CARINA COSTOM
Frequently Asked Questions - FAQ
Mountain Mamas have been asking.
So here are six FAQ sections:
About The Project
About The Artist-Researcher
About Participation
About Process
About Motivations
About Ethics
So here are six FAQ sections:
About The Project
About The Artist-Researcher
About Participation
About Process
About Motivations
About Ethics
1 - About The Project
What is it?
I am writing a first draft of an illustrated collection of stories on parents who live in the West Kootenay.
Who will you be interviewing?
100 moms who are living or have lived in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia.
What is the project title?
The project's working title is 100 Women | 100 Oceans: Notes from the Parenting Underbelly.
What do you mean by underbelly?
I mean having heartfelt conversations about difficult topics in parenting - the whole range.
I am writing a first draft of an illustrated collection of stories on parents who live in the West Kootenay.
Who will you be interviewing?
100 moms who are living or have lived in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia.
What is the project title?
The project's working title is 100 Women | 100 Oceans: Notes from the Parenting Underbelly.
What do you mean by underbelly?
I mean having heartfelt conversations about difficult topics in parenting - the whole range.
2 - About The Artist-Researcher
Who are you to be doing this thing?
I'm an early career artist. My practice includes: writing essays, stories and poetry, as well as photography, illustration, facilitation. These days, I am a passionate about art, cultural anthropology and of course, "momming".
I have an understanding of community engagement and collaboration in research. Organizational skills, attention to detail and experience in project coordination of this scale including: progress reporting, project planning and control, risk management and stakeholder management are also within my skill set.
What did you do before?
I've freelanced as a writer, editor, and project manager in communications. I've worked as a marketing analyst, a graphic designer, and an employment counselor. I've also been a contributing editor and a former managing editor at the Black Bear Review - The literary journal of Selkirk College.
My day job these days is practicing mom and practicing artist.
I grew up in Montreal, am fluent in French and English and have a basic proficiency in Spanish. I hold a degree (BA, Hons) from McGill University, and am completing an Associate of Arts with a focus on creative writing and anthropology . My nonfiction essays have been published in the Black Bear Review and the Nelson Star. There is one chapbook lurking in local bookstores. I am based in Nelson, BC.
My current project is 100 Women - 100 Oceans, Notes from the Parenting Underbelly.
Who do you work for?
Currently, I am a student, an early career artist, and a community member with a strong interest in this topic. This is an independent project. I have no affiliations.
Will you be profiting from this?
At this time, I am moving forward without external funding as of Spring 2025.
However, I am applying for a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts - Explore and Create program for early career artists. If my application is successful - I will know by September 2025 - then I will making an artist's living wage for 12 -months.
Either way I am starting - on my own dime - because the desire is strong.
Would you pass a criminal records check to work with vulnerable people or people who are connected to vulnerable people?
Yes. And I have while working for local nonprofits.
I'm an early career artist. My practice includes: writing essays, stories and poetry, as well as photography, illustration, facilitation. These days, I am a passionate about art, cultural anthropology and of course, "momming".
I have an understanding of community engagement and collaboration in research. Organizational skills, attention to detail and experience in project coordination of this scale including: progress reporting, project planning and control, risk management and stakeholder management are also within my skill set.
What did you do before?
I've freelanced as a writer, editor, and project manager in communications. I've worked as a marketing analyst, a graphic designer, and an employment counselor. I've also been a contributing editor and a former managing editor at the Black Bear Review - The literary journal of Selkirk College.
My day job these days is practicing mom and practicing artist.
I grew up in Montreal, am fluent in French and English and have a basic proficiency in Spanish. I hold a degree (BA, Hons) from McGill University, and am completing an Associate of Arts with a focus on creative writing and anthropology . My nonfiction essays have been published in the Black Bear Review and the Nelson Star. There is one chapbook lurking in local bookstores. I am based in Nelson, BC.
My current project is 100 Women - 100 Oceans, Notes from the Parenting Underbelly.
Who do you work for?
Currently, I am a student, an early career artist, and a community member with a strong interest in this topic. This is an independent project. I have no affiliations.
Will you be profiting from this?
At this time, I am moving forward without external funding as of Spring 2025.
However, I am applying for a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts - Explore and Create program for early career artists. If my application is successful - I will know by September 2025 - then I will making an artist's living wage for 12 -months.
Either way I am starting - on my own dime - because the desire is strong.
Would you pass a criminal records check to work with vulnerable people or people who are connected to vulnerable people?
Yes. And I have while working for local nonprofits.
3 - About Participation
I'd like to participate and contribute anonymously, can I?
Yes, you can.
Do I have to talk about my kids?
Actually no. I am looking to learn about your lived experience as a parent. We will be walking the fine line around confidentiality and respecting the stories that belong to our children (and other family members). Ethics first. We'll be learning together about how to do this well and safely as we will have more than one consent check in along the way.
I don't know what to talk about?
No worries, you are not the only one. Open ended questions like, every family is a unique response to a big question. "What is your family's unique question" are not easy to get at on the spot. It takes a minute.
So, I will be crafting some warm up questions to support us - which you can look at way in advance - and then I'll be glad to let it flow where it wants to go.
How much time do I need for this? What is the time commitment from me as a participant?
I'm guessing, 3 x 1 hour = 3 hours total? It could be less or it could be a little more. This includes time for an interview and a portrait of you. We can adjust as needed. Redos are options if needed. We're parents, after all. So we know something about redos! Right?
Yes, you can.
Do I have to talk about my kids?
Actually no. I am looking to learn about your lived experience as a parent. We will be walking the fine line around confidentiality and respecting the stories that belong to our children (and other family members). Ethics first. We'll be learning together about how to do this well and safely as we will have more than one consent check in along the way.
I don't know what to talk about?
No worries, you are not the only one. Open ended questions like, every family is a unique response to a big question. "What is your family's unique question" are not easy to get at on the spot. It takes a minute.
So, I will be crafting some warm up questions to support us - which you can look at way in advance - and then I'll be glad to let it flow where it wants to go.
How much time do I need for this? What is the time commitment from me as a participant?
I'm guessing, 3 x 1 hour = 3 hours total? It could be less or it could be a little more. This includes time for an interview and a portrait of you. We can adjust as needed. Redos are options if needed. We're parents, after all. So we know something about redos! Right?
4 - About The Process
What will the processes look like?
Part 1: FAQ and informed consent process.
Part 2: You and me, a conversation or two and an audio recorder.
We can meet in person or over zoom.
We talk, I can offer some warm up questions, I mostly listen, I press record.
After our meeting, I transcribe your sharing, send it to you for approval, then, I make art in my home studio a.k.a. my living room and my kitchen lol.
Part 3: On another occasion, or on the same day, I take a portrait of you with my camera.
Part 4: When a first draft takes shape around Spring 2026, there may be an opportunity for an in person or Zoom check in to share the journey so far and next steps for me/the project, for participants, and at the community level.
Can I see the story and the visual art work?
Yes, in time, when informed consent is in place for all participants and the work has progressed enough to be shown.
Will I be able to connect with other participants?
Yes, that is part of the vision down the road if it is desired by community.
Will you serve tea?
(Laughing) Definitely!
So, what is your artistic goal?
So, my short term artistic goal is to transform your and my parenting stories (the audio record of the interview and its transcript) into art.
a) a written reply: using one of these traditional forms: essay/poem/short story/ tale, ...
b) an experimental reply with mark making
c) a visual reply: a linocut print
d) a visual record: a portrait
Part 1: FAQ and informed consent process.
Part 2: You and me, a conversation or two and an audio recorder.
We can meet in person or over zoom.
We talk, I can offer some warm up questions, I mostly listen, I press record.
After our meeting, I transcribe your sharing, send it to you for approval, then, I make art in my home studio a.k.a. my living room and my kitchen lol.
Part 3: On another occasion, or on the same day, I take a portrait of you with my camera.
Part 4: When a first draft takes shape around Spring 2026, there may be an opportunity for an in person or Zoom check in to share the journey so far and next steps for me/the project, for participants, and at the community level.
Can I see the story and the visual art work?
Yes, in time, when informed consent is in place for all participants and the work has progressed enough to be shown.
Will I be able to connect with other participants?
Yes, that is part of the vision down the road if it is desired by community.
Will you serve tea?
(Laughing) Definitely!
So, what is your artistic goal?
So, my short term artistic goal is to transform your and my parenting stories (the audio record of the interview and its transcript) into art.
a) a written reply: using one of these traditional forms: essay/poem/short story/ tale, ...
b) an experimental reply with mark making
c) a visual reply: a linocut print
d) a visual record: a portrait
5 - About Motivations
Why?
For my own healing process and for the joy of creating as my first exploration of artistic anthropology. Artistic Anthropology challenges traditional boundaries between art and typically exploitative knowledge production. That is to say this approach aims to be a self-conscious decolonizing practice. I'm super psyched!
So, what is your long term goal?
My aim is for these dialogues to serve as benchmarks and possibly act as a launching pad for something emergent and good that helps bring our community together creatively to learn, to heal, to grow—and make a diff. The diff - if there is to be one -would be on terms set by participants through our conversations and your input - you can always sent me an email here: [email protected]. The project is both a time capsule (of our parenting lives) and a bridge (to our next chapter as parents).
What is the best way to reach you?
Email is the best way: [email protected]
I may take 48 hours to reply.
How long is this project?
The first part of the project has a duration of one year: from Fall 2025 to Fall 2026.
Will the book be published?
I'd love that but way too early to tell. Thank you for asking;)
What about royalties?
Ideally, a portion of the proceeds of sales or sponsorship get directed toward something meaningful to the community of 100 moms. To be determined.
For my own healing process and for the joy of creating as my first exploration of artistic anthropology. Artistic Anthropology challenges traditional boundaries between art and typically exploitative knowledge production. That is to say this approach aims to be a self-conscious decolonizing practice. I'm super psyched!
So, what is your long term goal?
My aim is for these dialogues to serve as benchmarks and possibly act as a launching pad for something emergent and good that helps bring our community together creatively to learn, to heal, to grow—and make a diff. The diff - if there is to be one -would be on terms set by participants through our conversations and your input - you can always sent me an email here: [email protected]. The project is both a time capsule (of our parenting lives) and a bridge (to our next chapter as parents).
What is the best way to reach you?
Email is the best way: [email protected]
I may take 48 hours to reply.
How long is this project?
The first part of the project has a duration of one year: from Fall 2025 to Fall 2026.
Will the book be published?
I'd love that but way too early to tell. Thank you for asking;)
What about royalties?
Ideally, a portion of the proceeds of sales or sponsorship get directed toward something meaningful to the community of 100 moms. To be determined.
6 - About The Ethics
What are your ethics around this kind of community engagement?
Great question! The following are the ethical foundations guiding the work.
IBDE Practices
IBDE practices are based on the values of inclusion, diversity, belonging, and equity.
Equity & Consent
Equitable community engagement encourages and facilitates applications from individuals facing systemic barriers to employment, including Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour (IBPOC), persons with visible or invisible disabilities, and individuals who identify as LGBTQIA2S+.
Consent is a thing renewed and the terms must be explicit regarding: purpose, degree of involvement, voluntariness, confidentiality, data use, risks, prior knowledge of those who will be handling your information, how data will be stored, archived, disposed of and how to easily reverse consent. Emotional safety will be supported by trauma-informed practices.
Contemporary Cultural Anthropology and Practical Ethics
This is a critical approach to studying culture that focuses on the effects of globalism and digital technology, while also examining and challenging areas of inequality, power, and control. In our case, the impact on rural areas and its families.
The ethnographic focus - if there were one - for 100 Women | 100 Oceans - is to make known the lived experience of West Kootenay mothers in this rural culture, at this time, from different intersections and positionalities, in their own voices in an artistic call and response format of sorts.
If this project has an aspiration it is this: to engage in artistic ethnography, a research method that combines art and ethnographic research to study human experiences and culture. It challenges traditional boundaries between art and knowledge production keeping ethnocentrism in check and new community -generated mandates for action research at heart (action research is a research method that involves solving problems while simultaneously conducting research (a.k.a applied or practical anthropology). Designers would call this approach: rapid iteration. This means to make a prototype, test it, adjust the prototype, rinse and repeat. This is how I intend to conduct and co-create this project with all of you!
There may be consultants in each of these areas including a supervisor in cultural anthropology practices.
Thank you and I "hope I've earned the privilege of your time!"
Wamly,
Carina
Great question! The following are the ethical foundations guiding the work.
IBDE Practices
IBDE practices are based on the values of inclusion, diversity, belonging, and equity.
Equity & Consent
Equitable community engagement encourages and facilitates applications from individuals facing systemic barriers to employment, including Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour (IBPOC), persons with visible or invisible disabilities, and individuals who identify as LGBTQIA2S+.
Consent is a thing renewed and the terms must be explicit regarding: purpose, degree of involvement, voluntariness, confidentiality, data use, risks, prior knowledge of those who will be handling your information, how data will be stored, archived, disposed of and how to easily reverse consent. Emotional safety will be supported by trauma-informed practices.
Contemporary Cultural Anthropology and Practical Ethics
This is a critical approach to studying culture that focuses on the effects of globalism and digital technology, while also examining and challenging areas of inequality, power, and control. In our case, the impact on rural areas and its families.
The ethnographic focus - if there were one - for 100 Women | 100 Oceans - is to make known the lived experience of West Kootenay mothers in this rural culture, at this time, from different intersections and positionalities, in their own voices in an artistic call and response format of sorts.
If this project has an aspiration it is this: to engage in artistic ethnography, a research method that combines art and ethnographic research to study human experiences and culture. It challenges traditional boundaries between art and knowledge production keeping ethnocentrism in check and new community -generated mandates for action research at heart (action research is a research method that involves solving problems while simultaneously conducting research (a.k.a applied or practical anthropology). Designers would call this approach: rapid iteration. This means to make a prototype, test it, adjust the prototype, rinse and repeat. This is how I intend to conduct and co-create this project with all of you!
There may be consultants in each of these areas including a supervisor in cultural anthropology practices.
Thank you and I "hope I've earned the privilege of your time!"
Wamly,
Carina
