Ms Sadie Levy Gale

Overview

I am a PhD candidate at Cardiff University's School of Journalism, Media and Culture as part of an AHRC funded Collaborative Doctoral Award with Bristol University and Historic England.  

My research bridges the intersections of urban history, the history of the British welfare state and visual culture. In my thesis, I explore how social welfare (with a particular focus on urban reform) in early twentieth-century Britain was imagined and represented through photography. Drawing on case studies from the popular illustrated press, the architectural and industrial press, and post-war town planning schemes, my thesis considers how photography produced both public and professional attitudes towards the involvement of government in social reform between 1902 and 1948.

More widely, I am interested in histories of colonial photography. My debut article for Cultural and Social History, titled 'Hiding in Plain Sight: Indigenous Repression and Resistance in Photographs of the 1901 Royal Tour of Canada', explored Indigenous representation in photographs of the royal tour of Canada in 1901. This was the result of a three month UKRI-funded research placement in Montreal.

I have written about my research for Aeon, The Wellcome Collection, and Historic England, among others. I have also collaborated on interdisciplinary projects at the intersection of the social history of medicine and visual culture. Most recently, I contributed an article to Views from Convalescent Hill, a project that illuminates the heritage of rest, well-being, and care in Felixstowe.

Prior to joining Cardiff, I worked at an exhibition design agency as a content developer for museums and heritage organisations. I completed my MA in History of Art at Birkbeck, University of London, and my BA in English Literature and Language at the University of Oxford.