Rebecca Breen

My research is interdisciplinary and explores the relationship between testimonio (or testimonial narrative writing from Latin America) and conceptual art practices that may likewise be understood in terms of 'the testimonial’. I am particularly interested in the work of women artists, including Ana Mendieta, Doris Salcedo and Teresa Margolles. My doctoral studies were supported by funding from the UK Arts & Humanities Research Council, the University of Cambridge’s Gibson Spanish Scholarship and a Centre for Latin American Studies Scholarship. My research has also been supported through funded research trips to Latin America, the United States and Europe.

I have supported postgraduate researchers at Mary Immaculate College (MIC) for over a decade. Prior to joining the Research & Graduate School, I held a lectureship in the School of Philosophy & Art History (now the School of Philosophical, Historical & Interdisciplinary Studies) at the University of Essex. There, I served as Associate Director of the Centre for Curatorial Studies and Director of the BA programmes in Latin American Studies within the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities (CISH). I also acted as departmental liaison to the Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA) and to the Tate Modern Latin American Acquisitions Committee. 

Alongside my university teaching and research, I delivered guest lecture series for Sotheby's Institute of Art, London and participated in outreach initiatives with schools across Essex. Earlier in my career, I worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Universities of Cambridge and Limerick, and taught English as a Foreign Language in Colombia. During my doctoral studies, I completed internships at Kettle's Yard House and Gallery, Cambridge, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). I also curated the first exhibition of contemporary Colombian art in Ireland, presented at Artlink (Fort Dunree) and the University of Limerick in 2009.

My research training, together with extensive experience teaching, supervising and examining undergraduate, Master's and doctoral students at the Universities of Essex, Cambridge and Limerick, has informed my work with postgraduate researchers at MIC. Like many of our postgraduate students too, I balance professional responsibilities and caring commitments alongside my ongoing research and creative practices, which gives me a strong appreciation of the opportunities and challenges involved in pursuing advanced study.