ROLOFF BENY FOUNDATION PHOTOGRAPHIC AWARD IN FINE ARTS - Pending

 

APPLICATION FORM
ROLOFF BENY FOUNDATION PHOTOGRAPHIC AWARD IN FINE ARTS

A. PERSONAL/ACADEMIC INFORMATION
NAME: DINAH GASTON. LETHBRIDGE I.D. NUMBER: 001240700 EMAIL: DINAH.GASTON@ULETH.CA PHONE: 4034018191
DEGREE PROGRAM AND MAJOR: BFA MUSEUM STUDIES MAJOR CURRENT YEAR OF STUDY: Spring Semester YEAR: THIRD

B. APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS AND GUIDELINES Applications must include the following items submitted as a single PDF document. [Merge all documents into a single PDF document, organized in the order below.]
1. Application Form A completed Application Form is included as the first page of your PDF document.

2. Personal Essay: maximum 500 words A Personal Essay should address your research/creative interests as they relate to photo-arts (themes or issues explored in your work; theoretical, social, aesthetic and/or material concerns, as relevant), and a proposal to travel. The relationship between your proposed travel (places and dates included) and your research interests should be clearly described. If you intend to use the award to defray costs related to the purchase of photographic equipment and/ or supplies, and/or tuition or fees for further study, these costs must also be outlined and rationalized within the essay. The essay must be a maximum of 500 words, titled with the award name, your name and date.

3. Portfolio of Work A Portfolio of Work consists of a maximum of 20 images that cohesively represent your work, and an accompanying image list. Your image list should include for each image the title, date, medium, dimensions. Brief descriptions of work may be included for context.

4. Proposed Budget A Proposed Budget must balance projected Expenses and Revenues, to a maximum award value of $5,000.00. Expenses may be incurred for travel (economy airfare, train, bus, mileage or fuel, accommodation, and meals [per diem $45/day]), tuition and/or fees for further study, photographic costs (equipment, accessories, software, supplies, etc.). Expenses and Revenues should be formatted in columns and totalled.

5. Proposed Project Dates Start Date: APRIL 8, 2024 Completion Date: APRIL 30,2024
6. Curriculum Vitae (CV) A CV outlines your professional accomplishments to date. It should list your education, scholarships and awards, exhibitions (group, solo, course related), publications, community service / involvement, employment experience, special skills (languages, travel, technical, other). SIGNATURE I hereby certify that the information given on this application is complete and true in all respects. The personal information is collected under authority of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The information is collected for the purpose of managing participation in University programs and activities. Questions related to the collection, use or disclosure of your personal information can be directed to the University of Lethbridge Privacy Office, 4401 University Drive W, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4.

Signature: DINAH GASTON Date: JANUARY 31,2024

PERSONAL ESSAY

My name is Dinah Gaston, and it is the 31st of January 2024. I am a queer diaspora Filipino/Spanish student/maker majoring in museum studies at the University of Lethbridge. Growing up and not seeing images that properly mirrored me inspired me to go back to school and immerse and educate myself in museum studies. My hope is that being in the arts realm would help in "othering" museum collections and visual arts culture in the future once I graduate.

The project I am applying for is dedicated to my mother Antonina Prado Gaston and my cousin Barbara Ann Pamatian who both passed away in 2022 before I started school. Entitled Bilad, exposed under the sun or exposed for all to see in the open, this work examines what it means to expose the Filipino immigrant presence in Canada.

My installation explores the history and the communicative properties of traditional Indigenous Filipino and Muslim textiles, as well as the performative and integrative properties of vintage dish clothes, jay cloths, Tim Hortons bags, Macdonald bags, coffee cup lids, straws, and other materials. The idea was to recreate objects, garments, and woven textiles as symbols for the Filipino workers who came to Canada as immigrants and who already held established degrees back home. They then became domestic workers, labourers, nannies or worked at fast food establishments. There are approximately 957,000 Filipinos now in Canada, four out of five of those are immigrants.

My installation Bilad, exposed under the sun or exposed for all to see in the open has graciously been accepted and invited to present as a solo show for the April/May 2025 season at Casa here in Lethbridge. It is also being considered for 50 years of Saskatchewan Filipino immigrants in July of this year at the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon, Sask.

The installation is almost complete, but it is missing one or two garments and several large format photos. I am hoping to use the ROLOFF BENY FOUNDATION PHOTOGRAPHIC AWARD IN FINE ARTS to fly to the Oaxaca City, Mexico and do a three-week weaving residency at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca. As a recommendation from Professor Miguel Solis, I found out that the Museo currently houses a dozen original textiles and garments from the Philippines. My residency would enable me to learn how to traditionally hand-dye, then weave and replicate garments from my homeland in the traditional way. I would then like to photograph all of the original Filipino garments and textiles the Museum houses, including the garments and textiles that I weave, enlarge them and include some as large format pieces for my Bilad exposition.

These creations will hopefully spotlight those families who now occupy most of our population here in Canada; my mother and my cousin being very much a part of this immigration story. I hope this project will expose their sacrifice and selflessness.

I have been on the Dean’s List every semester that I have been enrolled here with a GPA average of 3.97.

PORTFOLIO TITLE LIST 

1. TRIANGLE QUILT 5 x 6 feet, Cotton April 15, 2021

2. DIAMOND QUILT – 3 x 4 feet, Cotton Sept 20, 2020 

3. PATCH QUILT 3 x 4 Feet, Cotton Sept 20, 2020

4. SILO QUILT– 3 x 4 Feet, Cotton April 15, 2021

5. IN DAYS QUILT 4 x 6 Feet, Cotton Jan 28, 2021

6. TOPSY TURVY TRIANGLES 4 x 5 Feet, Cotton Sept 20, 2020

7. Banig- Bilad, exposed under the sun installation 3 x 6 Feet Tim Horton’s and MacDonald’s paper bags, embroidery thread November 2023

8. Limpio – Bilad, exposed under the sun installation 4 x 5 Feet Vintage dish towels of linen and cotton November 2023

9. Wide view of Bilad, exposed under the sun installation Traditional Filipino and Muslim Textiles, wooden flowers, pearls November 2023

10. Back view of Bilad, exposed under the sun installation Traditional Filipino and Muslim Textiles, wooden flowers, pearls November 2023

NUMBER 1

NUMBER 2

NUMBER 3

NUMBER 4

NUMBER 5

NUMBER 6

NUMBER 7

NUMBER 8

NUMBER 9

NUMBER 10

PROPOSED BUDGET

BUDGET FOR ROLOFF BENY FOUNDATION PHOTOGRAPHIC AWARD IN FINE ARTS DINAH GASTON

TRAVEL:RETURN PLANE TICKET LETHBRIDGE TO OAXACA CITY, MEXICO-  1000

3 WEEKS ROOM AND BOARD: 22 DAYS X $75.00. -                                                    1650

PREDIUM: 22 DAYS X $45.00 -                                                                                            990

TRANSPORTATION 22 DAYS X $5.00                                                                                 110

CAMERA: A SIMPLE DLSR CAMERA WIDE ANGLE LENS                                            500

LARGE FORMAT PRINTS AND PRINTING                                                                        250

SUPPLIES                                                                                                                                500

                                                                  

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL $5000

PROPOSED PROJECT DATES

START DATE: APRIL 8, 2024 COMPLETION DATE : APRIL 30, 2024

PLEASE LOOK AT ARTIST CV IN THE ARTIST CV POST 

Collectors: Ian Thorne – Retired Head Curator, Vancouver Art Gallery Ed Nacional – Marketing, New York Times

Mgaston99@hotmail.com 4034018191