Faculty of Art
Gurnoor Powar is a second-generation Panjabi-Canadian woman born and raised on the unceded and ancestral lands of the Semiahmoo, Katzie and Kwantlen First Nation. She is graduating with a BA in English literature and a minor in Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies. Gurnoor hopes to continue her academic and creative journey in an exploration of diasporic identities and networks within contemporary and historical settings, as well as the integration of non-Western modes of thought and creative expression. Where dialogue may transcend time and body to create a conceptual landscape of diasporic being, she hopes to place her work in the community of lower mainland British Columbia. To hopefully recover, and place IBPOC narratives in the foundation of Canadian canon while working on stolen and ancestral land.
What is a favourite memory or story you have from ACAM?
I have this memory of walking, which sounds so boring at first. But it was during ACAM 390A during COVID where we travelled around BC. I recall walking on land that was once a Chinatown in Nanaimo and feeling that once active presence. Of walking into and around Paldi quietly as I imagined the archives I had grown up looking at trying to place myself into a past I would never grasp. Felt the trauma in land that was upturned or ruined but also the life that now thrived there in the form of daisies and green vegetation. Imagined the steps of my father in Punjabi Market where my grandfather once lived, the noise that they must’ve once heard and the clothes my grandmother may have bought. Those quiet moments were my favourite.
Why did you declare a minor in ACAM? What drew you to the program?
I was in Chris Lee’s ENGL 371 class at a point in my life where I was so tired of English. I felt that this was a space that had no potential in then I went into Chris’s class and it was like BLAMO there it is. I realized how interdisciplinary my work could be, how diverse my art could be, but more importantly what it felt like to be represented. I cried a lot in that class quietly behind my mask. Felt like this was the beginning. I still don’t know of what but I know I’m still in those beginning stages.
Have you completed any projects through or related to an ACAM course?
I remember I had just come back from the UK and there was surprisingly still time for me to do a cohort project for ACAM Dialogues so I jumped on it even though I was incredibly jetlagged and about to start a new semester. Since that time a lot has happened in my life. A lot of tears have been shed but I’m happy I did this project, that it came from a place of care and love. It’s not perfect but its mine and I know that when I’m older I’ll look back and laugh.
https://acamdialogues.arts.ubc.ca/gurnoor-powar-desh-pardesh-toronto-a-home-away-from-home-2/
