Research Affiliate

Dr Cynthia Hammond is Professor of Art History at Concordia University. She is an artist and scholar, whose research and creation emphasize living memories and situated knowledge of the city, especially women’s knowledge. Her most recent solo exhibition, ‘Les Jardins des femmes’, was held at the School of Architecture of McGill University in June 2019. This exhibition centred around St. Margaret’s Home (Montreal), which for almost a century was a home to older women. Cynthia is presently leading two federally-funded research grants: “La ville extraordinaire: Learning from older Montrealers’ urban knowledge through oral history research-creation” is a three-year Partnership Development Grant project that aims to learn about diverse older Montrealers’ spatial memories and urban knowledge. Core members Shauna Janssen and Eric Craven are co-applicants on this project, and many COHDS students are leading the interviews with different communities. The Centre des mémoires Montréalais.es will host an exhibition about this work in 2024. “The Spaces of Restorative and Transitional Justice” is a two-year Insight Development Grant that explores the ways in which design and spatial questions can support or hinder alternative justice activities. This project was inspired by core member, Luis Sotelo Castro’s own research on restorative and transitional justice. He is a co-applicant alongside McGill professor, Ipek Türeli. Through this project we have amassed 35 interviews and 50 case studies, which can be viewed here. Cynthia’s research can be accessed here, and her artistic work can be found here.