PhD candidates in the Department of Visual Art and Art History at York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD) were featured in the Art and Health Lecture Series at Baycrest Hospital’s Kimel Family Centre for Brain Health & Wellness. The series explored how contemporary art research can contribute to conversations around cognitive health and wellbeing.
Curated by Professor Jennifer Fisher from the Department of Visual Art and Art History, the lecture series included research presentations by PhD candidates Hailey Kobrin, Anthi Trifonas and Michelle Faux, along with recent PhD graduate Derek Coulombe, a distinguished disability scholar.
Presented at the Kimel Family Centre for Brain Health & Wellness, the series was part of a broader research initiative led by Nicole Anderson, PhD, Associate Scientific Director at Baycrest, in collaboration with Dr. Howard Chertkow, MD, involving more than 700 participants, focused on reducing dementia risk through personalized, non-pharmacological approaches.
Alongside programming that supports physical activity, nutrition and mindfulness, the centre emphasizes cognitive engagement through activities such as discussion groups, book clubs and art classes.
“Presenting their research to an intellectually engaged audience allowed for a rich exchange,” says Professor Fisher. She noted that the audience, made up of participants in Baycrest’s brain health programming, brought thoughtful and substantive questions, creating a strong sense of engagement throughout the lectures.
Research presentations by AMPD PhD candidates at the Baycrest Art and Health Lecture Series included:
Derek Coulombe
PhD, Visual Arts
Shaper: Figuration and Disorder
Coulombe explores embodiment through the lens of neurological difference, using their own experience with Tourette’s Syndrome to reconsider histories of modernist figuration. Coulombe’s work examines how the body can be understood as both subject and object, and how artworks can function as proxies for neurodiverse experience.
Michelle Faux
PhD Candidate, Art History and Visual Culture
Caricaturing as a Form of Expression in Europe and Asia
Faux’s research traces the development of caricature across cultural and historical contexts, examining how the form evolved alongside advances in print and visual culture in regions including France, Britain, India and Hong Kong.
Hailey Kobrin
PhD Candidate, Art History and Visual Culture
Seeing Jewishly: Memory and Identity in Contemporary Artworks
Seeing Jewishly examines how Jewish artists of the 20th and 21st centuries have reimagined faith, memory and culture through their work. Drawing on artists such as Mark Rothko and Deborah Kass, Kobrin’s research explores how artistic practice reflects and reshapes understandings of identity across generations.
Anthi Trifonas
PhD Candidate, Art History and Visual Culture
Socially Engaged Art and Placemaking in Toronto
Trifonas examines artist and youth-led collectives responding to homelessness and housing policy through collaborative, community-based practices. This research highlights how public art can support placemaking, memory and care within changing urban environments.
Following the series, PhD candidate Anthi Trifonas reflected on the experience of presenting in this environment.
“Participating in Baycrest’s Art and Health lecture series was a wonderful experience, and I was very impressed by the audience’s thoughtful engagement,” says Trifonas.
"From recognizing locations in images of public artworks across Toronto to raising questions about the documentation and historicization of socially engaged art, their contributions highlighted how conversations about art can foster social connection and intellectual stimulation.”
The series highlights the range of research underway in AMPD’s Department of Visual Art and Art History, spanning topics such as memory, identity, embodiment and community-based practices, reflecting a broad and evolving approach to art history and visual culture.