College of Arts and Science researchers take prizes in photo competition

Photos by students and faculty members of the College of Arts and Science won accolades in the ninth annual University of Saskatchewan (USask) Images of Research competition.

Faculty members Carla Orosz and Dr. Bill Patterson (PhD), and graduate students Demilade Otayemi and Anastasiia Nykonenko, won prizes in three categories of the annual competition celebrating the art and artistry of research, scholarly and artistic work at USask.

This year, 143 images were submitted across five categories. Winners were chosen by panels of judges and by a public vote. The winning images will be on display in the North Concourse of Place Riel from April 24–28, 2023.

See all of the winning images at research.usask.ca. The four College of Arts and Science winning photos and their descriptions are below.

Developing Drama (Winner, Arts in Focus)

by Carla Orosz
Associate professor and head, Department of Drama

Through my research project, Training the Eye, a team of theatre artists were gathered to create different scenarios on stage and examine the necessary design elements to support diverse skin tones. Through this research we discovered the colour in the colour in relation to the participant’s skin tones and used this knowledge in the other design elements such as set, lighting, costume, and makeup. In this image we wanted to create a tableau of characters in a heightened drama by creating a strong visual image around them. This was reinforced by highly saturated colours in the backdrop and lighting and only black and white costumes.

Funder: SSHRC

Chorus (Runner-up, Arts in Focus)

by Demilade Otayemi
Master of Fine Arts student, Department of Art and Art History

I created this sculptural installation as a part of a research program at the University of Saskatchewan where I observe engineers creating a sailboat cradle that helps children learn to sail on dry land in order to gain inspiration for my art and bring a social and cultural perspective to their engineering design processes. I tried to link unique childhood experiences with what the children will experience using the sailboat cradle. As much as this piece was created with the children in mind, it is also a reminder for engineers to focus on the experiential part of their innovations just like artists. By focusing on the experience and emotions of using this solution, I aim to bring a new perspective to the engineering design process and inspire engineers to consider the social and cultural impact of their designs.

Funder: Dr Lori Bradford, CRC research program

Adelie penguins of the Antarctic Peninsula (Winner, Research in Action)

by Dr. William Patterson (PhD)
Professor, Department of Geological Sciences

Dr. William Patterson quantifying the population decline of Adelie penguins on the Antarctic Peninsula. Adelie populations have decreased by 50–70 per cent during the last half of the 20th century to the present. Patterson and colleague Dr. Steven Emslie of the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, have discovered that whaling and sealing operations have been important drivers of penguin populations.

Funder: National Science Foundation (USA)

Togetherness (Winner, From the Field)

by Anastasiia Nykonenko
PhD student, Department of Biology

Family is everything. We, humans, are not the only creatures sharing this value. Here I portray a family group of iconic Sable Island horses. An alert stallion on the left is the relentless guardian of his favorite mare (on the right) and their two daughters. How long are they going to stay all together before the youngsters decide to disperse? How are their relationships going to develop throughout the life? And, the most importantly, what are the large scale consequences of the social bonding for individuals and population as a whole? These are some of the questions I am willing to answer with my research, bridging the gap between sociality, fitness and population dynamics.

Funders: Mitacs, NSERC

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