Humans of AUP: Noemie Oxley
"I was born and raised in Paris. My dad is from Canada, more specifically the area of Vancouver. He grew up five hundred kilometers from there in a valley called The Okanagan. And my mom was born in France but is originally from Poland; she is Jewish Polish. I have two brothers; the older one is about 47 or 48. I’m not too sure right now. And the younger one is 30 this December. I’d say we’re close. When I was younger I wanted to make movies, then I wanted to make documentaries and so I started to study them, ultimately switching perspective and going into the theory of it all. I stopped pursuing this because it was very hard. Not in terms of living from it, but just the fact of intruding into the lives of others, and to make films about them. It was too hard for me. I made a few documentaries that didn’t work out. I realized that I had a very sharp skill of analyzing images so it became my main interest."
Image Credit: Sarah Plattes
"I like to write and contemplate, I like to observe, and I think I used the things that I had seen as I was trying to make movies, which is the difficulty of taking the place of, not the intruder, but being strong enough to enter the life of others. To film them, in a way, helped me a lot to understand documentaries. But I like to write and I like to do research. I find creativity in theses things. I’m passionate about images. I like to try to understand them and their relationship to society. But a passion is like art; it’s never only a fun thing to do. Creation, when you’re really into a project, can be fascinating yet horrible at the same time. And I’m sure you experience this with your music as well. Sometimes you feel like you want to kill yourself, sometimes the creative process is hard to do, but then you have these small moments of epiphanies. And moments like these are what make it all worth it."
Image Credit: Sarah Plattes
"But a passion is like art; it’s never only a fun thing to do. Creation, when you’re really into a project, can be fascinating yet horrible at the same time."
"There are so many forms of marginalization that we face today. One is being considered an intellectual by people who don’t value that kind of work; the fact that you think for a living let's say, especially in our society where it is generally looked down on. You are also marginalized because of income. If I speak for my colleagues in the research/teaching area in France, and more generally public service, in France our passion and dedication for public service is being used by the government. Public institutions rely on this dedication as a way to make us work on an increasing precarious basis (think of teachers, policemen, nurses, etc.). We have a very strong conscience of the public service in France, and they’re hoping for us to continue the job because they know that we have this sense of responsibility and duty, even though we are not paid enough. That’s how France works right now, in general."
Image Credit: Sarah Plattes
"I think that in French institutions our passions and dedication for public service are being used against us."
"I can see myself doing two things: research and teaching, as I’m doing now. Teaching is my second passion. Or being a butcher! I enjoy cutting and preparing meat. There are two things that motivate me: the first being my own research and the fact that I find that there is a huge importance in what I do; the research of images in order to understand their impact on society that I find important. The social importance in what I do is what guides me. And the second thing is teaching; transmitting and sharing knowledge. I enjoy helping people think individually and freely. I started teaching in London, winter 2010. The teaching environment in London is quite good. I taught at Goldsmith University and it was great. But London is a harsh city. It’s quite cold in terms of relationships. London works in terms of neighborhoods; if you have a neighborhood that’s nice with friends around you then it’s fine. Luckily for me I had friends and my boyfriend was with me."
Image Credit: Sarah Plattes
"Right now I’m finishing my PhD and I still need to discuss it. But I'm in this space where I’m very curious about what the future holds; I’m not too sure what I want the future to be. A struggle for me is coming to terms with the fact that I may have to work in an economical and political complex environment. Economically, because we’re going to have huge austerity in the years to come; and politically because it’s hard to understand what’s going on in the world at the moment."
Image Credit: Sarah Plattes
"As far as the effects that recent electoral results have on women, I find that it’s the same old story. In France, the next guy that might be elected is also quite behind in terms of women’s rights. But it’s more a general situation of social regressions. It’s an era of lies, or a post-truth moment, which is a horrible term just to say that we’re in an era where telling the truth doesn’t matter anymore, and persuasion is key, and it’s okay to lie. That’s Trumps election if I’m not mistaken. I guess my biggest problem with Trump is that he’s unveiling a trend that we have in all our countries. It started in Hungary, then the president in Poland, now Trump, and maybe France 2017."
Image Credit: Sarah Plattes
"It’s an era of lies, or a post-truth moment, which is a horrible term just to say that we’re in an era where telling the truth doesn’t matter anymore, and persuasion is key, and it’s okay to lie."
"I’m educated, come from a middle/upper class, but it’s like when the abortion is going to be completely banned—and they will try to do that—how do the less financially strong girls deal with that? It’s kind of already the case. You have the topic of immigrants and this giant wall that he (Trump) wants to construct, you have ‘Islamophobia’ and the way people treat Muslims everywhere in Europe and in the States. All of it is scary. I come from a descent of people that had to fight for their lives. I’m not very optimistic but I’m not cynical either. I’m very hopeful of the fact that what’s happening brings more awareness in people that weren't or did not want to be aware. So, I’m mad, I’m angry but I’m not cynical. Ultimately, I am optimistic up to a certain extent because I am ready to face what will happen and try, at my very small level, to raise my voice."
