Staff Profile
Dr Christina Kolaiti
Senior Lecturer
I am a Senior Lecturer in Photography at the Fine Art department of the School of the Arts. I joined York St John University in 2015 as a subject specialist to design the inaugural curriculum of the BA Hons Photography course and acted as course lead for the first four years of its establishment. I have since my initial appointment taught across the BA Hons Photography, BA Hons Fine Art and MFA Art and presently act as first and second supervisor for two practice-led PhD research students.
I hold a First Class BA Hons in Contemporary Photographic Practice and a MA Art from the University of Northumbria. The latter was supported by an Arts and Humanities Research Council Award for Postgraduate Study in 2002 following a successful application process.
- School – School of the Arts
- Email – c.kolaiti@yorksj.ac.uk
Research
My research integrates psychoanalytic theory to the practice of photography expanding the complex dynamics of photographic portraiture as a form of reflective practice. Over the past decade my innovative PhD methodology of 'photographic re-narration', which I coined from psychoanalysis, has positioned photography as a form of knowledge transfer within a diverse range of studio-based, interdisciplinary, curatorial and pedagogical settings. Notably, in 2011 my PhD research 'The Influence of Photographic Narrative in Healthcare Dialogue' was recognised ‘for an outstanding contribution to the art and science of photography’ and was awarded the prestigious Photographic Society's Combined Colleges Medal by the Royal College of Surgeons, and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of England.
My research-led teaching converges the fields of arts and healthcare through interdisciplinary collaborations and sustained public engagement across several organisations including Northumbria Healthcare; York and Scarborough; Tees, Esk and Wear NHS Hospital Trust, the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal Photographic Society. This also includes the award-winning medical photography programme at Northumbria Healthcare Trust, which I developed alongside consultant physicians and medical students of the MBBS Medicine and Surgery at Newcastle University's Medical School between 2006 to 2013.
Professional activities
My most recent public engagement project Mind The Gap was presented as an on-board exhibition at the Tyne and Wear Metro during Infant Mental Health Week 2023 in collaboration with the Parent-Infant Foundation, the Association of Child Psychotherapists and Canada's Institute of Child Psychology.
I have received Arts Council England and York St John University's Catalyst, Quality Research and Impact Funding. My work has been exhibited in the United Kingdom, Greece, Netherlands, Japan and included in publications such as the Journal of Greek Media and Culture, Baltic Centre of Contemporary Art, Paper Glasgow, Portfolio Magazine and The Guardian Exhibitions Guide. Recent research activity includes the books 'Inertia', 'Mal de Débarquement' and The Teddy Bear Cabinet exhibition at Northumbria Emergency Care Hospital in Northumberland.
