“Absence, hear thou my protestation

Against thy strength,

Distance, and length;

Do what thou canst for alteration:

For hearts of truest mettle

Absence doth join, and Time doth settle.”

John Donne, Present in Absence, 17th c.

Lissa Riviera, Shelburne, Nova Scotia, 2011 (printed 2022)

The theme invites analysis of how the presence, or notable absence, of body is implied, reflected, or symbolically evoked in artistic media.

Certain artifacts and spaces reflect a “trace” of the human body through wear, use, or symbolism. We encourage you to explore questions like how cultural memory, trauma, and history are expressed through bodily absence, or how prehistoric handprints on cave walls, marks on ancient tools, or worn stone steps in historical sites reveal bodies that once existed there. This could extend to digital art forms, where bodies are represented and then erased, calling into question what it means to have a “body” in digital spaces. You might wonder how architectural theory interprets the body itself as a “structure” or “space”. How do marginalized or underrepresented bodies make their presence known in art, or contemporary media?

Tracy Emin, My Bed, 1998

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should be between 2,000 and 3,000 words (excluding footnotes and bibliography), though longer papers will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Submissions must have a well-constructed thesis supported by primary and secondary sources, but may be portions of a longer work or stand-alone essays.

Papers should be formatted according to the Chicago-17 Manual of Style, and submissions should include your name, school institution, approximate paper length, and a brief abstract (max. 250 words). Everything should be submitted in a single .pdf or .docx by email to ahcssacanvas@gmail.com by 11:59 PM on January 1, 2025. Please have “SYMPOSIUM SUBMISSION” in the subject line, so we can distinguish these submissions from our regular ones. Thank you!

All submissions selected for the symposium will also be published on our website.

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While the date of the symposium has not been finalized yet, we are planning for either the last weekend of February or the first weekend of March 2025. If you do not reasonably expect to be able to present at the symposium around this time, please refrain from submitting.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us by email, or by Instagram (@canvasmcgill).