Dr Kate McMillan

Dr Kate McMillan is an artist and Senior Lecturer in Creative Practice at King’s College, London. Previously she has worked at University of Creative Arts, Farnham; Coventry University; Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University and Curtin University, Australia. Her art practice and written research engages with histories connected to colonial violence and women’s knowledges, as well as inequalities in the contemporary art world. She is the annual author of ‘Representation of Female Artists in Britain’ commissioned by the Freelands Foundation, as well as various other academic publications that consider gender inequality in the visual arts. McMillan’s recent monograph (2019), published by Palgrave Macmillan, is ‘Contemporary Art & Unforgetting in Colonial Landscapes: Islands of Empire’ which investigates female artists in the global south and the ways their practices defy colonial amnesia. Her own creative practice incorporates sound, film, performance, textiles and sculpture to create immersive environments which aim to engender empathic responses to difficult histories. More of her creative work can be viewed here: www.katemcmillan.net

Teaching

Kate is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She leads on, and continues to develop arts-based methods of research in the department and across King’s. Kate is passionate about developing student-centred teaching approaches, and in facilitating interactions with creative partners.

Kate teaches in the fields of contemporary art, creative practice methodologies, postcolonialism and gender studies. She is Programme Director of the BA Cultural, Media and Creative Industries. Kate welcomes PhD applications that utilize creative practice and arts-based methodologies, and inequalities in the contemporary art world.

Research Interests

• Inequality in the Contemporary art world
• Creative Practice and Arts-Based research methods
• The intersection of Art & Memory
• Gender Inequality in the Cultural Sector
• Contemporary Art in the Global South

Expertise and public engagement 

Gender Inequality Research

• https://vimeo.com/375627426
• https://www.timeshighereducation.com/people/interview-kate-mcmillan
• London Live - The Lost Girl
• https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/new-report-reveals-stark-gender-disparity-in-the-visual-arts
• https://frieze.com/article/whats-cure-uk-art-worlds-gender-gap

Selected Publications / Exhibitions

(2019) ‘Contemporary Art & Un-forgetting in Colonial Landscapes: Islands of Empire’. Palgrave Macmillan

(2020) The Lost Girl (exhibition) https://www.kcl.ac.uk/events/the-lost-girl

(2019/20) ‘Representation of Female Artist’s in Britain’ https://freelandsfoundation.co.uk/research-and-publications/annual-report-representation-of-female-artists-in-britain/

Instructions for Another Future (my feet are ears) 2018, (exhibition) Rohkunstbau Festival, Germany

The Past is Singing in my Teeth, 2017/18 (exhibition) Kunsthaus Bethanian, Berlin, Civic Room Glasgow; Edinburgh Art Festival