Sarah van Borek

Background

About Sarah van Borek

I am a bilingual (English/French) Canadian media artist, documentary filmmaker, educator and arts-based researcher focused on water and wellbeing with many years of experience living and working in Sub-Saharan Africa. I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. I have been co-developing and implementing innovative participatory multimedia research methodologies, including music, dance, photos, videos, drawing, mapping, and geospatial information systems (GIS) to engage youth in Kenya on topics of water, food, and sanitation towards planetary health. I co-designed/facilitated multimedia participatory mapping workshops with women in Congo Republic; and have supported various projects by developing novel modes of knowledge translation. I have a PhD in Environmental Education from Rhodes University, South Africa, where I explored water justice, reconciliation, and decolonizing higher education through a media arts-based water curriculum I piloted in South Africa and Canada. I also have an MFA in Film and TV from the University of Cape Town. From 2012-2021, I designed and taught undergraduate courses with the Emily Carr University of Art + Design (Canada).