Cover image by IAIN BAXTER&
On the cover of the latest issue of TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies is a photograph of a woman wrapped in a pink plastic inflated tube situated beside a still lake. The image by Vancouver conceptual artist IAIN BAXTER& evokes a traditional Japanese woman dressed in a kimono.
Baxter’s art is the focus of an essay in an issue exploring meaning in spatial and cultural contexts. In his analysis of Baxter’s use of the concept of information, art historian Adam Lauder casts new light on how conceptual art emerged in Canada under the influence of Marshall McLuhan, write editors and York Professors Jody Berland and Lily Cho in their introduction to the 29th issue.
The issue features eight articles, including essays on Toronto, a city set in malarial swamps; becoming Canadian in and through the canoe; and the lesbian cultural activism of York women’s studies grad Allyson Mitchell. There are also eight book reviews, including one contributed by Christopher Bradd, a doctoral student in social and political thought at York.
The editors announced that York English Professor Stephen Cain is the journal’s new Canadian-book editor.