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Sam McGuire
(she/her)
Teams and roles for Sam McGuire
Research student
Overview
I am a PhD candidate at Cardiff University's School of Journalism, Media and Culture, researching 'The Valleys Archive at Ffotogallery: Community, Photography & Democracy in South Wales, 1978-2028'. My ESRC-funded studentship is part of the Welsh Graduate School for the Social Sciences (WGSSS) Journalism, Digital Media and Democracy Pathway.
Between 1984 and 1990, Cardiff's Ffotogallery commissioned 10 photographers to 'record and interpret aspects of the South Wales Valleys'. Photographers were invited to respond to their 'personal experience', 'curiosity', 'affection' or 'disenchantment'. The resulting photographs, the Valleys Project, have recently been digitised.
Through visual analysis, research into published writings, and interviews with artists and subjects, my research seeks to build a more complete story of the collection, helping facilitate deeper engagement with individual works. This research should help audiences discern what these images meant to photographic, artworld and Valleys' communities in the 1980s and encourage consideration of their relevance today. It also seeks to write these images, and photography in Wales, into British Art History.
Drawing on theoretical texts alongside qualitative research with Valleys' residents, I will consider what these photographs mean to their subjects, how 'meaning' has been derived, and how they speak to ideas of Welshness, asking who is and isn't represented. I will also reveal the role that conventions of documentary photography, the photographer, subject and societal structures have played in the creation and reception of these images.
I hope to uncover how personal identity and nationhood are formed through photography, to articulate the picture of national identity the Valleys Project photographs present, and consider how this representation is received by Valleys' communities.
My research draws on:
- Art History
- Photography Theory
- Documentary Theory
- Aesthetics
- Cultural Studies
- Modern Welsh History
Biography
Before starting my studentship at Cardiff I spent almost 15 years working in the museum and gallery sector as a writer, editor and lecturer. I specialised in engaging and accessible audience-focused content, and my gallery texts, audio guides, podcasts and publications have reached millions. I have particular expertise in inclusive interpretation, having produced strategies, policies, guidance and glossaries to support staff and audiences engage with artworks that address sensitive subjects and contested histories.
CURRICULUM VITAE
March 2023 to present
Freelance consultant, writer, editor and proofreader
Clients include Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge, and South London Gallery
June 2021 to August 2025
Curator: Research and Interpretation, Tate Britain and Tate Modern
Projects include:
Inclusive Practice in the Art Museum: Writing for Audiences and Artists supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art
Lee Miller, Tate Britain
The 80s: Photographing Britain, Tate Britain
Keith Piper & Rex Whistler, Tate Britain
Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind, Tate Modern
A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography, Tate Modern
Women in Revolt!, Tate Britain, National Galleries Scotland, Whitworth Art Gallery
August 2024 to present
Trustee, Photo Oxford
May 2018 to June 2025
Chair, Tate Gallery Prospect Union Branch
September 2018 to July 2024
Associate Lecturer, MA Curating the Art Museum, Courtauld Institute of Art
September 2014 to June 2021
Assistant Curator and Acting Curator: Interpretation, Tate Britain and Tate Modern
January 2013 to August 2014
Learning Administrator, Tate Britain and Tate Modern
April 2011 to December 2012
Public, Community and Young People’s Programme Assistant, Tate Liverpool
QUALIFICATIONS
2010-11 MA Art Aesthetics and Cultural Institutions, Philosophy Department, University of Liverpool
2003-6 BA (Hons) History of Art, Courtauld Institute of Art
Professional memberships
Member of the British Art Network
Academic positions
Associate Lecturer, MA Curating the Art Museum, Courtauld Institute of Art (2018-2024)
Speaking engagements
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November 2025, Maison Française d’Oxford, Photography and Truth in Times of AI with Michael Christopher Brown, Haley Morris-Cafiero and Stéphanie Hubert, Chair
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October 2025, Weston Library, Oxford, Photo Oxford 2025 Symposium: Photography and Truth, Convenor
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November 2023, Tate Britain, Women in Revolt! Audio Description Tour
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July 2019, Tate Britain, Frank Bowling Audio Description Tour
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June 2019, Courtauld Institute of Art, An Evening about Art and Race with Ann Lafont, Mechthild Fend, Esther Chadwick and David Bindman, Speaker and Panellist
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April 2019, Tate Britain, Don McCullin: Reading Images Exhibition Tour
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December 2016, Courtauld and British Library, The Voice of the Artist Conference, Speaker
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October 2016, Tate Modern, Keyword Exchange Seminar with Shannon Jackson, Panellist
- April 2015, Tate Britain, Nick Waplington / Alexander McQueen: Working Process Audio Description Tour
- March 2015, Tate Britain, Salt and Silver: Early Photography 1840-1860 Audio Description Tour
Supervisors
Engagement
Contact Details
Research themes
Specialisms
- 20th Century
- Art theory
- History of Art
- History of Photography