Gloria Boeri

I am a second-year doctoral student in History of Art with an interest in the discarded, the invisible, and what lies in the margins. My object of study—the photography of artworks and artists—is both omnipresent and overlooked, too often accepted uncritically, and deemed as secondary to the ‘higher arts’ it depicts.

For my doctoral research, I focus on the Italian photographer Ugo Mulas (1928-1973) and Antonia Mulas (1939-2014), his wife, assistant, and later an independent photographer in her own right, in order to undertake a close reading of their work while unpacking a set of broader issues relating to the relationship between media. My dissertation broadly hinges on two major focuses: first, examining the role photography played and still plays in mediating art for both specialised and broader audiences alike; and second, studying the way in which this encounter with contemporary art has changed the nature of photography itself.

I received my Bachelor’s degree with First Class Honors in History of Art and Material Studies at University College London, where I wrote a thesis on Alberto Burri’s Plastic Combustions under the supervision of Professor Briony Fer. At the University of Oxford, I completed my Master’s with a dissertation on Emilio Isgrò’s Erasures. Prior to beginning my doctoral studies, I assisted curators with exhibitions and researched for publications at the Triennale Museum, Milan, and at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

I have presented my research at conferences, including recently at the University of St. Andrews and at Royal Holloway University. This year, thanks to a Terra Foundation of American Art Grant, I have carried out extensive research in museums, artist foundations, and national archives in New York and Washington DC. In Oxford, I have tutored exchange students at St Edmund’s Hall and I am currently assisting Professor Alastair Wright in teaching his ‘Pop and the Art of the Sixties’ course. 

Supervisor: Professor Geraldine Johnson