Martha Robinson (MA, 2014)

Martha Robinson is a PhD candidate in the Interuniversity program in Art History at Concordia University. Her doctoral research is rooted in an investigation of the animal—in particular, visual culture addressing birds and avian life, and how contemporary artists adopt strategies of representation (and species) to comment on issues of climate change and extinction in the so-called Anthropocene. She has conducted extensive research on animal art and collections in Canada and the United States, and is currently writing her dissertation.  Building on her Master’s research, her project engages both posthumanist theory and historic and current practices of representation in the discipline of natural history. Robinson has recently developed and taught two undergraduate courses at Concordia: Art and the Animal: Posthumanism, Visual Culture and Art History and The Art of Natural History and the Politics of the Collection. She has also written catalogue essays for Nicholas Crombach, Jannick Deslauriers and Clint Neufeld at Art Mûr.