Part 6 of the Near Dwellers series
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Near Dwellers as Indwellers
At Bothkinds Project Space
Vancouver, British Columbia 

October 1 - December 16, 2025

Near Dwellers as Indwellers is built around live workshops, an open forum, a guest speaker series, and an exhibition. See below for in-person, virtual, and hybrid events. This page will be updated regularly throughout the project.
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​Please email us with any queries at [email protected].

The urban environment is widely conceived and designed to meet the needs and desires of human beings. However, towns, suburbs, and cities are also elaborate habitats for not only human animals and their domesticated pets but also for some wild animals that have eked out an existence while having had their homes encroached upon by development or who have migrated to specific city spaces.

How are we to understand the urban confluence of multispecies presence and place?  Are there perhaps other ways to know and indeed, embody urban spaces offered by animals? And if so, what are the “possibilities for a more equitable multispecies city, a task that is particularly important for those species that are in some way tied or drawn to specific city places, and perhaps especially, in these perilous times, for those whose future is endangered”?[1]

Thom van Dooren and Deborah Bird Rose provide us with some tools with which to engage with these problematics. They suggest that places are meaningful to and are “storied” by other-than-human beings, pointing out that “a living being is emplaced through its body: that places are formed between bodies and the terrains they inhabit. Within this nexus of body and terrain, specific places become sites of meaning.”  More specifically, “stories emerge from and impact the way in which places come to be—the material and discursive are all mixed up in the making of places, as with worlds more generally.”[2]

In collaboration with Bothkinds Project Space in Vancouver, the University of British Columbia and Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Near Dwellers as Indwellers follows up on these observations to explore questions such as: what would it take to recognise multispecies achievements of “storying” place? What are the ways in which the built environment could be (re)designed to guide the human user to be more conscientious of and caring toward their fellow animal residents so as to “draw us into deeper and more demanding accountabilities of nonhuman others”? Indeed, how can such an approach alter the conditions for living with wild animals as full members of a community?

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[1] Thom van Dooren and Deborah Bird Rose (2012) ‘Storied Places in a Multispecies World’, in Humanimalia: a journal of human/animal interface studies, vol. 3, no. 2, Spring, pp. 1-27. Also see ‘Lively Ethography: Storying Animist Worlds’, in Environmental Humanities (2016) 8 (1): 77–94. https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-3527731. See also ‘Encountering a more-than-human world: ethos and the arts of witness’ in Routledge Companion to Environmental Humanities (2017), edited by Ursula Heise, Jon Christensen and Michelle Niemann.

[2] Thom van Dooren and Deborah Bird Rose (2012) ‘Storied Places in a Multispecies World’, in Humanimalia: a journal of human/animal interface studies, vol. 3, no. 2, Spring, pp. 1-27.

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​Exhibition guide

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WORKSHOPS & PUBLIC SPEAKER SERIES

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​​Near Dwellers as Roadkill
a conversation with Jane Desmond, Lou Florence, and Roelof Bakker

Jane Desmond

Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Online only
4:30-6:00 pm Eastern
1:30-3:00 Pacific

​Join Zoom Meeting
https://emilycarru.zoom.us/j/69401112832?pwd=60of0Ejxuw0rCZIRbq92KOQAegnWV5.1
Meeting ID: 694 0111 2832
Passcode: 265618

Guest speaker Jane Desmond will be joined by artists Lou Florence and Roelof Bakker to discuss the role that art plays in contending with feelings of loss and mourning for more-than-human beings who are subjected to the harms of our roadways. Florence and Bakker will share how they address this complicated subject matter through their art. Jane Desmond will consider implications for an ethics of co-habitation, and the value of art in forging pathways for thinking anew about our relationships with other-than-human beings. Everyone is welcome to join the conversation. 
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Members of the public are invited (but not required) to read Desmond's recent book ‘Displaying Death and Animating Life: Human-Animal Relations in Art, Science and Everyday Life.’

Jane Desmond is a Professor in Anthropology and Gender and Women's Studies, and Co-founder and current Director of the International Forum for U.S. Studies, a center for the Transnational Study of the United States. She also holds appointments in the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, the Center for Global Studies, and in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Her primary areas of interest focus on issues of embodiment, display, and social identity, as well as the transnational dimensions of U.S. Studies. Her areas of expertise include performance studies, critical theory, visual culture (including museum studies and tourism studies), the critical analysis of the U.S. in global perspectives, and, most recently, the political economy of human/animal relations. She has previously worked as a professional modern dancer and choreographer, and in film, video, and the academy. She is the Founding Resident director of the international Summer Institute in Animal Studies at UIUC, and of the Animal Lives Book Series at the University of Chicago Press. In addition to academic publications, she has written for a number of public publications such as CNN.com, The Washington Post.com, and the Huffington Post, and her creative work has appeared on PBS and at numerous film festivals.

This session is also presented as part of the Near Dwellers component Near Dwellers as Roadkill, Spring 2025.

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The Real Bambi Story and Other Writing on Ecology and Society
a conversation with Shauna Laurel Jones 

Shauna Laurel Jones

Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Online only
4:30-6:00 pm Eastern
1:30-3:00 pm Pacific

​Join Zoom Meeting
https://emilycarru.zoom.us/j/62251767600?pwd=tTyddOY8baaTw6ljpZ99EIyDEJQHLn.1
Meeting ID: 622 5176 7600
Passcode: 452491

For Near Dwellers as Indwellers, Shauna Laurel Jones will talk about her writings on the tensions and conflicts that arise when human and more-than-human communities come into contact. Specifically, she will speak to her essays on the complex status of swans and puffins in Iceland as well as her literary guide to Felix Salten’s Bambi, A Life in the Woods (1923) — the original story behind Disney’s animated classic. Considered one of the first ecological novels, this coming-of-age story can be simultaneously read as a parable of antisemitism and fascism in the early 20th century. What connects Jones’s work on Bambi to her research on human relationships with birds in Iceland is a concern for the ethics and practices of superimposing animal narratives that emerge in cosmopolitan settings onto living animals elsewhere.

This will be a mixed session for the public as well as students from the University of British Columbia and Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Student participants are asked to read Jones’s essays “Of Birds and Barley” and “Up, Up, on Implausible Wings” prior to the event. Members of the public are invited (but not required) to read these as well. Jones’s guide to Felix Salten’s Bambi is available alongside purchase of the audiobook through the app Audrey.

Shauna Laurel Jones received an MA art history from UC Santa Barbara in 2007. She then spent a decade in Iceland, where she immersed herself as a writer and educator in Reykjavík’s vibrant art scene before earning an MSc in environmental studies from the University of Iceland. Since 2018, Shauna has lived in London, where she works as a freelance writer and Icelandic-to-English translator. Her essays on the aesthetics of human–animal relationships have appeared in Carve and Orion magazines, and for the latter, she also writes a quarterly column on visual art.

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Coyote Stories
an artist-led workshop with Adriana Jaroszewicz and Dezirae Gautier

Adriana Jaroszewicz

Friday, October 24, 2025
NOTE - this event is hybrid, with a 4 hour in-person run-time, and a 1 hour online component.

In person
1:00 - 5:00 pm Pacific
Bothkinds Project Space
602 E. Hastings Street 
Vancouver BC 
V6A 1R1

Online
1:30 - 2:30 pm Pacific
4:30 - 5:30 pm Eastern
9:30 - 10:30 pm GMT

​Join Zoom Meeting
https://emilycarru.zoom.us/j/61138044337?pwd=fajszFVQNiN0S6cURRDBxVoMtBcM3x.1
Meeting ID: 611 3804 4337
Passcode: 136771

Urban settings influence how coyotes navigate, adapt, and co-habit, and this workshop explores how coyotes “story” the places that we co-create. Scientific research shows how these canids skilfully adjust their behavior to coexist alongside human communities, revealing complex social structures and remarkable resilience in urban settings [1]. During the workshop, we offer an in-depth presentation and discussion about more-than-human realities along with an interpreted walk through a nearby park where coyotes and humans co-story the landscape. We intend to create a reciprocal space of dialogue with our participants as we deepen our understanding of the embodied realities of urban coyotes, inviting you to contribute your coyote stories to our growing repository of narratives of the more-than-human community. Together, we will consider what coexistence means, and how cultivating empathy, compassion and responsibility can help us share our metropolitan areas more harmoniously with these wild neighbors. Recognizing coyotes as individual, sentient beings broadens our understanding of their distinctive personalities. This workshop therefore invites participants to foster mutual respect, compassionate coexistence and appreciation of coyote’s unique perspectives. As a part of the Coyote Portraits project, our goal is to develop and refine future educational frameworks that encourage a shift in perspective, valuing both human and more-than-human well-being through reciprocity and interconnectedness. 

[1] Alexander, Shelley M., and Victoria M. Lukasik. 2016. “Re-Placing Coyote.” Lo Squaderno 11 (42): 37–41. See also Stanley D. Gehrt and Kerry Luft, Coyotes among Us: Secrets of the City’s Top Predator, 1st ed. (Seattle: Flashpoint, 2024). See also Rewilding Magazine, 2022, “Living Peacefully with Coyotes Means Respecting Their Boundaries.” June 2. 


Adriana Jaroszewicz was born and raised in Mexico and has worked in animation for over 25 years. She received her MFA degree from the Division of Animation and Digital Arts, School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) at the University of Southern California (USC), and her BFA degree in Graphic Design from the University of the Pacific (UOP). She is currently Assistant Dean in Animation and Professor of the 3D Computer Animation program at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Throughout her career, she has worked as a senior digital trainer for teams of animators at Sony Pictures Imageworks and has collaborated with several independent directors creating visual effects for their award-winning projects. Her current research focuses on decentering the human to re-story narratives from multispecies perspectives, with a focus on urban coyotes.

Dezirae Gautier’s passion for wildlife welfare began during her childhood living in British Columbia’s northwest, where she enjoyed coexisting safely and responsibly with grizzly bears. Through experiences with the University of British Columbia and Stanley Park Ecology Society, Dezi gained experience in coyote monitoring work and coexistence education. Her experiences during this time transformed her perspectives on coyotes and on urban ecologies. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Certificate of Ethics: Theory and Application from Simon Fraser University. Additionally, she is pursuing further education in ecology and human-wildlife coexistence. She has a diverse working history in the public sector, particularly in the areas of outreach, policy, data analysis, and public communication.

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Urbanization and the Degragation of Wild Lives
a conversation with Shelley Alexander, Adriana Jaroszewicz, and Dezirae Gautier

Shelley Alexander

Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Online only
4:30-5:30 pm Eastern
1:30-2:30 pm Pacific

​Join Zoom Meeting
Join Zoom Meeting
https://emilycarru.zoom.us/j/61142295224?pwd=hZuoVPs4kCkS11MZDHb0ngYOYDQSRe.1
Meeting ID: 611 4229 5224
Passcode: 547203
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Guest speaker Dr. Shelley Alexander will be joined by artists Adriana Jaroszewicz and Dezirae Gautier to discuss the various public perceptions of coyotes (as pest, as nuisance, as biosecurity threat, etc.) and the challenges this presents for living in a multispecies nexus. Alexander‘s research investigates human-coyote conflict and the effects of urbanization on coyotes, landowner experiences and media portrayals of coyotes, spatial epidemiology, and the intersection of colonial ideology, ethics, and coyote killing. Jaroszewicz and Gautier will talk about their art and research project Coyote Portraits. Everyone is welcome to join the conversation. 

Members of the public are invited (but not required) to read Shelley Alexander’s co-authored article 'Coyote Killing: Where Species and Identities Collide.'

Dr. Shelley Alexander is a Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Calgary, Canada. She has over 30 years of experience studying wild canids, specializing in wolves and coyotes. Her research (Canid Conservation Science Lab) spans from coyote ecology, ethology, and coexistence to ethics, landscape ecology, human dimensions, and geospatial analysis. She engages non-invasive methods and the principles of Compassionate Conservation in research. Shelley has provided expert review and testimony for international communities and developed policy/protocols for human-coyote coexistence.

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Salmon in the City
a conversation with Doug LaFortune & Misty MacDuffee

Tuesday, November 11, 2025
Online only
4:30-6:00 pm Eastern
1:30-3:00 Pacific

​Join Zoom Meeting
https://emilycarru.zoom.us/j/61212885875?pwd=o8mfBe7k5nNMoxkaKPAiTCjbiUsU86.1
Meeting ID: 612 1288 5875
Passcode: 849346

Guest speakers Misty MacDuffee and Doug LaFortune will discuss the importance of salmon as a keystone species, and the state of salmon and their migrational waterways that are impacted by urbanization. Misty MacDuffee is a salmon biologist and her research charts the condition of salmon and their wellbeing in the Fraser Delta region, and salmon-bearing watersheds of the BC coast. Doug LaFortune will share his insights on the importance of salmon as essential to human and more-than-human life within WSANEC tradition and culture and within his own artwork. 
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Members of the public are invited (but not required) to read:  
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M. MacDuffee, Kehoe, L.J., J.Lund, L. Chalifour, et al., 2021. Conservation in heavily urbanized biodiverse regions requires urgent management action and attention to governance. Conservation Science and Practice 3, no. 2 (2021): e310 https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.310
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MacDuffee, M., Chalifour, L., Holt, C., Camaclang, et al., 2022. Identifying a pathway towards recovery for depleted wild Pacific salmon populations in a large watershed under multiple stressors. Journal of Applied Ecology, 59(9), pp.2212-2226. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14239
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Misty MacDuffee works for Raincoast Conservation Foundation. She is a salmon biologist with a focus on fisheries ecology in salmon ecosystems. For the past 15 years, she has undertaken various types of field, laboratory, technical and conservation assessments in the salmon-bearing watersheds of the BC coast. She has a particular interest in the role of salmon as critical food sources for wildlife and incorporating their needs into salmon management decisions. The application of her work is to implement ecosystem considerations in fisheries management. This often requires engagement with management, dialogue and stakeholder forums that affect fisheries and wildlife policy.
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Doug LaFortune is an esteemed Coast Salish artist, Elder, and member of the W̱SÁNEĆ First Nation. He lives on the reserve lands of Tsawout First Nation, located on the Southern tip of what is currently called Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. LaFortune studied art in Victoria, BC, and more formatively, he studied carving with the world-renowned Coast Salish carver, Simon Charlie. LaFortune’s accomplishments span several decades and artistic mediums, such as screen printing and drawing, and numerous carvings (poles) have been installed at public sites across Canada and the United States, Japan and Europe. His welcome figures flank the entrance of First Peoples House at the University of Victoria. A retrospective of his work can be seen at the Legacy Gallery, University of Victoria, BC until December 6th.

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The Near Dwellers project, to date: 

Part 1
Near Dwellers and the Sharing of Breath
Sarah Le Quang Sang with Spirit of Saigon
August 4 – September 30, 2023

Part 2
Near Dwellers as Legal Beings
Fawn Daphne Plessner
Susanna Kamon
October 13 – December 30, 2023

Part 3
Near Dwellers as Creative Collaborators
Julie Andreyev
Ruth K. Burke
February 2 – April 13, 2024

Part 4
Near Dwellers as Urbanites
Jesse Garbe
Doug La Fortune
May 3, 2024 – extended to January 31, 2025

Part 5
Near Dwellers as Roadkill
Lou Florence
February 15 – May 31, 2025

​​Part 6
Near Dwellers as Indwellers
At Bothkinds Project Space
Vancouver, British Columbia 
​October 1 - December 16, 2025

Part 7
Near Dwellers as Friends
May 30 - August 15, 2026

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