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Natalia Toronchuk

enchanté! 

Hi, I’m Natalia. I use she/her pronouns, and I identify as a white settler. I'm fortunate to live, study, and work on the land known as Tkaronto (Toronto): territory of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit River. It is a treatied meeting place home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island. 

Corporeally I'm a little hard to keep track of, as my husband and I travel a lot and tend to put down roots for months or a year at a time. Mentally and emotionally (and pretty recently physically) I'm in Canada, Germany, the U.K., Japan and South Korea. Although, of course, the heart knows little of national border lines.

I am a PhD student at the University of Toronto, in the Faculty of Information studying cultural heritage. Here are some of the themes in my research:
  • figurative language and metaphor
  • museums, exhibitions
  • cognitive interaction with written text
  • socio-cultural structure and context
  • multiliteracies and heteroglossia
  • ​transcendence, generativity, infinity
  • education and scaffolding
  • culture and co-construction
  • synergy, gestalt
  • narrative and identity
  • self-reflexivity and critical thinking
  • redemption and hope
  • non-anthropocentrism
  • science and epistemology
  • individuals and institutions
  • genre and activity
My interests mainly revolve around meaning-making and the actions people are driven to when they make meaning. Museums are places of meaning-making, and books are a different, but in many ways similar type of meaning-making place. I'm passionate about communities that bond together over the meaning they make, whether that be the roles of arts, humanities and science, multiculturalism, interfaith work, or activism. I strongly value authentic and tolerant examinations of truth and beliefs, and I am passionate about eco-responsibility. I believe it is urgently important to try to move beyond anthropocentric attitudes. But it's also important to have a wide cultural IQ.

Some other things I'm involved in include creative writing, dance and kung fu (though not at the same time), arts & crafts, volunteering with community events (like VidCon, the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, or local events like charity jogs), and mental health and wellbeing advocacy.


​Give me a shout, ask me a question, or connect up with me for a project. I would love to meet you!
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  • Portfolio
  • Blog
  • Resources
  • About Her
  • Reach Out
  • Curatorial
  • The Slow Web