The Art of History

Ariella MINDEN’11

2022 Young Alum Achievement Award

BY MEGAN EASTON’13

It all started when Ariella Minden realized that history could be about anything and everything.

She was enthralled by her history classes at Branksome and excited by the opportunity to tell stories, expose biases and recover voices that were systemically silenced over time.

With her interest piqued, Ariella started her BA at the University of St. Andrews, in Scotland, where she enrolled in her fi rst art history class, focusing on baroque art and architecture.

Fast-forward to today: Ariella has nearly completed her PhD in art history at the University of Toronto. She also holds a pre-doctoral fellowship as part of the Visualizing Science in Medial Revolutions research group at the Bibliotheca Hertziana-Max Planck Institute for Art History, in Rome. As an art historian, her research focuses on 16th-century Italian printmaking at the intersection of art, technology and medicine. She specifically looks at how artists worked with new technologies and how these technologies impacted the way that art looked.

Ariella shares that her love for history, and her desire to be an art historian, was defi nitely rooted and ingrained in her during her time at Branksome. “History was the subject that I absolutely fell in love with,” she says. “We used a lot of images to talk about history and historical fact.”

Ariella also remembers how Branksome gave her the opportunity to explore her talents and interests. She remembers playing Maria in The Sound of Music and, that year, singing a Branksome-themed parody of “My Favourite Th ings” in a sketch for the Holiday Assembly, which Ms. Weinstock lip-synched to. She recalls, “When people had talent, it was recognized and it made me realize how many ways there are to bring people together.”

The 2022 recipient of the Young Alum Achievement Award continues to show leadership, character and positivity in her professional and academic endeavours. “There is no doubt that she is on track to an incredible academic career,” writes nominator Zeenia FRAMROZE’11. “Every time I see her, she is at a different institution making her mark.”

Ariella is known for her love of bringing people together and her ability to think in big ideas. Her experiences at Branksome showed her what it was like to have her intelligence validated, and this is something she continues to pay forward: “I want to make everyone feel included and that they have something important to say, which everyone does.”

Despite her busy academic and professional career, Minden continues to prioritize her friends and family. “She is so generous with her friendship and time,” writes Zeenia. “Ariella truly cares about other people and goes out of her way to make sure everyone around her is comfortable. She also makes everything fun, and doesn’t take herself too seriously, which is an added bonus.”

Ariella understands her responsibility as an art historian and ensures this is conveyed by her own teaching at the University of Toronto. She also continues to remember and model the importance of community, the impact of support and the value of giving back. R