Board Member Spotlight: Oonagh Fitzgerald

Name: Oonagh E. Fitzgerald, BFA, LLB, LLM, MBA, SJD, PhD (Fine Arts)

Occupation: Oonagh is President of the International Law Association of Canada, a Senior Fellow with the Human Rights Research and Education Centre, University of Ottawa, and she teaches courses on human rights themes in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ottawa.

Predominant Practice or Research Area: Public international law and interactions with the arts

"International law is under grave attack, but even as it is flagrantly violated, it remains an

essential beacon reminding us of the possibility of international peace and cooperation.

International lawyers play a crucial role in defending and promoting international rule of law.

Lately I often reflect and comment on international law through the lens of the arts. I

developed Transdisciplinary International Law-Arts Research-Creation (TILARC) to combine

international law and artistic research on current human rights, humanitarian, technological,

and environmental issues.

TILARC practice is based on a wide-ranging and compassionate critique of the body of

international law that developed from the 1945 Charter of the United Nations. Through

artmaking and performance TILARC allows us to imagine how we might renew and recommit

to a planetary charter. This practice is less about law reform than about engaging a broad

audience in thinking and artmaking about international justice relevant to contemporary

challenges."