Dr. Anna (Ania) Paluch

2023 PhD Graduate, Visual Culture

My research examines the connections between Indigenous Futurism and Slavic Futurism and the role of science fiction and popular culture in reclaiming traditional imagery and preserving oral stories. When doing my research I approached my work self-reflexively as not only a settler, but as someone who belongs to the Polish diaspora in Canada. Where I look at Indigenous Futurism in the decolonial context, I approach Slavic Futurism through the lens of Polish artists de-westernizing themselves. I focus on visual art and short films and how they show that culture and tradition can live in a contemporary, futuristic, setting: the Navajo creation story can be set on Mars (The 6th World), and Polish folk heroes can out-smart demons in a space ship (Twardowksy 2.0).

Doctoral Project

THESIS TITLE: From Turtle Island to Vistula’s Shores: Indigenous North American and Eastern European Futurisms in Dialogue

Defence date: January 15, 2024

Recent Exhibitions and Publications

• “Reflecting on Identity Through the Family Album”. In Ottawa Hispanic Studies: 27^th Edition, edited by Luis Abanto and Ana Fernandez, 77-90. Ottawa: Lugar Comun Editorial, 2018.
• “Living Culture Moving Art”, National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives, Ottawa, ON. 7 – 21 April 2015.
• “Mapping Ottawa”, Blink Gallery, Ottawa, ON. 17 – 27 July 2014.
• “Unconventional Space as Cultural Dialogue: Installations from the Central-Eastern World”. Millefeuilles Journal, Ottawa: Magcloud. June 2014.
• “125 Years”, Paradigm[e] Gallery, Ottawa, ON. 5 December 2013 – 17 February 2014.

Recent Conferences

• 2019. Metis Futurism: Rosalia Favell and Metis in Space Set Their Phasers to Decolonize the Sci Fi Universe (V. 2), NAISA 2019, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand/Aotearoa
• 2018. Metis Futurism: Rosalia Favell and Metis in Space Set Their Phasers to Decolonize the Sci Fi Universe (V. 1), “Worlding SF: Building, Inhabiting, and Understanding Science Fiction Universes”, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
• 2018. A Tale of Two Polands, “To Maria Amanda Bairo: Legacy of Love” panel, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, International Colloquium: Women’s Voices/Voix Feminines/Voces Femeninas, University of Ottawa, ON
• 2018. Piękna Śmierć: The translation of death rituals from Poland into Polonia (V. 2), Death and Culture II Conference, Department of Sociology, University of York, York, UK
• 2017. Piękna Śmierć: The translation of death rituals from Poland into Polonia (V. 1), Joint Graduate Students Symposium, “Commemoration and Critique: Discussions around Heritage Conservation & Cultural Work of Mourning”, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON
• 2017. Water is Life, Water is Blood: Indigenous Resistance and Environmental Activism in Music Videos, Off the Record Conference, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON
• 2017. Barry Ace – Beads and Motherboards, CIRCLE Conference, “Reckoning with Canada at 150: Critical Perspectives and Indigenous Sovereignty”, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON
• 2017. Analyzing the Family Album, Work in Progress: The Construction of Identities Through Discursive Practices in Contemporary (Canadian) Society, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON
• 2016. Decolonizing the Streets. Workshop and presentation at the Decolonizing Conference CIARS 2016. Toronto, Ontario. 5, November.
• 2016-2018. Contested Landscapes and Beats on the Streets. Presentation with Prof. Allan J. Ryan at the 2016 Summer School on Arts + Human Rights Program. Ottawa, Ontario. 23, June.
• 2015. Calligraffiti: The Script of Protesters. Presentation at Flux & Flow: Explorations of Movement and Change. Ottawa, Ontario. 28, March.
• 2015. Imagined Identities, Composed Memory. Presentation at Zelikovitz Centre Student Colloquium: Religion, Memory and Identity. Ottawa, Ontario. 17, April.