Sharon Strauss

Art: “In spite of it all, I’m proud I’m me”

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Illustration. It shows a colourful image of a femme person with neon rainbow lines across her skin like paint splatters. She's forming her hands into a heart, and the negative space forming the heart shape is coloured red. Her hair is long, black, and flowing wildly forming a black background to the whole piece. Her eyes are closed and she wears a look of content. Around her head are purple butterflies made of sharp angles almost like broken glass. The piece has a tone of loving acceptance.

To mark the final day of Disability Pride Month, CHASI presents a new piece from CHASI artist-in-residence Sharon Strauss: “In spite of it all, I’m proud I’m me” Sharon writes: “Growing up with an invisible disability was hard. Made more difficult by my own ignorance of it. For so long I felt broken, wrong, not … Read more

CHASI marks National AccessAbility Week

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Thumbnail image of an ollustration. A femme person is in the centre of the composition, their face lowered with a warm, peaceful expression. Their hair flows down past their shoulders, and they are holding a theatre mask, which they seem to have just removed. Pink squiggly lines emerge from their head (in front of the brain) and spiral out into a blue background, where hands from unseen bodies seem to take and accept them from all angles. The image has a tone of comfort and acceptance.

For National AccessAbility Week 2025 (May 25-31), CHASI Artist-In-Residence Sharon Strauss sought to represent the experience of people with disabilities in two new pieces. The first shows draws on the facets and barriers to accessibility. Buildings and transport that only sometimes account for physical disabilities, aid that only comes after mountains of inscrutable paperwork, resources … Read more

CHASI projects take international stage at Pacific Sociological Association conference

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Group photo of 15 members of the CHASI team posing in an airport at the end of the trip home. Many are wearing navy blue sweatshirts with CHASI written on them in orange letters.

Students and staff from the Community Health and Social Innovation Hub returned to the Pacific Sociological Association (PSA) conference for the second year in a row. The group of 16 CHASI representatives shared experiences and findings from CHASI’s work while learning from sociologists and practitioners in related fields over the course of four days (March … Read more

CHASI artist reflects on environmental emergencies

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Illustration showing a hand in close-up. The hand is holding what appears to be a mixture of an hour glass and a wine glass. There is a dark brownish-red liquid in the top, pouring down into the lower portion on top of unidentifiable creatures and a human skeleton. The person hold the glass has a ruby and gold encrusted cufflink, and is wearing a formal suit.

After a summer of climate emergencies, CHASI artist-in-residence Sharon Strauss was inspired to reflect on the state of our environment with these to pieces. “Endless Ocean” “Glass of Time” Sharon writes: “I fear for the animals, the Earth, the people. Just as much, I fear we have lived under the looming “point of no return” … Read more

Pride 2024 Art

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Illustration of a brick wall with words spray painted on it, including bigotry, hate, and others that aren't fully in view. A figure with long hear and a skirt and their back to the camera is swinging a giant paintbrush forcefully, spreading a bright rainbow across the words and blocking them out.

“Art, to me, is fundamentally about expression: ideas, emotion, and defiance. I think these are similar to the goals of Pride. It is celebration and protest, a way to be seen and change the way people see us, a chance to be us, unapologetically” – Sharon Strauss, CHASI Artist-In-Residence

Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

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Colourful illustration of a woman sitting in a clam shell, reminiscent of Botticelli's Birth of Venus. She has dark brown skin and long flowing black hair, and wears a yellow wrap that leaves her back and arms exposed. Along her back and arms are intricate tattooed patterns — Batok, as described in this post's caption. Her eyes are closed and she has an expression of peace or joy as she raises one arm up towards a wave of water or clouds in the abstract background.

May is Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and as it draws to a close, we share this beautiful piece by CHASI artist-in-residence Sharon Strauss. Writing about this piece, Sharon says: “Batok is an indigenous Filipino style of tattooing that predates the colonization of the Philippines. It is traditionally done by hand-tapping the ink into … Read more

Our Charmed Circle #6

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The page is split in half horizontally, with three panels each. The top three panels, from left to right, show: 1. Fenix’s face in the mirror, tired and bed-headed from poor sleep. 2. Fenix leaning in, picking at a blemish with both hands. 3. Fenix yawning, bleary-eyed, with their face red all over from picking and pinching. The bottom three panels, from left to right, show: 1. Mary-Jo, looking wearily in the mirror, wet from the shower. 2. Mary-Jo wincing as she twists and oils her hair in preparation of the day. 3. Mary-Jo staring forward with a pained expression, hair tied up loosely.

“For my dearest friend.” Our Charmed Circle shares the story of four friends connected across the continent by a shared enthusiasm for gaming and bound by a sense of solidarity. Follow the story of Fenix, Amrita, Mary-Jo, and Zoe as they navigate the realities of online relationships and daily life. With this comic, CHASI and … Read more

Marking Black History Month beyond February

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Illustration of a calendar showing February. It reads "Black History Month" at the top. Each day has an illustration of a different person or event on it.

Black History Month is over, but we’re taking the time to look back on some of the important figures and dates throughout the month. While we mark Black history for one month, it’s important to acknowledge the massive contributions of these Black individuals and countless more every day of the year. This illustration by CHASI … Read more

International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust

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Black and white illustration of many Romani people of all ages. A black and red monster with many teeth and eyes is in the foreground seemingly ready to devour them all.

Today is the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. CHASI artist Sharon Strauss took the time to create these two powerful pieces in commemoration. Porajmos: “The Devouring” A Romani word coined by Ian Hancock in 1990, “The Devouring” encapsulates the deliberate and often forgotten genocide of the Romani people … Read more