Value: $6,000
Thanks to the generosity of Dr. Michele Larose, artist and paediatric neuropsychiatrist who trained in psychiatry and child psychiatry at 海角社区 and in visual arts at Curtin University in Australia, the Osler Library of the History of Medicine has established an artist-in-residence programme.
The award supports visual artists visiting the university to create works that address contemporary and/or historical subjects in medicine and the health sciences that are inspired by the rich and diverse collections held by the Osler Library and/or other sources at 海角社区, which may include 海角社区 faculties and hospitals.听Possible projects can include, but are not limited to: painting; photography; performance; sculpture; and digital, video or installation art.
The Michele Larose 鈥� Osler Library Artist-in-Residence award, valued at $6,000, will be given annually to one or more deserving candidates with a degree in Studio Arts or a related field and/or a history of exhibiting artistic work in professional venues.
The recipient, who will be known as the Larose-Osler Artist-in-Residence, will receive assistance from the staff of the Osler Library and will have full access to the library鈥檚 world-class historical and contemporary collections as well as other sources.听 Please note that the artist will be accommodated as well as possible, but that there is no dedicated studio space available. The award is intended to cover travel, materials, and related expenses incurred by the artist; the amount given is set at $6,000, from which taxes may be deducted, and will be paid in two parts: half at the beginning of the residency, the other half upon completion of the residency requirements.
During the tenure of the Larose-Osler Artist-in-Residence, he or she will be responsible for:
- Working on the project;
- Giving a public presentation about the project;
- Exhibiting or performing the work (see
osler_exhibit_cases_and_spaces.pdf); and - Submitting a report on the project, suitable for publication in the Osler Library Newsletter.
- Completing the work by 30 April 2026.
The Larose-Osler Artist-in-Residence will be encouraged to meet with students and faculty members and to take part in the life and culture of the University.
The work will remain the property of the artist, however, recognition of support should be given to Dre Michele Larose and to the Osler Library for the History of Medicine.
Interested artists should send the following information to the library:听 听
- A project description (1 page);
- A proposed timeline;
- CV;
- Two letters of recommendation; and
- Samples of work (please reduce large files as much as possible while still making them legible).
The application information should be sent as ONE pdf file using the file name (your last name.LaroseOsler2025.pdf)
Deadline for receipt of applications: 31 July 2025
Applications should be sent to the Osler Library (osler.library [at] mcgill.ca).
For more information, please contact the Osler Library at 514-398-4475 or听osler.library [at] mcgill.ca.
Congratulations to our 2024 winner, Ev Ricky
Ev Ricky (they/them/theirs, xe/ xyr/xyrs) is a Tiohti脿:ke (鈥淢ontr茅al鈥�)-based white settler, multidisciplinary visual artist, writer, graphic novelist, zine-maker, and cultural worker, whose work has appeared in the Ignatz Award-winning anthology 鈥淲e鈥檙e Still Here鈥� and was once described as 鈥減ert鈥� and 鈥測oung鈥� by Vaginal Creme Davis. Agender, immunocompromised, and chronically ill with an invisibilized disability, they鈥檙e interested in using bodily forms and processes in xyr work to explore the interior experience of being in a body as a fundamentally unknowable, inarticulable position.
Ev鈥檚 most recent body of work has been in graphic medicine, pathographics, print media, and book arts, to tangle with alternative sensoria, the immune system as a critical optic, speculative fiction, harm reduction, access intimacies (a term coined by Mia Mingus), dyke culture, early print culture, and third space theory. On the level of process, xe really enjoys materiality and material processes as a playground in their work, and xyr curiosity is often grounded by questions about slipperiness, stickiness, permeability, squishiness, scratching, palpating, breathing, bursting, stretching, squeezing, and bouncing. Alongside their research project at the Mich猫le Larose-Osler Library artist residency, xe is also working on a comic art manuscript entitled I Wouldn鈥檛 Lie to You. You can follow their work at evricky.com or @ev.r_icky on Instagram.
Previous winners:
2023
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St茅phan Ballard's life and work have revolved around Montreal. Having pursued studies in graphic design and photography at Concordia University, he swiftly emerged onto the artistic scene with participation in numerous collective and solo exhibitions spanning across Canada and Europe. His creative path took a significant turn in 1996 when he was honored with the Barbara Spohr Grant, which led him to a period of development at the Banff Art Centre. Here, he integrated emerging new media into his artistic process, benefiting from a multidisciplinary foundation in design, art, and photography.
St茅phan Ballard's artistic beginnings intersected with technological advancements, as he navigated the transition from traditional chemical photography to the digital realm. This transformative phase nurtured a deep sensitivity to the ever-evolving landscape of technology and reinforced the importance of cultivating adaptable creativity in response to shifting mediums.
St茅phan Ballard's artistic path also led him into unexpected territories. Amid the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, he found himself recruited by the medical photography team at CHU Sainte-Justine. Here, he stumbled upon the realm of medical photography and, with great enthusiasm, surgical photography. His prior engagement with the National Film Board of Canada, a bastion of documentary cinema, prepared him for this privilege, and he ardently embarked on a quest to master the art of surgical photography.
This journey amalgamated innovative capture techniques with composite imaging processes borrowed from cinema, amplifying the potential of photographic documentation for surgical education. Encouraged by the surgical department, his initiative and experimentation in capturing these images garnered widespread appreciation, and to his gratifying surprise, his artistic images found an esteemed place within the lexicon of medical imaging for educational purposes.
This achievement led him to be awarded the Mich猫le-Larose Osler Grant. His ongoing project involves collaborating with surgeons to juxtapose the content of venerable medical illustrations with operating room interventions, offering a unique perspective on the history of medical imaging. Since June, he has been ardently dedicated to this endeavor
2019
- Ana Mar铆a G贸mez L贸pez is an artist whose practice centers on durational works based on self-experimentation and archival research in history of science. Her projects use botanical specimens, prosthetic implants, medical equipment, lens-based media, and recorded sound to expand understandings of corporeal selfhood. Ana Mar铆a鈥檚 works have been exhibited at the Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, the Fonds d'art contemporain Gen猫ve, the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, and the American University Museum, among others. She has held fellowships at the Max Planck Institute for History of Science, the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, and the Center for Experimental Museology of the V-A-C Foundation. In 2015, she was awarded the Premio Nacional de Artes (National Award in the Arts) by the Universidad de Antioquia and the Colombian Ministry of Culture. An anthropologist with undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Ana Mar铆a completed her MFA at the Yale University School of Art and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She was a former resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten (2017-2018), and is currently an artist-in-residence at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
2018听
- Travaillant 脿 partir d鈥檜ne position f茅ministe, avec un int茅r锚t marqu茅 pour la sant茅 - intime, publique, sociale et politique 鈥� Caroline Boileau cr茅e des 艙uvres qui s鈥櫭﹍aborent par une pratique multidisciplinaire 脿 travers l鈥檌nstallation, le dessin, la vid茅o et la performance. Depuis 1995, elle d茅veloppe des projets en dialogue avec diff茅rents contextes : h么pitaux, biblioth猫ques d鈥檋istoire de la m茅decine, biblioth猫ques g茅n茅ralistes et de quartier, laboratoires de biologie, mus茅es d鈥檋istoire et mus茅es sp茅cialis茅s, parcs et espaces publics. Ces contextes, les gens qui y gravitent, les collections et objets qu鈥檌ls abritent, deviennent des mat茅riaux qui lui permettent de remettre en question ses fa莽ons de faire tout en explorant diff茅rentes strat茅gies de travail, dispositifs visuels et formes plastiques.听
- Working from a feminist perspective, with a strong interest in health - intimate, public, social and political 鈥� Caroline Boileau creates works that are developed through a multidisciplinary practice through installation, drawing, video and performance. Since 1995, she has developed projects in dialogue with different contexts: hospitals, medical history libraries, special collection libraries, biology laboratories, art and history museums, parks and public spaces. These places, the people who gravitate in and around them, the collections and objects they house, become materials that question and challenge her ways of doing things, enabling her to consider different work strategies, visual devices and plastic forms.听
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2017
- Museums, libraries and local history are a frequent focus in Loren Williams' art practice. For this residency she explored Montreal's early medicinal gardens, locating the sites on old maps and researching the plants that grew in them. Using a 19th century photographic process called Cyanotype, she created deep blue coloured images of the plants that were evocative of X-rays and cellular structures. Most significant for the artist, was the unique context of the Osler Library which enabled her to pursue her work from a medical history perspective.
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2016
- Dr. Lucy Lyons received her PhD from听Sheffield Hallam University. Her practice focuses on drawing within medical museums and working collaboratively to explore the beauty of collections. She is especially interested in the hidden, the overlooked, insignificant or in-between. This residency will allow her to push and explore her own practice and develop work in new ways whilst bringing new audiences to the collections.
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