Threads of Subversion in Romanian Textile Art of the Ceaușescu Era 1965-1989
Supervised by Dr Klara Kemp-Welch
Funded by AHRC/CHASE
Education
PhD Candidate, The Courtauld Institute of Art (2023- present)
MA History of Art, University College London (2018-2019)
BA History of Art, University College London (2015-2018)
Conferences/ Lectures
2026
“Fabric of the Nation: Craft Aesthetics and Collectivity at Romania’s Communist Textile Enterprises,” on panel “Textiles East: Industrial Fabric Design as Socialist Art”, sponsored by SHERA, Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Convention, Chicago. 12-15 November.
Body Languages, Consortium for the Humanities & the Arts South-East England (CHASE) Encounters Conference. The Courtauld Institute of Art, London. 5 June.
Courtauld Third Year PhD Symposium, Conference co-organized with Alison Braybrooks. The Courtauld Institute of Art, London. 30 April – 1 May.
‘Every Fiber of Our Being: Textile Traditions, Ethnonationalism, and Exclusion’, Panel. Association for Art History (AAH) Annual Conference. University of Cambridge. 8-10 April.
“Beehives and Bobbins: Manifestations of the Feminine Imaginarium within the Romanian Textile Industry of the Communist Period,” on panel “Modern Women and Textile Politics”, 114th College Art Association (CAA) Annual Conference, Chicago. 18-21 February.
2025
“Material Girls: Artisanal Knowledge as Dissidence among the Female Fibre Artists of the Ceaușescu Epoch,” on panel “Abstraction, Artisanal Knowledge and Craft Epistemologies”, Association for Art History (AAH) Annual Conference. University of York. April 9-11.
‘Tapestry and Fiber Art: An Overview of Global and Local Contexts’, Lecture. National University of Arts, Bucharest. March 25.
“Crafting Subversion: Intermediality and Artisanal Knowledge Among the Female Fiber Artists of the Ceaușescu Regime,” on panel “Textiles I: Tradition and Subversion”, Feminist Art History Conference. American University, Washington D.C.. 26-28 September.
Professional Experience
Curator of European Decorative Arts, National Museum of Art of Romania (Bucharest)
Research Interests
- Tapestry and fiber art
- Intermediality
- Nationalist ideology and cultural politics
- Vernacular textiles and traditional craftwork
- Cold War politics
- Eastern European art
- Industrial textiles