Morgan Mavis
Morgan Mavis has a life-long passion for collecting and story telling. She is a conceptual artist and creative arts educator. In 2003 she completed her BFA with Honours in Sculpture Installation from The Ontario College of Art and Design. Her thesis: Can You Love Me?, an exploration of approval and notoriety. In 2005 Morgan and her Partner Christopher Bennell set out on an installation of expansive proportions: to hitchhike across country, to the Canadian North, collecting stories and documenting their adventures. At present, Mavis resides in Toronto's west end and is Curator and Head Acquisitionist for the Contemporary Zoological Conservatory. This is an ongoing life-long installation that changes and evolves with each of Mavis's delightful, bizarre, and beautiful acquisitions. "I won't be satisfied until I have a narwhal suspended from the ceiling hanging just bellow the chandelier and once I have that who knows what I will long for next?"
Christopher Bennell
Christopher Bennell is the Lead Conservationist at The Contemporary Zoological Conservatory. He is also a new media technician and coder. Bennell has worked as photo archivist for the prestigious Black Star Historical Black and White Photography Collection and with the collections of the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in First Nation.
Bennell holds a BFA in New Media from Ryerson University. His thesis: “Urban Archive: Lingering awhile over a fleeting artifact” meticulously documented urban ephemera in Toronto.
Christopher Bennell now lives in Toronto where he is employed at the Ontario College of Art and Design.