We are pleased to announce the recipients for The Fur-Bearers Arts & Science Scholarship for 2023: Nicole Murphy and Rachel Foster. Thank you to everyone who applied and has shown interest in the scholarship program!
The Fur-Bearers Arts & Science Scholarship was created in 2021 to support individuals who are committed to improving coexistence with wildlife in Canada. The scholarship is awarded to support projects designed to promote coexistence through the use of art or through science-based projects. This year, The Fur-Bearers is awarding a scholarship in both the Arts stream and the Science Stream. Click here to learn more about the Arts & Science Scholarship.
2023 Arts & Science Scholarship Recipients
Nicole Murphy, Ontario
This project will examine media representation and public perceptions of coyotes on campus at Trent University. It will include a media analysis, camera trap data of coyotes in the Trent Nature Areas, and survey data. Through my proposed project I hope to examine the media’s impact on human perception of coyotes and, in turn, how these perceptions impact human-coyote interactions and limit opportunities for coexistence. I hope my project will challenge negative perceptions of coyotes as problematic and dangerous animals and allow people to see them as essential and important members of our urban communities. By filling community knowledge gaps, perceptions of coyotes can be altered to promote interactions premised on coexistence.
Rachel Foster, British Columbia
My visual art installation will aim to contribute to the importance of large terrestrial mammal conservation in BC. Two large tapestries created using alternative photography will compare ‘secure’ species versus those that are of ‘special concern’ and ‘threatened’. Some threatened species are feared, such as the Grizzly Bear, or viewed as a nuisance, such as the American Badger. Public fear and dismissiveness are hurtful to coexistence, and my project aims to show the significant roles larger mammals interweave into BC’s diverse landscapes, and how their looming loss will be tragic.
View Rachel’s work at www.rachelverity.org and on Instagram at @_rachelverity.
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