ACU (Australian Catholic University)

Dr Victoria Carruthers - Nat Sch of Arts (Faculty of Education and Arts)

Accreditation in-progress - Supervisor is eligible to co-supervise with another fully accredited supervisor (Principal Supervisor)

My research areas are primarily focused on modern and contemporary art history and theory. I also have an interest in the intersections between politics and visual cultures both in a contemporary, globalised, neoliberal world, as well as in the Renaissance/Baroque periods. I completed an Honours degree at the College of Fine Arts in Sydney and then traveled on a scholarship to the UK where I completed a PhD at the University of Essex, awarded in 2012. My doctoral thesis focused on the art of the late American surrealist Dorothea Tanning with whom I worked in New York before her death in 2012. Before studying art history, I completed a BA in literature and philosophy and a Masters by thesis on Shakespeare's late plays, both at the University of Sydney.

My research interests have been broad and reflect my education in the Humanities and my personal interest in the history of music. For this reason, I would consider my research practices genuinely interdisciplinary. In the past, I have mostly focused on the work of women artists involved with Dada and surrealism and I am still involved with a number of projects in this area.

My publications include essays on Tanning's work and its relationship to music, gothic literature and mermaid imagery. I have also published on surrealist poetry, Young British Artists, the surrealist Czech artist Emila Medkova and I am currently preparing a critical monograph on Dorothea Tanning due for publication in 2017.