Sylvia Nowak is a multidisciplinary artist and scholar based in Toronto, working primarily in documentary-based media. Her research and practice center around archives, media criticism, and radical histories of resistance. As a maker, she is enjoys working in experimental forms that rely on collage, found-footage, and the act of recycling/upcycling materials, but also enjoys documenting moments in life. She is a member of the Cosmic Bloom Craft Collective.  

Sylvia is a Ph.D. candidate (ABD) in Cultural Studies at Queen’s University and holds a BFA in Photography and an MFA in Documentary Media (both from Toronto Metropolitan University).

Her MFA thesis film, 206 Carlton, a short archival-based film exploring racism and resistance in the city of Toronto has screened at festivals and conferences. She is currently working on a research-creation project looking at radical antifascist histories of 1990s Toronto, tentatively titled This Is Toronto: Finding Antifascism in the Neoliberal Archives. 

Sylvia sits on the board for the TRANZAC Club as Board Secretary and is also a volunteer with the Toronto Zine Library. She is a member and also the webmaster of the Film and Media Studies of Canada (FMSAC). You can also often find her behind the counter at Bay Street Video.