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About Me

Research Interests
  • Women artists of the interwar avant-gardes

  • History and theory of photography 

  • Surrealism and its legacies

  • Contemporary Scottish photography

Publications
  • Book Review: "Peter Brathwaite, Rediscovering Black Portraiture," Studies in Photography (Winter 2024)

  • Essay: "Reframing Narratives, Rewriting (Hi)Stories: Maud Sulter's Syrcas," Studies in Photography (Winter 2021) 

  • Essay: "Ragpicking the City: Dora Maar as Street Photographer," Woman's Art Journal 41:2 (Fall 2020)

  • Exhibition Review: "Dora Maar's Artistic Odyssey," The Debutante 2 - Feminist-Surrealist Odysseys (October 2020) 

  • Book Review: "Eilean: The Island Photography of Margaret Fay Shaw​, by Fiona J Mackenzie (ed.)," Northern Scotland 11:1 (May 2020)

  • Exhibition Review: "An Uncanny Eye - Dora Maar at Tate Modern," Source Photographic Review 100 (Winter 2019/20) 

  • Exhibition Review: "Jonny Lyons: Dream Easy," Studies in Photography, 30th Anniversary Edition (2016)

  • Essay: "Calum Colvin and the Postmodern Turn," in Calum Colvin: The Magic Box (Edinburgh: Edinburgh Printmakers, 2014)

Presentations
  • Invited speaker, Tate Talks: The Surreal Nature of Reality. Presentation entitled "Seeing without looking: vision, blindness, and the pursuit of the surreal," followed by panel discussion with Prof Dawn Ades and Dr Lauren Elkin, chaired by Prof Shahidha Bari. Tate Modern, February 2020.

  • Invited speaker, Surrealism & Theory workshop, organised by Dr Kristoffer Noheden. Paper entitled "Surrealist Photography, In Theory." IASH, University of Edinburgh, November 2019.

  • "La photographie dans le boudoir: femininity, fashion, and the femme fatale in Dora Maar’s portraits of Leonor Fini." SURREALISMS - inaugural conference of the International Society for the Study of Surrealism (ISSS). Bucknell University, November 2018.

  • "Touchez, s'il vous plaît: the hand as surrealist motif in Dora Maar's photographic works." Dada & Surrealism Research Group Seminar Series. Edinburgh College of Art, May 2018.

  • ​"Dora dans les rues: female flânerie and the dérive in Dora Maar’s street photography." Universities Art Association of Canada (UAAC) Annual Conference. Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, October 2017.

  • "Maar, Bataille, and the Eye: Aggressive visuality in Dora Maar's photomontage." Aggression, Transgression & the Avant-garde One-day International Conference. University of Edinburgh, June 2017.

  • "Witnessing the Surreal: Blind insight in Dora Maar's surrealist photomontage." ​Franco-Scottish Research Network Interdisciplinary Seminar. Institut Français Écosse, December 2016.

  • "Down and Out in Paris, London, and Barcelona: Characterising Dora Maar’s Street Photography." Changing Tides: Exploring the relationships between people, places, and art - History of Art Postgraduate Research Conference. University of Edinburgh, June 2016.

Conferences/panels organised
  • New Voices: Art and Conflict, Association for Art History annual postgraduate research conference, University of Edinburgh, November 2018 [Co-organiser]

  • Surrealism and Photography: New Perspectives, session at UAAC Annual Conference, University of Waterloo, October 2018 [Panel organiser/chair]

  • ​Re/presenting the Body: Between art and science, Association for Art History Summer Symposium, University of Glasgow, July 2017 [Organising committee member]

  • Aggression, Transgression & the Avant-garde, one-day international conference, University of Edinburgh, June 2017 [Co-organiser]

  • Changing Tides: Exploring the relationships between people, places and art, annual History of Art postgraduate research conference, University of Edinburgh, June 2016 [Organising committee member]

Public engagement
  • Surrealist Games Night, Edinburgh College of Art (Dada & Surrealism Research Group), 3rd April 2019 [Co-organiser and host]

  • Books in Focus: Women Surrealists, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two), 4th & 6th October 2018 [Invited speaker]

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