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Welcome to my website! I hope you enjoy the readings and the gallery. If you want to connect with me, please use the contact section :)
Paola
CV
BIO
I am a painter and anthropologist with expertise in visual research methods, medical anthropology, social change and domestic relations. I was born in Italy (Palermo, 1991) and I am currently based in Adelaide (South Australia). Over the last 8 years, I have conducted fieldwork research in South Australia and Nepal, using traditional qualitative research methods and experimental visual methodologies. As an artist and researcher, my aim is to translate social interactions, constructions and paradoxes within a decoding and encoding visual language. I see the canvas as an ‘heterotopia’, using a term by Foucault, another world within this world, mirroring and yet upsetting what is outside; a space of experimentation in which the constructed mechanisms of social life are revealed. My recent artworks focus on my doctoral research project in Nepal in which I explored family conflict, hierarchy subversion, the evolution of rites of passage and the making of the self among the ethnic group of the Newars. My research has been published in several academic journals such as Current Anthropology, Himalaya, and Studies in Nepali History and Society. Since 2023 I serve in the Board of Directors of the International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA) where I strive to curate focused activities on the use of drawing and painting in social research and to foster collaboration with artists and less-represented groups.
EDUCATION
Academic:
2017- 2023
Ph.D. Social Anthropology and Development Studies
The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia
2020 - 2022
M.F.A. Painting
Open College of the Arts, Barnsley, England
2019-2020
M.Sc. Applied Neuroscience
University Isabel I de Castilla, Burgos, Spain
School of Advanced Education, Research and Accreditation
2013-2015
M.A. Visual Anthropology
The University of Siena, Siena, Italy
2010-2013
B.A. Human Sciences - Major in Anthropology
The University of Siena, Siena, Italy
Artistic Training:
2020 – Fine Art Certificate, London Fine Art Studios, London, UK.
2016-2017 – School of Ethnographic Documentary Cinema, ETNOfilm, Monselice (PD)
Professional certificates:
2019-2020– Harvard BOK Higher Education Teaching Certificate. Harvard University, The Derek Bok Centre for Teaching and Learning, Cambridge Massachusetts, USA
Field research and postgraduate training:
2019 – (3 months) Postgraduate Research Training in Medical Anthropology, School of Social and Political Science, The University of Edinburgh.
2018-2019 – (15 months) Research Fieldwork in Bhaktapur, Nepal.
2016 – (6 months) Visiting Fellowship: Training in Research Methodologies awarded by the University of Siena to study at the University of Adelaide.
2015 – (4 months) Erasmus for Traineeship Research Project “Post-soviet Word, Image and Memory”, School of Literature, Languages and Cultures, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
ART EXHIBITIONS
2023 collective Exhibition OCA, London (details to be defined)
2022 collective December: Online exhibition OCA, I swear I saw this, ‘She fell and became a horse’
2022 collective 15-18 September 2022: IVSA What is an image, ‘The Exorcism’ and ‘The Interview’
2021 collective 24-27 August 2021: Seika University (SEIKA), Kyoto, Japan; International Convention for Asia Scholars (ICAS 12), Crafting a Global Future. Hidden Talents Art Exhibition.
2014 solo 10-17 March 2014: “Finestre sul mondo: la città, la folla, l’uomo” (Windows to the World: City, Crowd, People). San Galgano building, The University of Siena.
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2023 MAT-MAE Early Career Paper Prize (Medicine Anthropology Theory & Medical Anthropology Theory) (shortlisted)
2022 - ASAA 2022 Postgraduate Conference Award, Asian Studies Association of Australia
2021 - Dor Bahadur Bista Prize for the Best Graduate Student Paper, The Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies
2018 - Jon Prosser Award for Outstanding Work by Beginning Scholars in Visual Methodologies: International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA)
2018 - IVSA Travel Stipend: International Sociological Association
2018 - Sight and Life Foundation Research Grant
2018 - Global Learning Travel Scholarship: The University of Adelaide
2018 - Postgraduate Fieldwork Funding: The University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences, Department of Anthropology
2018 - Research Abroad Scholarship: The University of Adelaide Graduate Centre
2017 - Beacon of Enlightenment PhD Scholarship: The University of Adelaide
2016 - Research Internship Grant: The University of Siena
2015 - ERASMUS for Traineeship Grant: European Commission
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
6-10 March 2023: Bristol, UK; Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) – ‘Visual Anthropology and Speculative Futures’.
Title of my presentation: ‘Between Security and Sustainability: Domestic Gardening During the Pandemic Around the World, Lessons for Sustainable Cities’.
23-26 November 2022: Melbourne; Australian Anthropological Society (AAS) 2022 – ‘Life Support’, Deakin University, Melbourne. Title of my presentation: ‘Gender Roles Contestation and Spousal Relationships in Nepal: Self-Making and Social Change Through Conflict and Adjustment’.
14-16 November 2022: Wellington, New Zealand; Association of Social Anthropologists of Aotearoa New Zealand (ASAA/NZ) – ‘Emergenc(i)es’, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. Title of my presentation: ‘Domestic Gardening During the Pandemic: What Lessons Can Be Learned for Sustainable Cities?’.
15-18 2022 September: International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA) – ‘Expanding The Visual Field: New Developments In Visual Scholarship, Arts And Activism’.
Title of my presentation: ‘”I Walked in the Fire”: Using Art to Advocate for Women’s Mental Health in Nepal.’
5-8 July 2022: Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) Conference 2022, Social Justice in Pandemic Times, Monash University. Title of my contribution: ‘Household flows and the condition of the elderly in Bhaktapur.’
5-8 July 2022: Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) Conference 2022, Social Justice in Pandemic Times, 5-8 July, Monash University. Title of my contribution: ‘Agriculture as the future of middle-class families in Bhaktapur in a post-COVID world?’
January 2022: Open College of the Arts, London, UK, Fine Art Symposium ‘One Thing Leads to Another’, Title of my contribution: Reflections on My Path of Artist-Anthropologist.
24-27 August 2021: Kyoto, Japan; International Convention for Asia Scholars (ICAS 12), Crafting a Global Future, Title of my contribution (with Ramesh Sunam): Changing pathways to food security in urban and rural contexts of Nepal.
6-9 July 2020: ASAA Melbourne Food Futures for Asia; Video Conference for ASAA panel. Title of my contribution: Healthy Eating Conceptions Among Newari Parents in Bhaktapur.
16-19 July 2019: ‘Subjectivity, Generalisation and the Individual when Using Art in Anthropological Research’. Sixth International Visual Methods Conference (IVMC6), ‘Crafting a Visual Plot – Epic Images of Mundane Stories’, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania.
20-21 April 2019: ‘Parental Beliefs, Dietary Diversity and Healthy Livelihoods in Nepal’. Martin Chautari Research Institute, ‘Education in Nepal’, Kathmandu, Nepal.
25-28 June 2018: International conference by International Visual Sociological Association, ‘Visualizing the Political Process’, Evry University of Paris-Saclay – University of Evry, France; Jon Prosser Award conferral.
1-3 June 2018: ‘Art at the Heart of Anthropology. On the Expression of Anthropological Insights’. Royal Anthropological Institute, ‘Art Materiality and Representation’, British Museum, London.
8-9 June 2017: Identity, Cultural Diversity and Integration: Lights and Shadows of the Australian Reception Model’. ‘The Challenge of Migration in Europe and the USA: Comparing Policies and Models of Reception’, Stony Brook University, USA and University of Agrigento, Italy.
LESSONS AND SEMINARS
May 2022: Activists, Creativity and New Anthropologies, Introduction to Anthropology – ANTH 1104, The University of Adelaide (guest lecturer).
October 2021: Activists, Creativity and New Anthropologies, Introduction to Anthropology – ANTH 1104, The University of Adelaide (guest lecturer).
October 2020: Activists, Creativity and New Anthropologies, Introduction to Anthropology – ANTH 1104, The University of Adelaide (guest lecturer).
September 2020: From Complementary to Competition. Caste, Social Change and the Concept of Humanity in India and Nepal. Food Values Research Group, The University of Adelaide, 14 September 2020.
July 2020: Food Futures for Asia – Video Conference. Title of my contribution: Healthy Eating Conceptions Among Newari Parents in Bhaktapur, 6-9 July.
May 2020: ‘Rethinking Medical Anthropology. Medicine Between Science and the Humanities.’ Co-hosted with Cathy Chua. Food Values Research Group, The University of Adelaide, 4 May 2020.
March 2020: ‘Dialogues Between Arts and Science: The Interview as the ‘Art of Science’. Food Values Research Group, The University of Adelaide, 9 June 2020.
February 2020: ‘Food as Gift and Food as Weapon: Reflections on Conflict and Kinship in Nepal’, Food Values Research Seminars Series, The University of Adelaide, 24 February 2020 (invited speaker).
December 2019: ‘Love, Conflict and Kinship in the Newari Family (Nepal)’, Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR), 16 December 2019, The University of Edinburgh, 23 Buccleuch Place (invited speaker).
November 2019: ‘Fission and Kinship in Nepal’, 8 November 2019, School of Social Sciences, The University of Edinburgh (seminar presentation).
May 2018: ‘Food and the Memory’. Food Values Research Seminars Series, The University of Adelaide (seminar presentation).
September 2017: ‘Mirror of Modernity: Food Practices in Modern Nepal’, Integrated-Bridging Program (IBP), The University of Adelaide (seminar presentation).
March- June 2015: RS4 (option course), "Post-Soviet Word, Image and Memory", The University of Edinburgh (casual tutor).
February 2015: Lesson ‘Stalker by Tarkovskij: Movie Presentation and Analysis’, L-LIN/21, Course of Russian Literature, The University of Siena (single lecture).
May-September 2016: Teacher of Painting to Children of Bhutanese Ethnic School of Salisbury in Adelaide, South Australia (volunteer teacher).
10-17 March 2014: 'Antropologia Visiva in Mostra: Rassegna di Antropologia Visiva', Seminar and Art Exhibition, The University of Siena (event manager and seminar coordinator).
April 2014: Lesson ‘The Name of Perception’. M-DEA/01, Course of Cognitive Anthropology, The University of Siena (single lesson).
May 2012: Lesson ‘The Clash of Civilization’. M-DEA/01, Course of Cultural Anthropology, The University of Siena (single lesson).
RESEARCH AFFILIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
American Anthropological Association (AAA)
Society for Visual Anthropology (SVA)
Society for Medical anthropology (AAA)
Asian Studies Association of South Australia (ASASA)
Australian Anthropological Society (AAS)
Australian Network of Students Anthropologists (ANSA)
Mental Health Innovation Network (MHIN)
Food Research Values Group (The University of Adelaide)