PEOPLE

Tom de Freston

is an artist and writer based in Oxford. He has been the holder of various prestigious fellowships and residencies, including a Leverhulme Residency at Cambridge University, the inaugural Creative Fellowship at Birmingham University and a Levy Plumb Residency at Christ’s College. His multimedia projects have received funding from the AHRC, TORCH, the Fell Fund and Arts Council England. His most recent publication was a graphic poetic retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice (Bloomsbury Academic 2015).

For details on past solo shows and reviews: tomdefreston.co.uk

Mariah Whelan

is a poet and academic based in The Centre for New Writing at The University of Manchester where she is writing a new collection of poems and researching trauma, memory and form in contemporary Irish fiction. Her poems and critical writing have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including Writing in Education, The Aesthetica Creative Writing Anthology and Best New British and Irish Poets. The manuscript for her first collection won the AM Heath Prize and will be published by Eyewear in October 2019. A second collection of poems exploring archival material from The Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford and the writer’s own unconscious participation in discourses of white supremacy will be published by Dancing Girl Press in 2020.

For details on past solo shows and reviews: mariahwhelan.com

Dr Pablo de Orellana

is a Lecturer in International Relations at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London and Co-Chair of the KCL Research Centre in International Relations. His research focuses on the role of identity in diplomacy, nationalism, International Relations theory, as well as Art History. He completed his PhD in International Relations at King’s College London in 2016, specialising in how diplomacy constructs knowledge about political subjects. He has published articles on the history and mechanics of nationalist ideas, diplomatic communication, the role of identity in diplomacy, and an upcoming monograph on the diplomacy of the First Vietnam War. His latest work, for which Truth Tellers is a pilot, seeks to develop research collaborations at the Art-IR nexus. 

For details on publications and academic research: pablodeorellana.kcl

Dr Christiana Spens

is an academic and writer, currently teaching in the School of International Relations at the University of St. Andrews, and writing for various art publications such as Art Quarterly, Elephant and Studio International. Her first monograph, The Portrayal and Punishment of Terrorists in Western Media: Playing the Villain, is published by Palgrave Macmillan (2019), and develops a method to research visual genealogy. She has also published several other books, both fiction and non-fiction. She is currently working on a novel that deals with themes of trauma, identity and relationships.  

For details on publications and academic research: christiana-spens.com