• A woman with short blond hair, wearing a black blazer over a white top, stands against a bright yellow background, looking slightly to the side with a subtle smile.

    Sharon Sliwinski

    FOUNDING DIRECTOR

    Sharon Sliwinski is Professor of Information & Media Studies at Western University in Canada. She is the author of several books, including An Alphabet for Dreamers and Dreaming in Dark Times.

  • Black and white portrait of a woman with short, wavy hair wearing a patterned sleeveless top and earrings.

    Martina Bacigalupo

    DREAMERS OF THE 21st CENTURY CREATIVE DIRECTOR

    Martina Bacigalupo is a long-time member of Agence VU and a photo editor with Le Monde. Her work focuses on human rights issues, and on the plight of women in particular. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Esquire, Elle, and Jeune Afrique, among others.

  • Young man with light skin and short brown hair, sitting against a purple background, wearing a black sweater, dark jeans, and white sneakers, looking at the camera with a neutral expression.

    Andrew Braun

    GUARDIANS OF SLEEP COMPOSER

    Andrew Braun is a composer, producer, and songwriter based in Altona, Manitoba.

  • A young man sitting in a dark room, resting his face on his hand, looking to the side with a contemplative expression.

    Kosuke Okahara

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Kosuke Okahara is a documentary photographer based in Tokyo, Japan. In 2004, he began pursuing stories based on ‘Ibasyo,’ which, in Japanese, refers to the physical and emotional space in which one can exist. Okahara is represented by Polka Galerie, Paris and Only Photography, Berlin. He has published six books and received several awards, including a World Press Photo Prize in 2022.

  • A man smiling outdoors holds a sign that says 'DREAMS ARE COOL' in colorful letters, with clothing displayed on racks behind him.

    Noel Glover

    DREAMERS OF THE 21st CENTURY COMMUNITY PARTNER

    Noel Glover is a Mental Health Worker with Moss Park CTS in Toronto. He holds a PhD from the Faculty of Education at York University in Toronto. 

  • A young man with curly black hair, glasses, and light skin, wearing a beige sweater over a pink shirt, standing against a plain white wall.

    Santasil Mallik

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Santasil Mallick is a writer and visual artist pursuing his PhD in Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario. His research interests concern the political aesthetics of documentary media in conversation with narratives of political violence in India and South Asia. As a practitioner, he works around experimental cinema and video art.

  • A woman with red hair pulled back, wearing a black shirt, against a dark gray background.

    Kat Hartog

    DREAMERS OF THE 21st CENTURY WEB DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT

    Kat Hartog is a web developer and new media artist based in Toronto."

  • A woman with a short hairstyle with bleached tips, wearing earrings, a white shirt, and a black leather waist belt, stands with her back turned against a plain background.

    Sethembile Msezane

    CONTRIBUTOR

    b. 1991 in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Sethembile Msezane lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. Using interdisciplinary practice encompassing performance, photography, film, sculpture and drawing, Msezane creates commanding works heavy with spiritual and political symbolism.

  • A woman with long reddish-brown hair, wearing a black and white striped turtleneck, standing outdoors in front of a mural of various bird illustrations with a blue background. She is smiling with hands on her hips.

    Erin MacIndoe Sproule

    EDITOR & SCRIPT WRITER GUARDIANS OF SLEEP

    Erin MacIndoe Sproule is a media artist and storyteller. Her award-winning projects include Recollections (2022), The Ghost of Thomas Lacey (2019) and Providence (2018).

  • Black and white portrait of a man with glasses, facial hair, and wavy hair, wearing a dark shirt.

    Soumya Sankar Bose

    CONTRIBUTOR

    b. 1990, Midnapore, India and based in Kolkata, Bose reconstructs archival materials and oral history into photography, films, alternative archives, and artist books. His work is in The Museum of Modern Art New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Ishara Art Foundation. Bose is represented by Experimenter Gallery, Kolkata and Mumbai, India. 

  • A person with short dark hair, round glasses, and a denim shirt smiling at the camera inside a room.

    Gigi (Wai-Chi) Wong

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Gigi Wong is a researcher and writer from Hong Kong. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Media Studies at Western University in Canada. Her research interests include moving-image arts, new media studies, gender and sexuality, affect theory, and diaspora and transnational studies.

  • Portrait of a young man with short, curly black hair, multiple facial piercings, earrings, and tattoos on his neck, wearing a black shirt, against a plain background.

    Cai Glover

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Cai Glover is a Montreal-based dancer and choreographer. He is the artistic director of A Fichu Turning and co-artistic director of Cas Public.

  • A printed portrait photograph of a woman with short dark hair, wearing a black top and earrings, displayed against a black background.

    Charmaine Li

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Toronto-born writer based in Berlin. She mostly covers art, design and tech, with a keen interest in investigating our relationship to uncertainty, the unknown and the mysterious interconnectedness of the world. She initiated ONEIRIC.SPACE, a research vessel exploring how dreams intertwine with our waking lives and futures.

  • A man with dark, messy hair and stubble, wearing a blue shirt, looking sideways near a window.

    Raimondo Lanza

    CONTRIBUTOR

    An Italian researcher in Political Science and Sociology, currently based in Paris. He researches Russian popular culture and cooperates with think tanks such as Aspen Institute and Institut Français des Relations Internationales (IFRI).

  • A black and white portrait of a man with a mohawk hairstyle, mustache, and earring looking slightly to the right.

    Nikita Kravtsov

    CONTRIBUTOR

    A Ukrainian artist born in Yalta in 1988. He graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture of Kyiv in 2010. He lives and works in Paris. Since 2015, he collaborates with his partner Camille Sagnes under the name TheTooth&TheRoot.

  • A woman with curly hair wearing glasses and makeup, smiling at the camera, with a bookshelf in the background.

    Patricia Gherovici

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Psychoanalyst, analytic supervisor, and recipient of the 2020 Sigourney Award for her clinical and scholarly work with Latinx and gender variant communities. She is co-founder and director of the Philadelphia Lacan Group and Founding Member of Das Unbehagen.

  • A woman with long black hair, wearing a black dress, sitting with her hands clasped on her lap, in a dark theater or auditorium with black seats and a projection screen behind her.

    Bongsu Park

    CONTRIBUTOR

    A London-based Korean artist, Bongsu has developed an ongoing practice exploring Korean dream culture since 2017 including Dream Ritual at The Coronet Theatre in London (2019), Dreamers’ Gathering and Dream Auction at Post Territory Ujeongguk in Seoul (2021) and Social Matters through Dream Sharing with The Tavistock Institute in London (2021).

  • A woman with long dreadlocks wearing glasses and a black shirt, smiling in front of a light gray background.

    Nataleah Hunter-Young

    CONTRIBUTOR

    A writer, film curator, and Assistant Professor of Black Creative Practice and Arts Management in the Department of Arts, Culture and Media. Between 2021 and 2024, Hunter-Young was an international programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival.

  • A smiling man with a beard and short dark hair outdoors, with a background of green trees.

    Constantin Houy

    CONTRIBUTOR

    A researcher in the European Dream Cultures research training group at Saarland University, where he works on musicological topics in the context of dream culture research.

  • Black and white photo of a man with glasses, short dark hair, beard, wearing a collared shirt and blazer, standing against a plain wall.

    Aziz Güzel

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Adjunct faculty member at York University and Seneca College and a psychotherapist working in Toronto. He is the co-author with Deborah Britzman of the book Mental Health for Educators.

  • A woman with dark hair wearing glasses and a dark shirt, standing outdoors against a textured wall.

    Aylin Kuryel

    CONTRIBUTOR

    An artist and lecturer at the University of Amsterdam. She has edited several books, including Cultural Activism: Practices, Dilemmas and Possibilities. Her documentary films include: Taboo (2009), Image Acts (2015), Welcome Lenin (2016), Heads and Tails (2018), CemileSezgin (2020), and A Defense (2021).

  • Portrait of a young woman with light skin, brown hair, smiling, wearing a black top, a gray vest, and a white floral necklace, standing against a brick wall.

    Lucille Angus

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at York University in Toronto and an early childhood educator. Her PhD thesis examined children’s perspectives of their experiences through literature, interviews, and case studies.

  • A woman with short dark hair and red glasses operating a professional video camera on a tripod in an indoor setting.

    Lana Lin

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Associate professor in the School of Media Studies at The New School, New York. She is the author of Freud’s Jaw and Other Lost Objects and is a filmmaker and artist who has collaborated on multi-disciplinary projects as Lin + Lam.

  • A woman with shoulder-length brown hair, smiling, wearing a blue blazer and a black and white dotted blouse, holding a notebook and glasses, standing against a plain white wall.

    Amy Freier

    CONTRIBUTOR

    The Inclusion Diversity Equity and Accessibility Lead at the Health Data Research Network of Canada at the University of Manitoba. Her PhD dissertation, Exhibiting Human Rights, explored the way the relational properties of museums and exhibitions reframe human dignity as founded on networks and constellations, rather than individual autonomy.

  • A woman speaking at a microphone during a presentation or conference.

    Aparna Mishra Tarc

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Associate professor in the Faculty of Education at York University in Toronto. She was formerly an elementary school teacher in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Canada. She is the author of Literacy of the Other: Renarrating Humanity.

  • A man outdoors taking a selfie with a camera, holding it up with his right hand, while his left hand is relaxed at his chest level. The image is in black and white.

    Stephen Mayes

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Executive director for the Tim Hetherington Trust, Mayes has worked for several major photography organizations, including Getty Images, Photonica, Eye Storm, VII Photo Agency, and the World Press Photo Awards.

  • A woman with short dark hair smiling, wearing orange and black floral clothing and gold earrings, standing near a window.

    Astrid Jamar

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Lecturer in Development Policy & Practice at The Open University. She works on the professionalisation of transitional justice from anthropological, postcolonial and feminist perspectives, with a regional focus on the African Great Lakes region.

  • A young man with short dark hair, beard, and glasses, wearing a maroon shirt, standing against a plain light gray wall.

    Ryan Shuvera

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Lecturer at the Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy at the University of Toronto Mississauga. His research analyzes experiences of listening to popular music as a basis to examine the ways that settlers listen, comprehend, and communicate ideas of reconciliation or unsettlement.

  • A young man with dark hair and blue eyes wearing a striped shirt, looking at the camera with a neutral expression against a plain background.

    Chris Vanderwees

    CONTRIBUTOR

    A psychoanalyst and registered psychotherapist in private practice and at St. John the Compassionate Mission in Toronto, and an affiliate and research guest of the Toronto Psychoanalytic Society, a member of Lacan Toronto, a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Lacanian School of Psychoanalysis.

  • A woman with shoulder-length gray hair and a friendly expression, standing indoors near a bookshelf.

    Melissa Adler

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Assistant professor in the Faculty of Information & Media Studies at Western University in Canada. Her research concerns the history of library classifications as they intersect with state and cultural discourses about race and sexuality. She is the author of Cruising the Library: Perversities in the Organization of Knowledge.

  • An elderly man with white hair, glasses, and a beard speaking into a microphone.

    Ian Balfour

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Professor emeritus at York University. He is the author of Northrop Frye, The Rhetoric of Romantic Prophecy, as well as numerous essays on Romanticism and literary theory.

  • A woman with red glasses and shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a sleeveless red top, smiling in front of a bookshelf filled with books.

    Shawn Michelle Smith

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Professor of Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the author of several books including At the Edge of Sight: Photography and the Unseen and Photography on the Color Line: W. E. B. Du Bois, Race, and Visual Culture, and co-editor, with Sharon Sliwinski, of Photography and the Optical Unconscious.

  • A middle-aged man with glasses and gray hair speaking at a podium with microphones, gesturing with his right hand.

    Stephen Frosh

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Professor of Psychology in the Centre for Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of several books, including Hauntings: Psychoanalysis and Ghostly Transmissions, For and Against Psychoanalysis, and The Politics of Psychoanalysis: An Introduction to Freudian and Post-Freudian Theory.

  • Woman with dark hair, glasses, and a black scarf, posing indoors with her hand on her face.

    Karyn Sandlos

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Head of the Art Education Program in the School of Art & Art History at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is also a practicing artist and curator. Her work focuses on teacher education, curriculum and pedagogy, psychoanalysis and human development, sexuality education and youth media.