Mark Cunningham

Mark received his B.A. in Art History from Loyola University of Chicago.  When in the Midwest, he interned at the Chicago Art Institute and Museum of Contemporary Art. He also was a curatorial assistant at the International Museum of Surgical Science, selecting artists for a rotating contemporary art series and helping assemble exhibitions on radiography and spinal surgery. He moved to the West Coast to pursue his Ph.D. in Visual Studies from the University of California, Irvine.  His dissertation, tentatively titled, “Staging History: Photography and Re-presentations of the Past,” examines the intersection between still images and various forms of historical consciousness and reenactment. This project will include artists such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Edward Curtis, and An-My Le, to name a few. His master’s thesis, "Between Critique and Pleasure: Classifications by and of Three Contemporary Germany Media Taxonomists — Gerhard Richter, Hans-Peter Feldmann, and Joachim Schmid", looks at post-War German artists’ use of vernacular and commercial photography.  In addition to his research on theatrical, staged, and set-up photography, his master’s thesis speaks to his fascination with found, anonymous, and banal photography, which he also collects.  His other research interests include the history of collecting, natural history museum dioramas, and models and miniatures.