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Hi!

My name is Michelle and I’m a PhD student in Art History at York University in Toronto, Canada. This page is meant to provide information about my research project and experience. I’m writing a dissertation that explores drawings made by the South Asian Goan artist, Mario de Miranda (1926 – 2011). Miranda was a staff illustrator for the Times of India Press from 1953 to 1977 and created thousands of daily and weekly cartoons for the Economic Times and the Illustrated Weekly of India. He was known professionally as ‘Mario Miranda’ and is often remembered affectionately by fans as ‘Mario’. My project aims to raise awareness about Miranda’s artistic practice and therefore recognise the contributions of a South Asian Goan cartoonist to global art history.

 

About My Research…

The goals of my research project are firstly, to understand how Goan culture has been pictured by Mario Miranda, and secondly, to see if Miranda and his drawings are familiar to members of the Goan community, especially those that settled in Canada.

 

My research focuses on drawings of Goa and Goan people featured in the rare book by Miranda, Goa, With Love, published in 1964 and 1974. The book was made as a souvenir particularly for expatriate Goans who returned to Goa occasionally, as tourists. It’s a lightweight book, made of newsprint paper, and is roughly 40-pages in length. It contains pen-and-ink drawings that are mostly black-and-white but includes some colour illustrations as well.

 

I seek to understand how the book, Goa, With Love impacted the migrant Goan community. That is, I would like to know how successful the book’s sales were; if the book was popular amongst expatriate Goans in Canada; and if the imagery in the book shaped how expatriate Goans think about their heritage.​ 

The online survey I'm conducting will help me to answer these questions.

 

Research findings will be published in my dissertation, and its chapters will be written with the intent of being presentable as academic conference papers.

 

About Michelle Faux …

 

EDUCATION

• Doctoral Candidate; Art History & Visual Culture, York University. Sept. 2022 – Present.

• Master of Arts; Art History & Visual Culture, York University. 2022.

• Honours Bachelor of Arts; Art History, English Literature, Visual Arts, University of Toronto. 2004.

 

AWARDS

• Gunn Essay Prize, 2025: Canadian Immigration Historical Society & Carleton University; Essay: “The Ugandan Expulsion of South Asians & Multicultural Policy: Exploring Factors which Sparked the Migration of Goans to Canada in the 1970s”.            

• Nirvan Bhavan Graduate Fellowship for Research on India & the Indian Diaspora; York Centre for Asian Research, York University. 2025.

• Ontario Graduate Scholarship; York University. 2025-2026.

• Susan Crocker and John Hunkin Scholarship Award in Fine Arts; York University. 2020.

• Anita Fitzgerald Prize for Best Written Work in Women’s Studies; University of Toronto. 2000.

 

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS

• 2026: Guest Lecturer, “Caricaturing as a Form of Expression in Europe and Asia,” Art and Health Lecture Series, Baycrest Hospital/Kimel Family Centre, March 26, 2026.

• 2026: Book Chapter (Forthcoming), “Bubbling up: Monstrous Mothers and Maternal Anger in the Art of Bharti Kher,” in Silence to Strength: Intersections of Maternal Anger and Feminist Thought, Edited by Maki Motapanyane; to be published by Demeter Press.

• 2025: Conference Presentation, “The Ugandan Expulsion of South Asians & Multicultural Policy: Exploring Factors which Sparked the Migration of Goans to Canada in the 1970s,” Archives of Ontario, The Avie Bennett Historica Chair in Canadian History Symposium: There Here: How Diasporas Shaped Cananda, September 19, 2025.

• 2025: Podcast Co-writer & Co-Presenter, “Episode 0,” DIAXPORAS Migration Memory Research Collective Podcasts, Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, York University. Recorded May 27, 2025, pending release.

• 2024: Conference Presentation, “Goa, With Love – Memories of Portuguese-Goa in the Art of Mario de Miranda,” University of Toronto, Innis College, Eleventh Annual Wollesen Memorial Graduate Symposium in Art History: Dissent/Descent, October 19, 2024.

• 2024: Exhibition Review, "Sarindar Dhaliwal: When I grow up I want to be a namer of paint colours, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada. July 22, 2023 – January 7, 2024." Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas (ADVA) Journal, Vol. 9, No. 1-2 (May 2024), P. 147 - 150; Brill Publications, The Netherlands; brill.com.

• 2022: Guest Speaker, “Monstrous Iconography in the Art of Bharti Kher: Tracing the Theme of Monstrosity Through Explicit and Implicit Expressions of the Liminal Body,” MA Thesis; Course: ARTH 3400, “Cabinets of Curiosities,” York University; March 29, 2022, by invitation of the Course Director.

• 2001: Conference Presentation, “Female Monsters: Born in Ancient Greece, Living in the Mass Media,” Hons BA Thesis; Body of Knowledge Colloquium, Humanities, University of Toronto at Scarborough; February 28, 2001.

 

WORK EXPERIENCE

• Teaching Assistant, York University, Sep 2022 – Present.

• Freelance Photographer & Artist. (Part Time) 2000 – 2020.

• Office Manager, DECOSTA Enterprises. 2006 – 2008.

• Membership Office Assistant, Ontario Science Centre. 2003 – 2006. 

• Docent (Volunteer), Art Gallery of Ontario. 2002 – 2003.

• Visitor Services Clerk, Ontario Science Centre. 1999 – 2003.

• Co-op Administrative Assistant, Ontario Science Centre. July – October 1998.

• Teaching Assistant, Summer School, Toronto Catholic District School Board. 1995 – 1997.