Tarah Dowling’s art captures the strength and resilience of Tuition Waiver students

Tarah Dowling created the art installation We Are the Change You Want to See, which she says gives a “brief glimpse into the world of living in foster care and how the Tuition Waiver program is changing lives.”

The fourth-year VIU Visual Art student created the project using cyanotype photographs – a blue-coloured photograph made through a developing technique. It includes portraits of 15 tuition waiver students and a recording of them sharing some of their experiences. The project shows the strength and resiliency of the participants and what they overcame to attend post-secondary.

“I was inspired by their stories. To hear about their hardships and what they overcame to get themselves to school is amazing. Hearing from some people who were living on the streets at some point and having social workers tell them about the program, while not even having an address to qualify for this grant,” says Tarah. “All the obstacles they had to overcome to get to school. To just want that for yourself. I thought that was amazing given that so many people could just look at their experience and think: What’s education going to do for me? Or to feel let down by the system in general. That left me with more of a positive outlook. I was inspired.”

The art piece started with a conversation with her art professor, Chai Duncan, about a community-based art project. The conversation sparked the idea for her to see if people in the Tuition Waiver program were interested in her documenting or photographing them.

Tarah is a Tuition Waiver program student herself. The Tuition Waiver program aims to help former youth in care access post-secondary education and trades training. Aside from waiving tuition and fees for eligible students, VIU has a dedicated employee who checks in with students and connects them with other resources. 

Tarah hopes her art helps people understand what it would feel like to be a foster kid. She says the audio bites she included encompass the overall feeling of being in foster care. Tarah also wants to inspire openness and empathy for people to be aware that other people around them may be experiencing a lot of hardships, not just people who were in care but just in their own lives.

“Hopefully, this will inspire other people to know that you are sharing this school experience with someone who might be going through something and to be a little bit more mindful,” she says. “When you listen to the audio bites, it is so emotionally driven it allows you to feel your empathy. Sometimes we don’t allow ourselves to sit with that. I attempt to create art that invokes that in somebody.”

Tarah hopes to have the art installed in a public space outside of the school and applied for a grant to start a podcast telling the stories of former foster kids. If you wish to see the exhibition in person, it is currently on the fifth floor of the VIU library.

Tarah says growing up in foster care is a sensitive topic and not something people share right away.

“It was so beautiful to connect with the other participants because it was this instant understanding of each other without really having to say anything. We all knew we had trauma and we all knew we had gone through difficult things that we might not be able to talk about,” she says.

Tarah is also creating a documentary film, To The Moon and Back, based on the relationship she had with her mother, who battled addiction. She says the film gives insight into the struggle family members experience with their “addicted loved ones.” 

“It’s a film of unconditional love and learning how to have boundaries, better communication and all the aspects that are necessary to stay in that type of relationship.”