Scientist Lynne Quarmby (SFU), and social practice artist Susan Stewart (ECAD), were two of 30 participants on an international Arctic Circle residency this past June. Scientists, artists and educators were brought together for three weeks to experience, create, and dialogue on the high Arctic, human-generated climate change and art practice while sailing aboard the tall ship Antigua in and around the fiercely beautiful Svalbard Archipelago. Quarmby and Stewart will discuss the science of climate change and show documentation of the Arctic with images taken during the residency.

Emily Carr faculty Susan Stewart is an educator and social practice media artist who has produced photography, documentaries, writing, and multi-media performance and installations. Her work often focuses on social justice issues, including feminist/queer activism, equity issues, and representation and censorship. Recent work is concerned with notions of social sustainability within the context of environmental and cultural crisis. 

Lynne Quarmby is a professor of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry at Simon Fraser University. Together with her graduate students, Lynne has published over 50 research papers exploring the molecular machines of life. Increasingly obsessed with climate change, Lynne has undertaken a new research project focused on Watermelon Snow — the single-celled algae that grow in thin layers of meltwater on snow and ice and may be amplifying the effects of anthropogenic climate change. Lynne is also a climate justice activist, twice arrested for acts of civil disobedience and once sued by a pipeline giant for writing an Op/Ed that incited protest.