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Research with a fresh perspective: Amber Berson 

By Anna Sarkissian

In high school, Amber Berson didn’t envision herself as an academic; she could have been a doctor, baseball player, or one of a “zillion other things.”

The native Montrealer started out at Ryerson in new media before realizing she needed a change. She completed her BFA at Concordia with distinction in 2008 and then moved on to the MA in art history.

After taking a history course with Erica Lehrer in her first year, she became involved in the Curating Difficult Knowledge Conference held by the Centre for Ethnographic Research and Exhibition in the Aftermath of Violence.

She acquired first-hand experience while traveling around Europe as a research assistant for professor Sherry Farrell Racette, visiting collections of Métis coats designed in French military style between the late 1700s and early 1900s. Berson helped create a replica of a coat to return to its source community in Manitoba, where they hadn’t been seen in nearly a century.

Her thesis work dealt with femicide in Canada with an emphasis on Aboriginal women. She looked at the cause and effect of the violence and how the government and the media have failed to help families of victims and create proper memorials.

“How is it that the media isn’t telling these stories?” she asks. “I felt it was strange that I knew more about the murders in Ciudad Juarez (Mexico) than I knew about the disappearances in Canada.”

She went as far as Prince George, B.C., to interview women artists about their work relating to these issues.

On the side, she works at Eastern Bloc, an artist-run production and exhibition centre near Jean Talon and Clark, has curated multiple shows and has presented her work at several conferences.

She will spend the next year finishing up at Eastern Bloc. Afterwards, the door is open. “I’m pretty adaptable. I’m willing to do things that aren’t super glamorous,” she says. “I’m just excited to have possibilities in front of me.”