I’m an art historian of the medieval world who also dabbles in technical writing, copywriting, illustration, and course development. I earned my Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2022, and my professional written work has appeared online, in academic publications, and in educational materials since 2018.
My research interests span across the global medieval period, as well as its representation in popular media. Currently, I am invested in premodern conceptions of bodiliness and how these were visualized within, or inflected by, material forms made and distributed across pre-Christian Scandinavia and the Viking diaspora. In my monograph project, I contend with the unique ontological conditions of the region's polytheistic communities, arguing that their innovative modes of figuration were informed by beliefs in an ambiguous, mutable corporeality that departed from the dualistic mind-body model that underwrites modern, biologically-driven perceptions of the human body. Adopting a synthetic methodology, I account for the previously obscured cultural substances encoded within such images. I have presented research on this and other topics nationally and internationally, and my publications have appeared in Viator (2023), Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft (2021), and Comitatus (2020). Forthcoming book chapters will be featured in Human and Nonhuman Relations and Imaginaries in the Middle Ages (2026) and The Routledge Handbook of Art in the European Deep Past (2027), and I am presently revising two other pieces for journal submission.
You can find examples of my published work with open access agreements in the Writing section, and more details about my research—e.g., where it has been presented and how it has been supported—are in my curriculum vitae. Projects in their formative stages include an essay that reconsiders what is at stake when we misrepresent—and, in turn, misremember—medieval cultures as intrinsically more violent than our own, a series of essays assaying the somaesthetics of lithic art, and an edited volume that addresses art and abjection across temporal bounds.
I have served as an Assistant Professor of Practice at Southern Illinois University (visiting contract; 2022–2023), an Instructional Assistant Professor at Illinois State University (visiting contract; 2024), and a policy developer for a private institution (2022–2024). Presently, I live in the Midwestern US with my partner and our two large cats, Tuna and Sardine. When I'm not working on a project, I like to run, lift weights, bumble about on the internet, and draw.
Finally, I have extensive work experience outside of the academy that I'd be delighted to share with you. If you would like a detailed employment resume, rather than a CV, please feel free to email me. I love email.