Dr Pippa Oldfield is a photography curator, writer and academic at Teesside University, UK. She is a specialist in war and women's photography.
The spark for my work came when I was working for The Photographers' Gallery in London and curated an exhibition of photographs by Lee Miller: fashion model, Surrealist artist and Vogue war correspondent .
Over the past 25 years, I've explored the relationship between war and photography, often from the perspective of women. Through exhibitions, writings, and academic research, I've questioned the assumption that war—and war photography—is an exclusively masculine concern.
Whether I'm rummaging in an archive in Mexico, poring over a photo album of Flanders, or locating the site of a Confederate studio in rural Louisiana, I love piecing together untold stories.
But these stories are by no means consigned to the past.
The themes explored in my research—mass media technology, female entrepreneurship, women in combat roles, the witnessing of atrocities, and gender identity, among others—remain acutely relevant in today’s world.
Find out more about my work via Teesside University's Research Portal.
As featured in:
The History Hour, BBC World Service
History Extra: The official website of BBC History magazine
The Conversation
Daily Mail
The Yorkshire Post
Hyperallergic, New York
History Extra: The official website of BBC History magazine
The Conversation
Daily Mail
The Yorkshire Post
Hyperallergic, New York
Public talks:
Tate Liverpool
Nikolai Tesla Museum, Zagreb
National Media Museum
Peace Museum
York Festival of Ideas
MIMA Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art
Centre for British Photography, London
Bristol Cathedral
¡VAMOS! Latin American Festival
Royal Photographic Society
Being Human Festival of Humanities
Nikolai Tesla Museum, Zagreb
National Media Museum
Peace Museum
York Festival of Ideas
MIMA Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art
Centre for British Photography, London
Bristol Cathedral
¡VAMOS! Latin American Festival
Royal Photographic Society
Being Human Festival of Humanities
Project partners, venues and supporters:
Teesside University
Impressions Gallery
Imperial War Museums
The Photographers’ Gallery
Reaktion
Bloomsbury
Museums Etc
Rose Issa Projects
Twenty Twenty Films
Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
Heritage Lottery Fund
Journal of War and Culture Studies
Arts and Humanities Research Council
People's History Museum
Open Eye Gallery
Durham Art Gallery and Light Infantry Museum
The Turnpike
Bishop Auckland Town Hall
Winchester Art Gallery
UH Galleries, Hertfordshire
Impressions Gallery
Imperial War Museums
The Photographers’ Gallery
Reaktion
Bloomsbury
Museums Etc
Rose Issa Projects
Twenty Twenty Films
Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
Heritage Lottery Fund
Journal of War and Culture Studies
Arts and Humanities Research Council
People's History Museum
Open Eye Gallery
Durham Art Gallery and Light Infantry Museum
The Turnpike
Bishop Auckland Town Hall
Winchester Art Gallery
UH Galleries, Hertfordshire