Dr Emma Merkling
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emmamerkling.bsky.social
Dr Emma Merkling
@emmamerkling.bsky.social
2.8K followers 1.1K following 110 posts
Lecturer in British Art @manchester.ac.uk‬ | Research Deputy @cncsi.bsky.social | Co-Host of @drawingbloodpod.bsky.social | Writing & teaching c19 British art and science | Victorian ecologies, bodies, occultisms, subjectivity | she/they
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emmamerkling.bsky.social
Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · Nov 10
Hi all! I’m an historian of c19 British art & science focusing mostly on bodies/embodiment, occultism/spiritualism, “women artists”, queerness, & physics / psychical research / maths / ecology. My banner is “Phosphorus & Hesperus” by Evelyn De Morgan (1881), on whom I’m currently writing a book…
The oil painting “Phosphorus and Hesperus” by Evelyn De Morgan (1881). On a seashore, surrounded by shells, the nude bodies of two male youths interlock, one resting his arm on the other’s. The kneeling figure holds a torch aloft; the seated figure an upturned torch, not yet extinguished
Reposted by Dr Emma Merkling
frankiedytor.bsky.social
A few more days to get your proposals to us!
emmamerkling.bsky.social Dr Emma Merkling @emmamerkling.bsky.social · 24d
Calling all c19 art and queer theory ppl! @frankiedytor.bsky.social and I are still welcoming proposals for our #AAH panel on c19 British art after trans studies: see CFP below. #c19 #lgbtqhistory
Call for papers: “The nineteenth century saw profound transformations in how being and embodiment were figured across British culture. Art and science were at the forefront of these changes. As new forms of subjectivity were being formulated, the relationship between the self and the body, and between the body and life itself, were being reconfigured in visual productions and scientific writings alike. These transformations were entangled with new, ambivalent, and profoundly modern ways of thinking about gender, sexuality, form, and the nature and limits of the human. In Victorian art, the body was opened up to forces and flows which constituted and exceeded it. This panel invites papers which centre trans studies as a lens through which to explore these turbulent transformations in nineteenth-century art. What modes of…” “… embodiment, being, or becoming come into view when Victorian visual culture is approached via trans theory? What kinds of subjects and materials come to matter differently? What are the uses of transness— attuned to transition, indeterminacy, multiplicity, and bodily change—as a theoretical and historical framework? We invite 20-minute papers exploring British art (broadly conceived) in the long nineteenth century through the lens of trans theory and/or from trans perspectives. Topics might include, but are not limited to: • The (un) making of the human; nonhuman bodies; monstrosity; animality • Ecology, metamorphosis, bodies and environments • Racialization of sex, gender, and embodiment • Coloniality of gender; imperialism and difference • Transness and disability; mutable, prosthetic, and anomalous bodies • Fairytales, folklore, myth, and transformation • Spirituality and immaterial bodies • Sexology and medical imaging”
October 31, 2025 at 9:23 AM
emmamerkling.bsky.social
Looking for something to do on the spookiest day of the year? @cncsi.bsky.social is running our annual online Halloween workshop tomorrow with the theme of ‘Gothic Afterlives’ — looking at media receptions of c19 gothic themes in tv, film, video games, & radio 👻 www.durham.ac.uk/research/ins...
Nineteenth-Century Gothic Afterlives - Durham University
www.durham.ac.uk
October 30, 2025 at 7:43 AM
emmamerkling.bsky.social
Calling all c19 art and queer theory ppl! @frankiedytor.bsky.social and I are still welcoming proposals for our #AAH panel on c19 British art after trans studies: see CFP below. #c19 #lgbtqhistory
Call for papers: “The nineteenth century saw profound transformations in how being and embodiment were figured across British culture. Art and science were at the forefront of these changes. As new forms of subjectivity were being formulated, the relationship between the self and the body, and between the body and life itself, were being reconfigured in visual productions and scientific writings alike. These transformations were entangled with new, ambivalent, and profoundly modern ways of thinking about gender, sexuality, form, and the nature and limits of the human. In Victorian art, the body was opened up to forces and flows which constituted and exceeded it. This panel invites papers which centre trans studies as a lens through which to explore these turbulent transformations in nineteenth-century art. What modes of…” “… embodiment, being, or becoming come into view when Victorian visual culture is approached via trans theory? What kinds of subjects and materials come to matter differently? What are the uses of transness— attuned to transition, indeterminacy, multiplicity, and bodily change—as a theoretical and historical framework? We invite 20-minute papers exploring British art (broadly conceived) in the long nineteenth century through the lens of trans theory and/or from trans perspectives. Topics might include, but are not limited to: • The (un) making of the human; nonhuman bodies; monstrosity; animality • Ecology, metamorphosis, bodies and environments • Racialization of sex, gender, and embodiment • Coloniality of gender; imperialism and difference • Transness and disability; mutable, prosthetic, and anomalous bodies • Fairytales, folklore, myth, and transformation • Spirituality and immaterial bodies • Sexology and medical imaging”
October 20, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Reposted by Dr Emma Merkling
benltjackson.bsky.social
We're putting on an exciting range of research events this year at @manchester.ac.uk on 'Queer Bodies' in 18 & 19C Britain. Colleagues in English, Art History (@emmamerkling.bsky.social), & History are exploring queer approaches to bodies and embodiment and their cultures. See poster for more!
September 29, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Reposted by Dr Emma Merkling
propcazhpm.bsky.social
"Something ineffable happens when you write down a thought: You think something you did not know you could or would think and it leads you to another thought… the process of writing itself leads to previously unthought thoughts [and] crystallizes half-formulated or unformulated thoughts"
- Lynn Hunt
June 28, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Reposted by Dr Emma Merkling
willpooley.bsky.social
everything in this thread.
benpatrickwill.bsky.social Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · Sep 6
Academic authors, here's a peek into the black box of journal publishing from an journal editor if you can bear it:
September 7, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Reposted by Dr Emma Merkling
willpooley.bsky.social
somebody speak to a single historian challenge!

“Religiosity tends to decline across generations.”

what an extraordinary untethered statement to make based on recent polling data. and yes i know i know its Nature *again* but (1/2)

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🗃️
The three stages of religious decline around the world - Nature Communications
Religious decline is happening around the world. Here, the authors show that countries are at different stages of a common global sequence of decline in religious participation, personal importance of...
www.nature.com
September 2, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Reposted by Dr Emma Merkling
romgothsam.bsky.social
I saw a job posting for a heritage project focused on Romany history. I wasn't sure how visible it would be so wanted to share so that the job gets seen by the people whose history it is focusing on.

Give it a share, perhaps?

museum-services-jobs.le.ac.uk/job/learning...
Learning Co-ordinator (Project) | Museum Studies | University of Leicester
museum-services-jobs.le.ac.uk
August 20, 2025 at 11:29 PM
emmamerkling.bsky.social
The recording of my @gothicauob.bsky.social talk on nature, horror, occultism, beauty, gender and Victorian art has been uploaded to YouTube! youtu.be/cRWhEOjMfMc?... watch along for more on these themes and for my recent work on Annie Swynnerton’s magnum opus “Oreads” (1907)
Occult Art Gothic with Dr Emma Merkling.
YouTube video by Gothica UoB
youtu.be
August 12, 2025 at 9:11 AM
emmamerkling.bsky.social
Help! Seeking readings for a 'British art and the environment in the c19' course that bring together botany, classification, colonial collecting, and visual culture for undergrads. Ideally linking this to museums / collections like Kew. Nothing I've found quite seems to bring all three together...!
July 11, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Reposted by Dr Emma Merkling
dremilyvincent.bsky.social
🏛️Today - guided tour of @morethanadodo.bsky.social with John Holmes & Birmingham’s 19CC
🦠Weds - Disease and Narrative workshop I’m hosting @unibirmingham.bsky.social with @mediaandepidemics.bsky.social & the 19CC
🎨Thurs - Occult Art @gothicauob.bsky.social with @emmamerkling.bsky.social
June 16, 2025 at 9:07 AM
emmamerkling.bsky.social
Any Hans Christian Andersen experts following me? Came across an issue of The Spiritualist for which he seems to have written as a correspondent... including on William Crookes and the psychic force. Was this really him? iapsop.com/archive/mate...
iapsop.com
June 5, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Reposted by Dr Emma Merkling
katrinajan.bsky.social
Don't miss 'Occult Art Gothic' with @emmamerkling.bsky.social next month!

As an art historian, Emma will be focusing on Gothic British art 🖼️🖤 DM @gothicauob.bsky.social to join 👇
📅Thurs 19th June
🕐6pm - 7.30pm
📍Zoom
gothicauob.bsky.social GOTHICA 🦇 @gothicauob.bsky.social · May 23
Don't miss our last session before the un-Gothic summer approaches‼️

🗣 Dr Emma Merkling
🖼️Occult Art Gothic 👁️
📅Thurs 19th June
🕐6pm - 7.30pm
📍Zoom

Emma will look at Gothic British art, the ‘artist-as-witch’, (un)gendering & occultural approaches to art history.
Dm to join!
A gothic art picture of an occult symbol, below this, two skulls on a red tablecloth with candles behind them, creating a mysterious atmosphere. Text: Gothica Occult Art Gothic Guest speaker Dr Emma Merkling Zoom Thursday 19th June 6.00pm - 7.30pm (BST). Email or tweet for link uobgothica@gmail.com @Gothica_UoB
May 23, 2025 at 8:03 PM
emmamerkling.bsky.social
I have preordered this incredible book and I suggest you do too!
slobogin.bsky.social Christine Slobogin @slobogin.bsky.social · Mar 6
My book _Putting Plastic Surgery on Paper_ is available for pre-order!

You can snag the paperback for $37/£25, and there's 40% off if you sign up for the @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social newsletter.

Am so proud of this weird little interdisciplinary book!

boydellandbrewer.com/978164825120...
Putting Plastic Surgery on Paper - Boydell and Brewer
An interdisciplinary approach to medical history that shows the key role that drawings and photographs had in shaping the material, professional, emotional a...
boydellandbrewer.com
April 11, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Dr Emma Merkling
slobogin.bsky.social
My book _Putting Plastic Surgery on Paper_ is available for pre-order!

You can snag the paperback for $37/£25, and there's 40% off if you sign up for the @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social newsletter.

Am so proud of this weird little interdisciplinary book!

boydellandbrewer.com/978164825120...
Putting Plastic Surgery on Paper - Boydell and Brewer
An interdisciplinary approach to medical history that shows the key role that drawings and photographs had in shaping the material, professional, emotional a...
boydellandbrewer.com
March 6, 2025 at 5:02 PM
emmamerkling.bsky.social
Is anyone still doing Zoom writing groups these days (UK or EU time zone)? Have a lot to do this summer and would love the accountability
April 9, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Reposted by Dr Emma Merkling
willpooley.bsky.social
There are still tickets for this online talk I’m giving next Tuesday.

As I like to say, ‘come for the #Tarot, stay for the cartomancy’.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tarot-and-...?
Tarot and Cartomancy in France from the French Revolution to the 20th C
The surprising history of how playing cards, including Tarot, came to be one of the most common forms of divination in France after 1789.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
April 7, 2025 at 4:49 AM
emmamerkling.bsky.social
An incredible resource!
node801.bsky.social B. Ricardo Brown, PhD @node801.bsky.social · Apr 7
"Caricatures of Evolution"
700-page catalogue of over 1,400 caricatures and satirical illustrations regarding Darwin and evolution transforms our knowledge of the surprisingly vast extent of Darwin's impact on visual culture from 1860-1939 #HistSTM #HistSci
darwin-online.org.uk/EditorialInt...
1899 "THE LAST STAND — SCIENCE VERSUS SUPERSTITION." Puck (19 July). Forces of 'science' are arrayed against those of 'superstition' with respective banners "THINK OR BE DAMNED" and "BELIEVE OR BE DAMNED". On of the barrels of the Gatling gun is "EVOLUTION".
April 7, 2025 at 6:38 AM
emmamerkling.bsky.social
It’s the end of another term teaching gender &sexuality in Victorian art which means that despite my best efforts I’m getting lots of Kestneresque essays on femmes fatales /the male gaze / Victorian art as misogynist. I am desperate to move students beyond these 1980s talking points #19thcentury 1/2
April 2, 2025 at 9:36 AM
emmamerkling.bsky.social
Victorian and #19thcentury scholars: pls help! I have a student wanting to write about race / athleticism / masculinity in Victorian art. She wanted to focus on Etty’s Wrestlers but it’s too early for the course (1848-1901) so I’m trying to come up with some later visual exemplars… any ideas?
March 24, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by Dr Emma Merkling
slobogin.bsky.social
My new article is out!

"Hidden in Plain Sight: The Covering of Patients' Eyes and a Microethics of Medical Photography"

This article is really the first foray into my second book project: a history of anonymity in medical photography.

Let me know if you'd like a PDF!

mh.bmj.com/content/earl...
Hidden in plain sight: the covering of patients’ eyes and a microethics of medical photography
This article uses the author’s experience of researching historical photographs of facial injury and surgical reconstruction to think through the ethics of writing about and publishing images of patie...
mh.bmj.com
August 9, 2024 at 2:08 PM
emmamerkling.bsky.social
Extremely excited for this event, the brainchild of the brilliant @dremilyvincent.bsky.social! Lots of excellent speakers & plenty to learn about all things contagion, contamination, & the c19 worldwide 🦠🤧💉 #histsci #histmed
dremilyvincent.bsky.social Dr Emily Vincent @dremilyvincent.bsky.social · Feb 6
*Thursday 1st May - Save the Date* Join @cncsi.bsky.social for our Spring Workshop Day on ‘Contagion and Contamination in the Nineteenth Century’! Watch this space for an impressive line up of speakers and the registration link to be announced shortly: www.dur.ac.uk/research/ins...
February 7, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Reposted by Dr Emma Merkling
slobogin.bsky.social
Oh for new (and old) followers, if you're interested in histories of visual culture, science & medicine, and the macabre, you should follow @drawingbloodpod.bsky.social !

In the Drawing Blood pod, @emmamerkling.bsky.social & I chat about all of the sciency / spooky / beautiful things that we love.
Remedios Varo painting Creation of the Birds (1957). A bird-human hybrid sits at a desk drawing birds that take flight from teh page. They wear an instrument around their neck and sit in a mostly bare room with alchemical instruments. Alfred Gilbert sculpture Mors Janua Vitae (c. 1905-1907). Bronze sculpture of a male-female couple holding a box atop a mostly green altar with more bronze relief sculptures on it. Movie poster for M. Nigh Shyamalan's movie Old. A woman's body sits on the beach and while the rest of her body seems young, her left arm and leg are withered, and her foot is bones. Painting by Master of Lost Balbases, c. 1495, "A verger's dream: Saints Cosmas and Damian performing a miraculous cure by transplantation of a leg." In an ornate frame there is a scene of two men in red dress and with halos placing a dark skinned leg onto the body of a white man whose diseased leg has been amputated below the knee. They are aided by three angels.
January 27, 2025 at 1:56 PM
emmamerkling.bsky.social
Happy faces one cesanese & a huge plate of pasta later
cferguson.bsky.social Christine Ferguson @cferguson.bsky.social · Dec 21
So great to catch up with @emmamerkling.bsky.social in Rome last weekend, just before she flies out to start her new post at the University of Manchester.
December 21, 2024 at 12:20 PM