DR. GEMMA ANGEL
History of Art Department,
University College London
[email protected]
http://www.lifeand6months.com
RESEARCH INTERESTS
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The tattoo in European and American history, particularly in relation to discourses of
criminality and the primitive.
Prepared specimens: the cultures and processes of their preparation, collection and
display, from the cabinet of curiosities and carnival sideshow to historical teaching
collections and contemporary museum displays.
Visual anthropology, anthropology of the body and multi-sensory research methods.
The body in art and contemporary bioart practice.
Discourses of abnormality, teratology and images of the grotesque body in art, medicine
and popular culture.
Material histories, object-lives and hybridity, especially in terms of Actor-Network
Theory.
Skin as a corporeal, sensory and cultural ‘object’; haptics, tactility and communication.
EDUCATION
DOCTORAL DEGREE (2013)
PhD History of Art, University College London in collaboration with the Science
Museum London (AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award)
Thesis Title: In the Skin: An Ethnographic-Historical Approach to a Museum Collection of
Preserved Tattoos.
MASTERS DEGREE (2009)
MA Visual Anthropology (Film & Sensory Media), The University of Manchester Distinction
Dissertation Title: Haptic Communicative Practices: A Visio-Tactile Ethnographic Study
within the Context of a Special Needs School.
TEACHING DEGREE (2005)
PGCE (Secondary) Art & Design, Manchester Metropolitan University
BACHELORS DEGREE (2004)
BA (Hons) Fine Art with History of Art, The University of Leeds - 2:i
Dissertation Title: Cutaneous Arts: Practice and Meaning on the Border Between Self and
the World.
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ACADEMIC AWARDS & GRANTS
Gay Clifford Bursary for Outstanding Women Students (January 2012)
Travel grant to fund research trip to the Lacassagne archive in Lyon.
AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award (2009~2012)
The Passey Prize in Art for the Most Original Work of Art (June 2004)
Stanley Burton Undergraduate Scholarship (2000~2004)
PUBLICATIONS
Roses and Daggers: Expressions of Emotional Pain and Devotion in Nineteenth Century
Tattoos, in C. Rosenthal & D. Vanderbeke (eds.): Probing the Skin: Cultural
Representations of Our Contact Zone, (Cambridge University Press: Forthcoming 2014).
A Movement of the Soul: Embodied Encounters with Human Remains in the Phantom
Museum, in United Academics Journal of Social Sciences (September/October 2013), Vol. 3
Issue 17: Morbid Curiosity Part II, (Digital: Open Access, ISSN/EISSN: 22125736) pp. 1-11.
Atavistic Marks and Risky Practices: the Tattoo in Medico-Legal Debate 1850~1950, in K.
Siena & J. Reinarz (eds.): A Medical History of Skin: Scratching the Surface, (London:
Pickering Chatto, 2013) pp. 165-179.
The Tattoo Collectors: Inscribing Criminality in Nineteenth Century France, in Bildwelten
des Wissens (Winter 2012), Vol. 9.1: ‘Präparate’ (prepared specimens), (Berlin: Akademie
Verlag, 2012) pp. 29-38.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Displaying the Self: The Tattoo From Living Body to Museum Collection.
Presentation at the Exhibiting Human Remains conference, Hunterian Museum, London,
June 4th 2013.
Roses and Daggers: Expressions of Emotional Pain and Devotion in Nineteenth Century
Tattoos. Presentation at the Probing the Skin: Cultural Representations of Our Contact Zone
conference, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, April 24th~26th 2013.
Atavistic Marks and Risky Practices: The Tattoo in Medico-Legal Debate, 1850-1950.
Presentation at the Scratching the Surface: The history of skin, its diseases and their
treatment conference, The University of Birmingham, October 29th~30th 2010.
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INVITED SEMINAR & CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
The Tattoo in Anatomical and Pathology Collections: Objects of Scientific Study or
Curiosity? UCL Institute of Anatomical Sciences annual group meeting, March 25th 2013.
Public Engagement Case Study: UCL Researchers in Museums.
Presentation and panel discussion at the University Museums Group Conference, Ashmolean
Museum, Oxford, March 8th 2013.
The Tattoo in Forensic Science: History, Contexts and Contemporary Practice. UCL
Crime and Forensic Science Department, February 6th 2013.
Tattoos: The New Memento Mori? St. Bartholomew's Pathology Museum, QMUL, October
17th 2012.
The Body as Book: Tattoos, Text and the Flayed Body.
The Last Tuesday Society. Morbid Anatomy lecture series curated by Joanna Ebenstein,
September 17th 2012.
Beautiful Death and Incorruptible Bodies: Eternal Life and Aestheticized Death in
Medicine and Catholicism. Presentation and panel discussion at The Last Tuesday Society,
September 8th 2012.
Do Not Touch: Texture, Tactility and Affect in Museum Collections of Human Remains.
Wellcome Centre for the History of Medicine at The University of Oxford, Global and Local
Approaches to the History of Medicine Seminar Series, February 6th 2012.
The Body as Book: The Collection and Preservation of Tattooed Human Skin in Late
Nineteenth Century Europe. AHRC Research Network The Culture of Preservation
Workshop, at The Hunterian Museum at The Royal College of Surgeons: Wet Preparations:
Anatomy, Pathology and the Body Contained, June 10th 2011.
Marking the (Criminal) Body: Degeneration and Tattooing in Nineteenth Century France.
The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL, Damaging the Body
Seminar Series, May 9th 2011.
SEMINARS CONVENED
Texture, Tactility and Affect. Working with the Wellcome Collection Tattooed Human
Skins: Responses and Reflections. Paper presentation and co-organiser. UCL History of Art
Department: Tattoo Art History: Examining the Vernacular Body Arts, April 2nd 2012.
Spectacular Tattooing: The Tattoo as Public Performance in the Early Twentieth Century
Animal Entertainments Arena. Paper presentation and co-convenor: AAH 2012 Conference
Panel: Tattoo Art History: Examining the Vernacular Body Arts, The Open University,
Milton Keynes, March 29th~31st 2012.
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ACADEMIC TEACHING
Course Leader: Nineteenth & Twentieth Century Art in London,
History of Art Department, University College London,
January ~ December 2012.
Invited Guest Lecturer: MA Media Arts Philosophy & Practice/MA Media &
Communication Research Practice Method Course,
Department of Communication & Creative Arts, University of Greenwich,
November 23rd 2011.
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT EVENTS
Nerd Nite London at Paper Dress Vintage: Life and 6 Months: Tattoo Collecting in the
Nineteenth Century, January 22nd 2014.
Museums Showoff: Manchester Art Gallery - February 28th 2013;
Wilmington Arms - January 17th 2012;
Camden Head - April 25th 2012.
UCL Bite-Sized Lunchtime Lecture Series at the Bishopsgate Institute: The Tattoo
Collectors: Sailors, Criminologists & Bibliophiles, June 29th 2012.
Invited presentation at Art History in the Pub: Preserved Tattoo Specimens, May 6th
2012. Event held as part of the Camden Crawl 2012.
Invited seminar presentation at the 5th Annual Brighton Tattoo Convention: Life and 6
Months: Tattoo Collecting in the Nineteenth Century, January 29th 2012.
UCL Bite-Sized Lunchtime Lecture Series: The Tattoo Collectors: Sailors, Criminologists
& Bibliophiles, November 25th 2011.
Bright Club: Bloomsbury Theatre, University College London - October 24th 2012;
Greenman Festival, Glanusk Park, Wales - 17th~19th August 2012;
Crossover, Nexus Art Cafe, Manchester - October 20th 2011;
Museums, University College London - August 26th 2011.
Invited presentation for the Wellcome Collection Skin exhibition events programme:
Tattoos: Marks of Meaning, July 22nd 2010.
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SELECTED MEDIA COVERAGE
TV:
BBC Breakfast News - Tattoo feature, December 22nd 2013.
Channel 4 News - Tattoo history feature, February 1st 2013.
Radio:
ABC Australia - Invited guest appearance on Behind the Tweed, an academic drive time
radio show. February 21st 2014.
Press:
New Statesman - Will a tattoo ever hang in the Louvre? April 26th~May 2nd 2013.
Huffington Post - Unlocking the Mysteries of the Tattoos of the Dead, May 9th 2012.
The Observer - Tattoos: the naked truth about our forebears, May 23rd 2010.
OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Postgraduate Student Engagement Coordinator
(Team leader, Researchers in Museums project), UCL Museums and Public Engagement
Department, University College London,
February 1st 2012 ~ September 16th 2013.
Co-curator & Project Manager
Foreign Bodies - UCL cross-collections exhibition,
March 18th ~ July 14th 2013.
Speaker, Wellcome Collection Audioguide
Specialist commentary on preserved human tattoos for the Wellcome Collection,
Medicine Man exhibition audioguide, 2011.
Learning & Behaviour Support Teacher
Bankhead Academy, Aberdeen,
November 1st 2007 ~ July 31st 2008.
Teacher of Art & Photography
Plant Hill Arts College, Manchester,
September 1st 2006 ~ August 31st 2007.
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