Dr Edwin Coomasaru
@ecoomasaru.bsky.social
370 followers 80 following 8 posts
Historian of modern and contemporary British, Irish, and Sri Lankan art. Research on gender, sexuality, race, empire, and ecology.
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ecoomasaru.bsky.social
I am beyond thrilled to announce I have been awarded a Mid-Career Fellowship from @paulmelloncentr.bsky.social and a Visiting Fellowship at @ucl-ias.bsky.social to write a book on ‘Queer Ecologies and Abundant Aesthetics in Sri Lankan Art, 1926-2024’. Pictured: Chathuri Nissansala, ‘Saudade’, 2024.
Reposted by Dr Edwin Coomasaru
womenshistnet.bsky.social
We are delighted to share the Call for Papers for our Spring Seminar Series 2026:
Reposted by Dr Edwin Coomasaru
fsysling.bsky.social
Our upcoming seminar in the Global Histories of Knowledge series. The link to the meeting will be on the website: www.staff.universiteitleiden.nl/events/2025/...
Reposted by Dr Edwin Coomasaru
sociowarwick.bsky.social
Join the launch of, ‘Spirits of Extraction: Christianity, Settler Colonialism and the Geology of Race’. By Claire Blencowe

Discussants: Goldie Osuri, Hannah Jones & Martin Savransky.

Date: Thursday, 9 October
Time: 4:00–5:30 pm
Location: Ramphal Building, R1.15
Reposted by Dr Edwin Coomasaru
ihrblackbritish.bsky.social
Kicking off our fantastic line up with a showcase of new research! Get in touch if you are a postgraduate or early career researcher who would like to introduce their work to the field.

📍 Hybrid: N304, IHR, Senate House, WC1E 7HU and Online
📅 Thursday 16th October, 2025
⏰ 17:30
🔗 bit.ly/3INwCfO
Email Olivia.Wyatt@ed.ac.uk or Meleisa.Ono-George@history.ox.ac.uk to present online or in-person
ecoomasaru.bsky.social
Sri Lankan research trip to Amsterdam: Vasantha Yogananthan’s ‘A Myth of Two Souls’ (2013-21, detail) at @rijksmuseum.bsky.social; Chathuri Nissansala studio visit at @rijksakademie.bsky.social (‘Saudade V’, 2024, detail).
Reposted by Dr Edwin Coomasaru
vcib.bsky.social
Elisabetta Garletti examines "the power imbalance that endures in curatorial reframings where the hosting museum retains the authority over alleged decolonizing narratives, which ultimately reveal themselves to be mere attempts to safeguard institutional survival" www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Imperial Heritage on Trial: Keith Piper’s Viva Voce at Tate Britain
Published in Visual Culture in Britain (Ahead of Print, 2025)
www.tandfonline.com
Reposted by Dr Edwin Coomasaru
historyworkshop.org.uk
Tomorrow Edinburgh Festival Fringe begins, a month long celebration of the arts.

Rachael Scally's article reveals the legacies of slavery in one of the festival's key venues, the Royal Infirmary (now the Edinburgh Futures Institute).

www.historyworkshop....
Slavery, Decoloniality, and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
Rachael Scally draws out the legacies of slavery of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and what it means for the decolonisation of Scotland's healthcare institutions.
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
ecoomasaru.bsky.social
I am beyond thrilled to announce I have been awarded a Mid-Career Fellowship from @paulmelloncentr.bsky.social and a Visiting Fellowship at @ucl-ias.bsky.social to write a book on ‘Queer Ecologies and Abundant Aesthetics in Sri Lankan Art, 1926-2024’. Pictured: Chathuri Nissansala, ‘Saudade’, 2024.
Reposted by Dr Edwin Coomasaru
vcib.bsky.social
Caterina Franciosi reviews Iris Moon’s recent book 'Melancholy Wedgwood' (2024, @mitpress.bsky.social) as "a provocative and original contribution to the intertwined histories of capitalism and decorative arts" www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reimagining Wedgwood and the Politics of Pottery: Iris Moon’s Melancholy Wedgwood
Published in Visual Culture in Britain (Vol. 23, No. 1, 2025)
www.tandfonline.com
Reposted by Dr Edwin Coomasaru
vcib.bsky.social
Nicholas Mirzoeff examines the politics of contemporary Palestinian visual culture and solidarity movements resisting settler colonialism, to critically interrogate British complicity in the region's past and present: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Notes on the Emergency
Published in Visual Culture in Britain (Vol. 22, No. 1-3, 2024)
www.tandfonline.com
Reposted by Dr Edwin Coomasaru
saradominici.bsky.social
I am very excited to announce a new fully funded PhD opportunity with Imperial War Museums:

"'Convinced ambassadors of Empire’?: exploring the visual record of Black Caribbean men and women serving in the UK during the Second World War"

Thank you for sharing! www.westminster.ac.uk/study/postgr...
AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentship – ‘Convinced ambassadors of Empire’?: exploring the visual record of Black Caribbean men and women serving in the UK during the Second World War
Reposted by Dr Edwin Coomasaru
saradominici.bsky.social
So pleased to announce that the relaunch issue of @vcib.bsky.social is OUT! Huge thanks to all the contributors for helping us create this. Our cover features @hardeepdhindsa.bsky.social's work and you can read more about it and so much more here: www.tandfonline.com/toc/rvcb20/2...
Visual Culture in Britain cover with image by Hardeep Dhindsa titled "Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius (digital illustration, 2021)
Reposted by Dr Edwin Coomasaru
vcib.bsky.social
Hardeep Singh Dhindsa considers how 18th-century classical studies constructed modern ideas of racial whiteness, using contemporary illustration to challenge the worldviews such sculptures came to represent (we are delighted to feature on our latest cover) www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Confronting the White Classical Body
Published in Visual Culture in Britain (Vol. 22, No. 1-3, 2024)
www.tandfonline.com
Reposted by Dr Edwin Coomasaru
philo-photography.bsky.social
You are invited to the Photoecologies Study Group, a new space for exploring photography as an environmental, elemental and energetic assemblage. To find out more about and register to attend our upcoming events, see our eventbrite page: www.eventbrite.com/o/photoecolo... .
ecoomasaru.bsky.social
A visit to Lunuganga, former country house and gardens of queer Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa (1919-2003), acquired by him in 1948. Once a cinnamon estate under Dutch colonialism (1640-1796) and a rubber plantation during British rule (1796-1948), Bawa reimagined the site as a queer space.
Reposted by Dr Edwin Coomasaru
vcib.bsky.social
We are thrilled to announce the journal's relaunch editorial, reflecting on the publication's 25-year-history & our vision for its future: considering changes & continuities for both Britain & visual culture since 2000, fostering a space of ‘epistemic generosity’

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
24 Years of Visual Culture in Britain: The Relaunch Issue
Published in Visual Culture in Britain (Vol. 22, No. 1-3, 2021)
www.tandfonline.com
Reposted by Dr Edwin Coomasaru
tomwestern.bsky.social
"I've been wondering why artists are required to dream up liberation in the gallery, but when that dream meets life we are shut down" ❤️
saulstaniforth.bsky.social
Last night Turner Prize 2024 winner Jasleen Kaur used her acceptance speech to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, to demand an end to institutional complicity in Israels genocide & to call for an immediate arms embargo.
Reposted by Dr Edwin Coomasaru
ecameron.bsky.social
“I want the separation between the expression of politics in the gallery & the practice of politics in life to disappear. I want the institution to understand: if you want us inside you need to listen to us outside. Ceasefire now, arms embargo now free Palestine.”
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Jasleen Kaur wins the Turner prize 2024
The competition’s youngest contestant scoops the award for animating everyday objects to reflect the pluralities of identity and community
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Dr Edwin Coomasaru
Reposted by Dr Edwin Coomasaru
ecoomasaru.bsky.social
Tomorrow, I’ll be talking about journal publishing and @vcib.bsky.social for @paulmelloncentr.bsky.social — if you’re interested in writing for us, get in touch!