Israt Jahan Lipa’s eyes shine with pride.
“I am just so honoured,” said the PhD candidate from the Department of Folklore, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, with a wide smile during a recent Memorial centennial event. “It’s so great to see my research on display.”
Ms. Lipa’s research focuses on folk beliefs and narratives about road crashes and the material culture of roadside shrines in Bangladesh.
Her photo, titled Symbol of Motion Frozen in Stillness, is one of 10 images featured in the inaugural gallery exhibit for Picture Us: A Research at Memorial Event. The gallery opening was held in the Office of Research in the Bruneau Centre for Research and Innovation on March 12.
Picture Us, one of the university’s 100th Anniversary funded projects, showcases Memorial’s diverse research activities through a series of photographic exhibits featuring up to 100 researchers over 10 monthly exhibits. Exhibits will run from March 2024 to April 2026.
See below for researchers featured in the augural exhibit.
1/ drink your cod bone tea, m’love, 2022
Newfoundland and Labrador natural remedy ingredients (cod skin and bones) made into pigment for artistic representation. The research project title is Bricolage: The Art of Natural Remedies in Newfoundland and Labrador.
2/ A Living Record, 2023
Bone’s ability to adapt to our diets, activity regimens and substances we ingest are recorded and edited by teams of bone cells during the remodelling process. This 3D render of bone generated using synchrotron micro-computed tomography visualizes the thickness of bone’s vascular canals (blue/purple) and provides a snapshot into the bone remodelling process (gold orb). Through demolishing damaged bone, bone cells demonstrate their remarkable ability to adapt to ever-changing physiological demands, leaving behind a preservable and readable record even centuries after death. The research project title is Opioid-induced Osteoporosis and Associated Impacts on Intracortical Porosity and Bone's Cellular Organization.
3/ Iris Trio in Performance at The Rooms, 2022
The Iris Trio performing “Project Earth: The Blue Chapter” at The Rooms. Submitted by Dr. Christine Carter, founding member of the Iris Trio and associate professor, School of Music, and Florian Hoefner, composer of "Project Earth: The Blue Chapter" and assistant professor, School of Music, St. John’s campus.
4/ N.L. Social Work History at the Crossroads of the World, 2024
A 14-panel exhibit chronicling the history of Social Work in Newfoundland and Labrador in Gander Airport’s Gallery ’59. Submitted by Drs. Donna Hardy Cox, professor, and Michelle Sullivan, School of Social Work, St. John’s campus. The research project title is From Charity Model to Social Enterprise: History of the Social Work Profession and Education in Newfoundland and Labrador.
5/ “I’m the feather … I made it through breast cancer” 2023
The intersection of art and health represented in tattoos women chose in response to breast cancer. Submitted by Dr. Sonya Corbin Dwyer, professor, Department of Psychology, and Dr. Jennifer Buckle, professor, Department of Psychology, Grenfell Campus. The research project title is Inked Agency: The Role of Tattoos in Response to Breast Cancer.
6/ Ferryland Archaeology Project: A 30-Plus Year Community Partnership, 2024
Aerial view of the 17th-century waterfront unearthed during excavations at Ferryland, N.L., showing sections of the stone quayside running along the inner harbour, remnants of a large storehouse, a tidal flushing privy and other structures built during the 1620s. Memorial University archaeologists and community members have been excavating the structural remains and features since 1992, revealing one of the best preserved and most substantial early English settlements in what is Canada today. Submitted by Dr. Barry Gaulton, professor, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, St. John’s campus, with community partner the Colony of Avalon Foundation.
7/ Symbol of Motion Frozen in Stillness, 2023
The materiality of an accident memorial, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The research project title is Evil Scars on Roads: Folk Beliefs and Narratives about Road Crashes and Material Culture of Roadside Shrines in Bangladesh.
8/ Cool marine research on the ice, 2023
This photo captures PhD student Sara Jobson and post-doctoral fellow Kevin Ma operating an underwater drone from the relative comfort of a qamutiik (traditional Inuit sled), Qikiqtait, Hudson Bay, Nunavut. Submitted by Dr. Annie Mercier, professor, Department of Ocean Sciences, St. John’s campus. The research project title is BenthArctic.
9/ Fieldwork in Baie Verte, 2023
Pictured in front from left are Natasha Miller, B.Sc.’20 (Maritime Resources Ltd.); Gabriel Ariza (PhD candidate, Memorial University); and Sara Craig (M.Sc. candidate. Queen’s University). In back from left are Daniel Layton-Matthews (professor, Queen’s University); and Steve Piercey (University Research Professor, Memorial University). The research project title is Understanding the Relationships Between Silurian (~440-420 Million-year-old) Magmatism, Volcanic Activity and Plate Tectonic Processes to the Formation of Gold-copper and Nickel-copper Mineralization in the Springdale and Baie Verte Peninsulas.
10/ The chitin architecture of a crab exoskeleton, 2024
Purified chitin structure of a snow crab. It’s extremely strong and feels like plastic. The research project title is Development of Green Extraction Processes for Chitin from Crustacean Shells.
The current Picture Us photo exhibit will be on display until April 10 inside the Office of the Vice-President (Research), room IIC-3003 in the Bruneau Centre for Research and Innovation, St. John’s campus. Members of the Memorial community are invited to visit Monday-Friday between 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Organizers welcome submissions for future exhibits. More information and how to submit your photo is available here.
