Edward S. Christie
I am an Associate Lecturer in the School of Art History at the University of St Andrews specialising in post-war and contemporary ecological art. My aim is to foster the potential for engagement with the arts to instigate effective responses to socio-environmental crises.
In November 2023, I completed my PhD in History of Art at UCL. My thesis, which is titled ‘Mobilising Post-War Eco Art History Against the Climate Crisis’, critically revisions canonical narratives on post-war eco art in the light of the recent proliferation of discourse on the Anthropocene and popularisation of climate activism. Challenging the binarised conception of nature as being divided from culture, each chapter explores the intersection of environmentalism with diverse forms of social politics through the lenses of works by the following artists: Agnes Denes (feminism); Rasheed Araeen (anti-racism); Juan Downey (Indigenous activism); Derek Jarman (queer politics); and the Kyūshū-ha (anarchism).
I expanded upon my doctoral project in part by curating a number of research initiatives, many of which were interdisciplinary. For example, the Cultural Ecology: Galvanising Climate Action Across the Arts lecture series, which was hosted by UCL Anthropocene, united activist-academics working across the arts to interrogate the following question: ‘How might cultural researchers galvanise more urgent and effective responses to the climate crisis to remedy the severe inadequacy of the actions currently being set into motion by governments and corporations?’. I continue to be open to collaborating with scholars and arts professionals from either arts or sciences backgrounds on academic initiatives and exhibitions.
If you would like to discuss a research project, curatorial opportunity, or writing commission please get in touch.