PhD Alumni

Mehvish completed her PhD research in the field of documentary filmmaking. Her documentary films have been showcased at film festivals across the globe, and she continues to critically examine the methodology and ethics within her field. Her work particularly focuses on the representation of subjects in documentaries set in protracted political conflict zones, seeking to envision them beyond the limited framework of victimhood. She interrogates patterns of absence within such documentaries, including the lack of humour and transcendental dimensions.

Her research combines a critique of existing documentary work in and about Kashmir with an exploration of alternative and experimental modes of responsible representation. At its core, this research seeks to understand, learn from, and develop ways to represent documentary subjects from this long-term conflict zone without reducing them to victims. Her work examines the impact of digital surveillance on interpersonal and community communication channels as well as on the viability of older media technologies in circumventing related challenges.

Peggy is an animator, illustrator, and teaching artist.  After studying digital design at Pratt Institute, she gained professional experience in post-production, creating animation and special effects for film and television. An interest in film and video festivals led to a position in the education department at The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. She has training in a variety of museum pedagogies and has created accessible experiences with art & media for all ages and abilities.

Neven Lochhead is an artist, filmmaker, curator, educator and PhD candidate in the Screen Cultures and Curatorial studies program. His research and theoretical writing examine the relation between art and knowledge, the open possibilities of curatorial education, and artist-led pedagogy and workshops.

Emily Sanders got her PhD student in Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies. Her research focuses primarily on Canadian film, and investigates the abject within the genre. Other research interests include rural cinemas in Canada, affect theory, aesthetics in film, horror and the monstrous, and film-philosophy. Her favourite film is Morvern Callar by Lynne Ramsay.

After graduating from Queen’s University with a Major in Sociology and a Minor in Film, Daniel transitioned to a Masters program in Cultural Studies, where he wrote his thesis “Hays Gone By: The Proto-Feminism of Pre-Code Hollywood and the Films of Mae West”. As an aspiring PhD student in Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies, Daniel is continuing his studies of transgression within Hollywood cinema, specifically as it relates to the Hollywood Production Code. Outside of the classroom, Daniel also makes video essays analyzing art-house cinema and popular film on YouTube under the name Eyebrow Cinema.