Caroline Douglas is an artist working with photography. She holds a PhD from Royal College of Art, where she researched the role of gender and class in early Scottish photography. In her practice she moves across photography, writing and creative archival research processes to work cross-historically, re-touching the archive, to recover and repair marginalised histories. Her practice-led project was supported with an AHRC-techne Scholarship and The Royal Photographic Society Postgraduate Bursary.
This October she is the 2024-2025 Fedwa Malti-Douglas Fellow at the American Philosophical Society’s Library & Museum. She is based in Philadelphia August 2024 - June 2025.
Recent exhibitions include La couleur est la lumière: Inventions historiques, expérimentations contemporaines (Colour is light: Historical inventions, contemporary experiments), at Le Point du Jour, Cherbourg, France.
In 2023 she was awarded the Royal Photographic Society Postgraduate Bursary, the Scottish History Society Alasdair Ross Prize and an award from the Society of Dyers and Colourists for her research on Mary Somerville and early photography. In 2020 she was the recipient of the Paul Mellon Centre Andrew Wyld Research Support Grant for Retouching the Archive.
She works as a Lecturer in Fine Art - Photography at The Glasgow School of Art (2021-). Recently, she undertook two Doctoral Training Partnership placements, one at the V&A Museum as a Cataloguer (Photographs) and the other at Collective, Edinburgh (2021). She was recently awarded a Research Support Grant from the Royal College of Art to undertake archival research on Mary Somerville and her role in early photography (2022).
She is part of The Glasgow School of Art School of Fine Art Research Network Feminist Histories of the Future and on the Advisory Board for the RSE Network Women Make Cities. In 2019 she co-organised Speaking With - a one-day event exploring voicing historical subjectivity at the Royal College of Art. She is a contributor to Photomonitor, and has worked as a tutor and lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art and Edinburgh Napier University. She teaches colour darkroom courses at Stills Centre for Photography in Edinburgh (2013 - ongoing).
She studied Photography at Edinburgh College of Art (2006) before then completing a Master in Fine Art at The Glasgow School of Art (2010). Her residencies include; Re:Create Stills Gallery, Edinburgh (2008), Photography MA, School of the Art Institute Chicago (2009), AiR Fondazione Fotografia, Modena, Italy (2010), Proekt Fabrika, Moscow (2011) and Facture of Research Residency (RCA/techne). In 2017, she was a Visiting Scholar at the University of St Andrews.
Caroline was the recipient of the 9th Helen Keller International Award for her work Playboy Entertainment for Men (2011). She worked with the Scottish National Portrait Gallery for An Attendant's Portrait (2015). She was represented by Stills Gallery at Edinburgh Art Fair and published in Uncertain States for her work Zero Hours Creativity (2015). This work was recognised with a Magenta Foundation Flash Forward Award (2016).
Selected exhibitions include; Le Point du Jour, Galerie Huit, Rencontres d'Arles International Photography Festival, Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, Columbia University, New York, Brighton Photo Fringe, Format Festival, The Magenta Foundation, St Andrews Photography Festival and the Royal College of Art Research Shows at Asylum, Assembly Point, Beaconsfield, Copeland Galleries and Southwark Park Galleries.
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SCHOLARSHIPS // BURSARIES // FELLOWSHIPS
2024-25 | Fedwa Malti-Douglas Fellow at the American Philosophical Society’s Library & Museum (Philadelphia)
2023 | The Royal Photographic Society Postgraduate Bursary
2017 | Doctoral Training Partnership: technē Scholarship (AHRC)
2017 | University of St Andrews Library Visiting Scholarship 2017 (UK)
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RESIDENCIES / / PLACEMENTS
2021 | Doctoral Training Partnership Researcher, Observatory House, Collective
2021 | Doctoral Training Partnership Cataloguer (Photographs), V&A Museum
2018 | Residency, The Object of Research, University of Cumbria, (RCA / technē)
2011 | International Residency, Project Fabrika, Moscow, Russia
2010 | AiR Artist in Residence, Fondazione Fotografia, Modena, Italy
2008 | Re:Create Artist in Residence, Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
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EDUCATION
2024 | Doctor of Philosophy, School of Arts and Humanities, Royal College of Art Royal College of Art (UK)
2010 | Postgraduate Master of Fine Art (with Distinction), The Glasgow School of Art (UK)
2009 | MFA Postgraduate Residency, School of the Art Institute, Chicago (USA)
2006 | BA (Hons) Photography, (First Class), Edinburgh College of Art (UK)
2005 | BA (Hons) Exchange, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore (USA)
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SYMPOSIA
2019 | Speaking With, Co-Organiser with Dr Marita Fraser, Symposium, Royal College of Art
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RESEARCH NETWORKS
2023 | Feminist Histories of the Future, The Glasgow School of Art, Research Network
2020 | Women Make Cities, Advisory Board, RSE Research Network
2019 | Speaking of Her, Steering Committee, School of Art and Humanities open Research Network, Royal College of Art
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PAPERS / ARTIST TALKS
2024 | Elizabeth Fulhame and the Chemical Networks of Early Photography, American Philosophical Society
2023 | Pioneers of Colour: Fulhame and Somerville’s Protophotography, Colour Matters, Trinity College, Oxford
2023 | ‘[he] had a very low opinion on the capacity of my sex’: Mary Somerville (1780-1872), Feminist Histories of the Future, Henry Moore Institute
2021 | Cloths of Gold and Experiments on Light(Elizabeth Fulhame (fl. 1794) Mary Somerville (1780 – 1872), Colour Fever, V&A
2020 | Second Morton Photography Symposium, Glasgow Women's Library
2019 | Where Are The Women?, Friday Night Mixer, Scottish National Portrait Gallery
2019 | The Women’s Studies Group 1558-1837, The Foundling Museum
2019 | Afterlife of the Object: European Summer School in Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen
2019 | Association for Art History Summer Symposium, University of St Andrews
2019 | Spectre of a Woman, DRN Summer Symposium, Paul Mellon Centre, London
2019 | Say Something Back, Merton College, University of Oxford
2019 | Women, Work and Commerce in the Creative Industries, Britain 1750 – 1950, V&A
2018 | Capturing and Collecting: Thinking About Ways We Store Memory, History of Art, University of St Andrews
2017 | Visiting Scholar Talk, Reading Room, University of St Andrews
2015 | Diane Arbus - Two Lectures, For and Against, ARTIST ROOMS, Kirkcaldy Galleries, Fife
2015 | NotFinishedArticle, TalkSeePhotography, Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Glasgow
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EXHIBITIONS / SCREENINGS
2024 | Feminist Methods, The Glasgow School of Art - Group Show
2024 | Retouching the Archive, Upper Gulbenkian Gallery, Darwin Building, Royal College of Art - Viva Show
2024 | La couleur est la lumière: Inventions historiques, expérimentations contemporaines, Le Point du Jour, Cherbourg - Group Show
2024 | Chasma, Royal College of Art, School of Arts & Humanities - Group Show
2023 | Hopscotch, Royal College of Art Research Biennale, Copeland Gallery - Group Show
2022 | Unruly Encounters, Royal College of Art, Lake Gallery/Dilston Gallery - Group Show
2019 | Chemistry of Colour, St Andrews Photography Festival - Group Show
2019 | There's Something Lurking in the Shadows..., Royal College of Art - Group Show
2018 | SEND BACK THE MONEY! SEND IT BACK!, The Jam House, Edinburgh
2018 | FLIGHT MODE, Royal College of Art Group Show, Asylum, Peckham
2018 | Empower Her Voice: Mothers in the Arts, Royal College of Art - Group Show
2018 | Documents, Lumen Studios, The Crypt, Bethnal Green - Group Show
2016 | Flash Forward 2016, Magenta Publishing for the Arts, Toronto - Group Show
2016 | BPF OPEN16 Showcase & Moving Image Showreel, Brighton Photo Fringe
2016 | Thingness, Künstlerhaus, Dortmund, Germany - Group Show
2016 | Mount Florida Screenings 01, Mount Florida Studios, Glasgow - Screening
2015 | Zero Hours Creativity, Edinburgh Art Fair, Represented by Stills Gallery - Group Show
2015 | An Attendant’s Portrait, PHOTOUKINDIA, British Council, New Delhi - Group Show
2015 | Evidence: FORMAT International Photography Festival, Derby - Group Show
2014 | Night Contact, Brighton Photo Biennial - Screening
2014 | 2014 Frames, Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Glasgow - Screening
2013 | An Eye For An Ear, Photography Open Salon, China House - Group Show
2013 | An Attendant’s Portrait: A One-Day Installation at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery
2012 | Work In Progress, Stills Gallery, Edinburgh - Group Show
2012 | Mémoire Involontaire, Columbia University School of the Arts, New York - Group Show
2012 | An Eye For An Ear, Photography Open Salon, Arles at Gallerie Huit - Group Show
2012 | World Event Young Artists (WEYA), Nottingham - Group Show
2012 | Transience, Photography Open Salon, South East Asia at China House - Group Show
2011 12 | Reflection: Contemporary Visual Arts and Crafts in Edinburgh, City Art Centre - Group Show
2011 | Everything that comes before us, Project Fabrika, Moscow - Solo Show
2011 | Transience, Photography Open Salon, Arles at Gallerie Huit, Arles - Group Show
2011 | Playboy Entertainment for Men featured in 'Trusadh - Series 3, Conaltradh', BBC ALBA
2011 | 9th International Helen Keller Award, Glasgow Caledonian University - Group Show
2010 | New Work Scotland Programme Annual Showreel 2010, Collective - Screening
2010 | Definite Article, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin - Group Show
2010 | MFA Degree Show, Centre For Contemporary Arts (CCA) / The Glue Factory
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EMPLOYMENT / TEACHING
2021 -25 | Lecturer, Fine Art Photography, The Glasgow School of Art
2008 - 24 | Photography Tutor, Stills Gallery, Edinburgh
2012 -17 | Art and Design Studies Tutor, (Photography), Edinburgh College of Art
2012 - 17 | Photography Lecturer, BA (Hons) Photography, Edinburgh Napier University
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AWARDS
2024-25 | American Philosophical Society's Library & Museum Fellowship (Philadelphia)
2024 | Scottish Historical Review Bursary
2023 | Scottish History Society: Alasdair Ross Prize
2023 | Society of Dyers and Colourists, Bursary
2023 | Richard & Siobhán Coward Grant for Analogue Photography
2022 | Royal College of Art Research Support Grant, Mary Somerville
2020 | Andrew Wyld Support Grant (Paul Mellon Centre)
2019 | Association for Art History Grant
2018 | Scottish Society for Art History Research Support Grant
2018 | British Association for Victorian Studies (BAVS) Funding Grant Award
2018 | Women’s History Scotland Research Bursary
2016 | The Magenta Foundation Flash Forward Award
2016 | a-n Travel Bursary, A-N The Artists Information Co
2014 | The Scottish International Education Trust, Grant for Individuals
2012 | Arts Trust Scotland Award
2012 | Visual Arts Award: Edinburgh (in partnership with Creative Scotland)
2011 | STEP Beyond Travel Grant, European Cultural Foundation (ECF)
2011 | First Prize, 9th International Helen Keller Award, Sense Scotland
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PUBLICATIONS AND CATALOGUES
2022 | Retouching Postpartum ‘I Care By…’, ed. Gemma Blackshaw, London UK: Royal College of Art
2021 | 'Frederick Douglass: Witness to Early Scottish Photography', National Galleries of Scotland Blog
2021 | Postpartum: Unlearning Conception and Photography, CARE(less), MA BIBLIOTHÈQUE
2021 | Pictures and progress? Frederick Douglass and early Scottish photography, V&A Blog
2021 | Sonsy Fishwives: Gender and Class in Early Scottish Photography, Studies (Spring), SSHoP
2020 | A Conversation: Tait / Maxwell, PROVA 5, Royal College of Art
2018 | Conceiving Reproduction: Talbot & Shelley, PROVA 4, Royal College of Art
2018 | Wipe Ma Haunds, Women’s History Scotland Blog, Exhibition Review
2018 | Victorian Giants, Exhibition Review, Photomonitor
2018 | Hidden: House | Work, Exhibition Catalogue, Stills Gallery
2016 | Flash Forward 2016, Exhibition Catalogue, The Magenta Foundation
2015 | Creativity and Capital in an Age of Austerity, Uncertain States, Issue 24
2015 | Evidence, FORMAT International Photography Festival, Derby - Group Show
2013 | An Eye For An Ear, Photography Open Salon // Arles at Galerie Huit
2013 | February Issue, Dazed and Confused Magazine
2012 | Transience, Photography Open Salon // Arles at Galerie Huit
2011 | Reflection: Contemporary Visual Arts & Crafts, Exhibition Catalogue, Edinburgh Museums & Galleries
2011 | Small Communities Small Worlds, Fondazione Fotografia/Stills Gallery