihtiohtià, a panoramic mural for the space. Work is now underway, with Diane Roe (BFA 17), who supports the project through MU, providing mentorship to Indigenous art students involved in the process.

La terrasse réaménagée accueillera également la toute première œuvre permanente de Concordia réalisée par un artiste autochtone contemporain.

The artworks will be part of the redesigned terrace alongside Indigenous plants and elements that highlight Indigenous languages and the presence of Indigenous peoples on this territory.

The project will be officially unveiled on September 30, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

👉 Learn more about the project: https://tinyurl.com/4xmyvukv

MU

📸 Olivier Bousquet/MU