Role
Convenor, Research group for Land/Water and the Visual Arts, Faculty of Arts
Chair, Peninsula Arts Gallery Programming and Advisory Group
Chair, University of Plymouth Press editorial group
Chair, Professorial group, Faculty of Arts
Member and executive group, research centre for Media, Arts and Design (MADr)
Qualifications & background
B Sc Soc. Sociology/Social Administration, University of Bristol, 1977
PG Dip film Studies, Polytechnic of Central London (University fo Westminster, 1985
MA Visual Culture, Bath Spa University, 1994
Professional membership
Fellow, Royal Society of Arts.
Member, Society of Authors
Member, European Society for the History of Photography;
Board of Directors, Society for Photographic Education, USA.
Roles on external bodies
member, AHRC peer review college
Teaching interests
Photography History and Theory; landscape practices.
Visiting Professor, Photography Theory, Kunsthógskolen i Bergen, Spring Semester 2004
Staff serving as external examiners
External examiner, BA Photography, Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Autumn 2010 -
Research interests
Photography history, theory, criticism; contemporary photographic practices; Independent and Experimental Film and Video.
Landscape: Image and Identity.
UoP Research group membership
Centre for Media, Art & Design Research (MADr)
Land/Water and the Visual Arts
Research degrees awarded to supervised students
Gary Anderson, Ph D,
Sally Waterman, Ph D
Grants & contracts
Visiting Research Fellow, Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, Canberra.
Jan - Apr 2010
AHRB Small Grant awarded, 2003, to support research towards the exhibition, Facing East, Contemporary landscape Photography from Baltic Areas.
Creative practice & artistic projects
Curator, Landscapes of Exploration, work from artist residencies commissioned by the British Antarctic Survey, 2000 - 2009, forthcoming, Spring 2012, Peninsula Arts Gallery, Plymouth.
Curator, Uneasy Spaces, 80 Washington Square East Galleries, New York, Sept-Nov 2006. Work by 19 British-based artists to be shown as a part of the Crossing the Atlantic project, organised by the Steinhardt School, NYU.
Curator, Facing East, Contemporary Landscape Photography from Baltic Areas. Opened Bournemouth, April 2004; on tour to Impressions Gallery, York, November 2004-January 2005, Plymouth Arts Centre, January - March 2005; Lighthouse Media Centre, Wolverhampton, May-July 2005; the Dick Institute, Kilmarnock, October-November 2005.
Publications
Since 2001:-
Books
Liz Wells (2011 forthcoming) Land Matters, landscape photography, culture and identity, London: I B Tauris
Liz Wells ed.(2009) Photography: a Critical Introduction, London: Routledge, 4th edition.
Liz Wells & Simon Standing eds (2010) Beauty. Plymouth: University of Plymouth
Liz Wells & Simon Standing eds (2009) Relic. Plymouth: University of Plymouth
Liz Wells & Simon Standing eds (2008) Fictions. Plymouth: University of Plymouth
Liz Wells & Simon Standing eds (2007) Change. Plymouth: University of Plymouth
Liz Wells & Simon Standing eds (2005) Surface. Plymouth: University of Plymouth
Liz Wells ed.(2003) The Photography Reader, London: Routledge
Essays include
'Figures in a Landscape' in Trine Sondergaard & Nicolai Howalt (2010) How to Hunt. Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz (in press)
'Enigmatic Landscapes' in (2010) Silent Landscapes. Exit 38. Madrid: Olivares &Associates S. L.
'The Extraordinary Everyday' in (2010) Marthe Aas , film and photography. Oslo: National Museum for Art, Architecture and Design. Exhibition catalogue.
'Poetics and Silence’, in Jorma Puranen (2009) Icy Prospects. Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz
'Revisiting photography as art; in Anna Auer and Ute Schogl eds. (2008) Jubilee, 30 years ESHPh. Vienna: Fotohof edition
‘Curatorial strategy as critical intervention - The Genesis of Facing East’ in Judith Rugg, ed. (2007) Issues in Curating, Contemporary Art and Peformance, Bristol: Intellect.
‘Darkening Days: a Critical Scenario in Three Acts’ in John Darwell, Dark Days, Stockport: Dewi Lewis, 2007
‘Jorma Puranen’, in Breaking the Ice, Contemporary Art from Finland. Bonn: Kunstmuseum, 2006
Entry writer, R Lenman, ed., The Oxford Companion to the Photograph, OUP, 2005
'Martin Pover, “Carceri”’, Portfolio 41, 2005
''Land Matters', Simone Kadi ed. (2003) Loisirs et Société britannique au xxeme siecle, Recherche Valenciennes No. 13, Presses Universitaires de Valenciennes.
'Icy Prospects', Malcolm Miles and Nicola Kirkham eds. (2003) Cultures and Settlements, Bristol: Intellect Books
'Then and Now, some notes on photography and theory' Source 33, Winter 2002, Belfast: Source
'Paradoxes of the Pastoral', John Kippin (2001) Cold War Pastoral, London: Black Dog Publishing
'Monstrous Beauty', catalogue for Su Grierson, Eyeshine, Street Level Gallery, Glasgow, 2001
Reviews and review articles include:
David Campany (2003) Art and Photography, Source 36, Autumn 2003, Belfast: Source
Terry Barrett (2002) Interpreting Art, for Journal of Visual Communication, Vol 3, No 1, 2004, London: Sage
Reports & invited lectures
Invited lectures since 2001 include:
Keynote lecture, 'Topographic Narratives', Cyprus international conference on photography, Nov 2010.
Public lecture, Braga photography festival, October 2010 (theme, Landscape)
Public lecture, Oslo, Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, September 2010: 'Reality Check', public talk in response to the installation of new work by Marthe Aas.
Monash University, Melbourne, 2010, 'Sun-Baked', research work-in-progess talk
Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, 2010, public talk - Topographic Narratives'
FotoGuanajuato, Mexico, 2006, keynote lecture, 'Image and Memory'
Natinal Photography Museum, Horten, Norway, 2005, symposium, 'What is a Photomuseum?'
Chobi Mela (Bphotography festival, Dhaka, Bangladesh), December 2004 'Jorma Puranen'
Zonezero (online photography journal, tenth anniversary conference, Mexico City, September 2003: '21st Century Cave Paintings - Online as Archive?'
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo, May 2003: 'Thinking about Photographs: some considerations'
(Subsequently delivered at the University of Industrial Arts, Helsinki, September 2003; and at New York University, March 2004.)
European Society for the History of Photography, annual conference, Maastricht, November 2002: 'In-Between: Women and Landscape' (Subsequently delivered to graduate symposium on landscape phototgraphy, University of Wales, Caerleon, May 2002:)
Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland, May 2001,: 'Some Reflections on Debates about Photography' for symposium on Why Pictures Now? - uses of photography
University of Miami, February 2001: 'Women and Landscape' for postgraduate programme, Fine Art and Photographic Studies.
Conferences organised
Land/Water symposia, Faculty of Arts, University of Plymouth, June 2003, June 2004, June 2005, June 2006, June 2007, June 2008, June 2009 (co-organiser, Heidi Morstang), July 2010 (co-organiser, Heidi Morstang)
Arts Strand, Rural Futures conference, 2008
Re-framing time and Place, Land/.Water conference, April 2009 (co-organisers, Professor Jem Southam, Dr Simon Standing)
Other academic activities
Peer reviewer, conference on Emergent Landscapes, University of Westminster, 2010
Academic referee or reviewer, various promotion applications, nationally and internationally.
Additional information
Co-editor, photographies, London: Routledge journals. First issue, Spring 2008. photographies@plymouth.ac.uk
Editorial Advisory Group, Visual Communications, London: Sage
Editorial Advisory Group, Visual Culture in Britain, Manchester: University of Manchester Press.
Links
