siwlɬkʷ - Water
siwlɬkʷ is the nsyilxcәn word for water. The meaning comes from (siw) and (ɬkʷ)ˑ
The word (siw) comes from siwst - to drink (human)
The word (ɬkʷ) comes from ɬkʷitkʷ - to lap (animal)
Together the two parts identify the Syilx ethic that the right to water is equal for animals and humans.
silwɬkʷ is sacred as the source of all life on the tmxʷulaxʷ.
Meet the Team
current
Ahlam Bavi is a conceptual artist, industrial designer, and digital humanist. She has studied and researched
at the University of Tehran, the University of Lucerne, and the University of Calgary, where her digital sculptures
were recognized by several awards and fellowships. Currently, she is a PhD candidate in the interdisciplinary Digital
Arts & Humanities program and involves in several research projects. She is working on her dissertation in
the darc | digital art history research collective lab; also she is awarded a graduate research fellowship in
the AMP Lab at UBC mainly working on academic micro-credential. Also, she was/ is working on an international
SSHRC funded research project as an academic graduate project manager. She collaborates as a research assistant
at the Centre for Culture and Technology lab in two SSHRC and NCERC funded research projects. She was working
at the Center for teaching and learning for the new approach of online and blended learning at UBC.
Dr. Aleksandra Dulic is an internationally recognized media artist and scholar working at the
intersections of multimedia and live performance with research foci in computational poetics and
cross-cultural media performance. Dr. Dulic is a founder and a Director of Centre for Culture and
Technology and an Assistant Professor in Computational Art at the Creative Studies at UBC Okanagan.
Recent works include The Music of the Heaven performance, and the Social Life of Water exhibition.
Dalmarr is a 4th year undergraduate student from Toronto studying digital media and computer
science at UBC Okanagan. He specializes in 3D modeling, texturing, and animation with a keen
interest in physically based rendering. With his programming expertise and 3D modeling experience,
Dalmarr explores the intersection of coding and 3D art, for applications in web development,
simulation, and virtual reality. Being a part of the Waterways project has been a remarkable
opportunity for Dalmarr to learn more about the history and culture of Kelowna, and has given
him fresh perspectives on the natural splendor of the Okanagan.
Emerald Holt is an emerging media artist and concert trained pianist completing her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree
in Visual Music at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan (UBC-O). She is an academic scholar who enjoys research
in the intersection between visual arts, music and technology. Emerald was awarded several scholarships, including the prestigious
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Scholarship for her thesis research, The Voice of the Land in 2019.
Currently, her research is focused on building an interactive Visual Music installation of the Okanagan Valley,
BC. She has presented her research at the Humanities Graduate Conferences for UBC-O and SFU-Vancouver and the Interactive
Arts Science and Technology regional conference. She has had solo museum exhibitions at the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art,
Gallery Vertigo and The Hub Arts Collective, and worked in collaboration with multidisciplinary artists for the Living Things
international Arts Festival.
Jeannette Armstrong is Syilx Okanagan, a fluent speaker of Nsyilxcn, a traditional knowledge keeper of
the Okanagan Nation and a founder of En’owkin, the Syilx knowledge revitalization institution of higher
learning. She has a Ph.D. in Environmental Ethics and Syilx Indigenous Literatures. Jeannette currently
holds the Canada Research Chair in Okanagan Indigenous Knowledge and Philosophy at UBC Okanagan, and
currently serves on Canada’s Traditional Knowledge Subcommittee of the Committee on the Status of
Endangered Wildlife in Canada.
An environmental anthropologist, Dr. John Wagner focuses especially on the role of agriculture in water
governance systems. He also conducts research in Papua New Guinea where he has undertaken long-term
research in Pacific Island customary property rights systems. John was a core member of the design team
for The Social Life of Water.
Kohl Finlayson is a Media Studies student at UBCO Okanagan. He handles sound design and video editing on the waterways project.
Lael Parrott (PhD, Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, McGill University) is a Professor in
Sustainability at the I.K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences and Director of the Okanagan Institute for
Biodiversity, Resilience and Ecosystem Services (BRAES) at The University of British Columbia. Dr.
Parrott leads an internationally recognized research program in modelling and characterising
contemporary regional landscapes and ecosystems as complex human-environment systems.
Maria Correia, Water Ways Researcher. Maria is a PhD student in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies
Program, Sustainability theme, studying climate change communications, and adaptive co-management of
social-ecosystems from an indigenous and non indigenous perspective. Her work on Water Ways focuses
on researching Syilx indigenous-led innovations on managing water ecosystems.
Marlowe Sam is a Wenatchi/Lakes descendent from the Colville Confederated Tribes of Washington State
(CCT). He is currently an Instructor in Indigenous Studies at the University of British Columbia.
Marlowe majored in Indigenous Studies at the University of British Columbia Okanagan and received a B.A.
and M.A. with distinction. He defended his doctoral dissertation “Oral Narratives, Customary Law and
Indigenous Water Rights in Canada” to earn a Ph.D. majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies from UBC
Okanagan during which he was the recipient of the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship.
Meg Yamamoto was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts with Distinction
at the University of Calgary, completing her degree through a Study Abroad program in Berlin, Germany in 2014.
She was awarded the University of Calgary Silver Medallion in Art in 2015 and spent the following two years studying
the geometric, structural, and symbolic properties of Hiberno-Saxon Knotwork. Meg completed her Master of Fine Arts
degree at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. Her PhD research examines how experiential and artistic
responses to the local flora and fauna can be documented in the form of an online archive.
Miles Thorogood is an Instructor in Creative Studies at the University of British Columbia in the
Okanagan. He is a creative technologist who specializes in generative systems for developing
computational assistive technologies in creative industries. His research includes modelling human
creative processes in visual and audio work for decision support systems, and designing autonomous
agents for interactive environments. His work has been featured in public art installations, as well as
at international conferences and festivals. Some notable highlights have been works for the Vancouver
Winter Olympics, Fraser River Discovery Centre, International Symposium of Electronic Arts, and the
Vancouver PUSH festival.
Rylan Broadbent is a multimedia artist and Master’s student interested in the complex interplay between objects,
symbols, and identity. He is primarily an assemblage sculptor, but often incorporates aspects of drawing and
technology into his work. Rylan’s role in the Waterways project is design and construction of both digital
content and the exhibition. When not researching or building, Rylan can usually be found exploring the beautiful province of BC.
Sepideh Saffari is an award-winning artist and architect currently pursuing her IGS Ph.D.
in Digital Arts & Humanities at the University of British Columbia's Okanagan Campus.
She is also a graduate research associate of the AMP lab and a member of the Centre for
Culture and Technology. In these research centers, she has been collaborating on projects
such as Aga Khan Garden web app and Water Ways as an exhibition designer and CG artist.
Recent Computer Science Graduate with an interest in pursuing software development and game programming.
Worked as a Technical artist and Unity developer on the Waterways project.
Past
Alex Lake is a fourth year EESC major with a minor in Biology. His role with Waterways involves
historical mapping with geographic information systems and data analyses of quantitative water trends in
the Okanagan region. He enjoys being outside, reading, and spending time with friends and family.
Alison Trim is a contemporary artist from Ireland whose practice is a response to place through
paper-based media, and an exploration of line, surface and movement. She is currently involved in
drawing research based on the environments encountered in the Okanagan, specifically in relation to
rurality and the non-human. Her methodology explores physical traces, forms of mark making and responses
to walking the land.
Emer is a fourth year Fine Arts student majoring in Visual Art for Digital Media and 2D design. With a
background knowledge in Computer Science, she combines this with her creativity and eye for design to
create unique user experiences. She is working on the design concepts and website design for this
project.
The watershed that Felicia Watterodt calls home is the South Saskatchewan River Basin. She recently
graduated from the University of British Columbia-Okanagan with a Bachelor of Arts, major in
International Relations. As an undergraduate research assistant on the Waterways project, she conducted
archival research on the historical ecology of the Okanagan watershed. Both Felicia’s interdisciplinary
degree and her experience working on the Waterways project have inspired her passion for finding
sustainable solutions in order to create resilient communities and healthy ecosystems.
Jeannette Angel is an Interdisciplinary PhD Candidate in creative practice who works as a researcher at
the Centre for Culture and Technology at the University of British Columbia in the Okanagan.. Her
research focuses on creative, experiential approaches for community engagement in sustainability
challenges. Recent projects include experience designer for a museum exhibition, The Social Life of
Water in the Okanagan and an interactive display, Right of Way: Wildlife Corridors and Ecological
Connectivity in the Okanagan.
Miah Shull Olmsted is originally from the Chattahoochee River Basin (part of the larger
Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) Basin. She is new to the Okanagan Valley, having come from
Australia, She is visiting these lands by invitation in order to study and conduct research. She is both
undergraduate student and a staff member in the Department of Creative and Critical Studies, University
of British Columbia - Okanagan. Her primary research interests include Visual Sociology, Environmental
Science, and multi-media Climate Communication. She is actively developing her own Eco Art practice with
work focused to include fusions of both artistic and scientific creativity. She has been an active
citizen scientist for over three decades including marine conservation work (with a background in manta
ray, shark, and sea turtle projects), citizen science initiatives, informal scientific learning projects
(including co-teaching secondary field study courses in Costa Rica, Peru, the Great Barrier Reef, and US
nesting beaches). She is a senior staff instructor for PADI with extensive experience leading
environmental volunteers, SCUBA divers, and global film crews throughout Australian and Asian waters.
Working in a land based freshwater environment via the UBCO Waterways project has been a wonderful way
to get to know the local land, the watershed, and the people of the Okanagan Valley.
Sarah Ellis, originally from Vancouver, British Columbia and is in her fourth year of her undergraduate
degree specializing in 2-D design and digital media. As a part of this project, she is co-working with
Emer on the design concepts, and website creation.
Trevor Richard is a student at UBC Okanagan working towards his Bachelors of Computer Science degree. He
is an avid programmer who focuses on the creative side of technology and human computer interaction,
most notably within the boundaries of website development.