Artist Ruth Cuthand and neurobiologist Dr. Sari Hannila engage in a cross-disciplinary discussion about brain imaging: why and how we image the brain, what information it provides and the limitations of this form of “portraiture.” Cuthand will be sharing her Brain Scan Series that gives voice to issues of Indigenous mental health, and Hannila will present her knowledge about the history and future of brain scans.
Ruth Cuthand is a mixed media artist of Plains Cree and Scottish ancestry whose practice includes painting, drawing, photography and beadwork. Her work challenges mainstream perspectives of the relationship between settlers and Indigenous Peoples in a practice marked by an unflinching interpretation of racism and colonialism. It is included in collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the MacKenzie Art Gallery, to name a few. Cuthand lives and works in Saskatoon.
Dr. Sari Hannila completed her PhD in anatomy and cell biology at Queen’s University and a postdoctoral fellowship at Hunter College in New York City. Her research focusses on the neurobiology of axonal regeneration in the central nervous system, with the goal of developing new treatments for spinal cord injury. She also studies the role of a protein called secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor in diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
