Dr Wendy McMurdo

Module leader, MA Photography

Wendy McMurdo is Module Leader for Final Project for the MA Photography at Falmouth. She is a widely exhibited photographer of international repute and has worked with some of the largest commissioning bodies in the UK. In 2018 she was named as one of the Hundred Heroines by The Royal Photographic Society, an initiative to showcase the best of global contemporary female photographic practice and reflect the amazing diversity of methodologies and approaches of different generations of women working within the medium.  

She specializes in photography and digital media and holds a doctorate by publication from University of Westminster for her photographic work exploring the impact of the computer on our collective identities. Her work is included in a number of major collections and has featured in a wide variety of exhibitions, including The Anagrammatical Body: The Body and its Photographic Condition, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany, Uncanny, Fotomuseum Winterthur and Only Make Believe curated by Marina Warner for Compton Verney, Warwickshire, UK. In addition to her professional practice, she is an experienced educator.

She has held academic posts at University of Dundee and Edinburgh Napier University and research posts at the ECPR, University of Wales, Newport and University of Southampton. She is a board member for Stills, the National Centre for Photography in Scotland and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

External Links

Contact details

Email Wendy.McMurdo@falmouth.ac.uk
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    Qualifications

    Qualifications

    Year Qualification Awarding body
    2015 PhD by Publication University of Westminster
    1991 MA Goldsmith College, University of London
    1985 BA (1st class) Edinburgh College of Art

    Honors and awards

    Year Description
    2014 Visual Arts Bursary, Creative Scotland
    2010 Leverhulme Research Fellowship (2010 - 2012)
    2010 Honorary Research Fellow, European Centre for Photographic Research (ECPR), University of Wales
    2006 Research Fellow in Photography, Edinburgh Napier University (2006 - 2009)
    2000 Leverhulme Special Research Fellow (2000-2002)
    2000 Creative Scotland Award
    1993 Henry Moore Research Fellowship (1993-95)
    2018 Royal Scottish Academy Member Elect
    2018 Hundred Heroine Award, Royal Photographic Society

    Membership of external committees

    Board Member, Stills Gallery, Edinburgh (2017 to present)

    Research Interests

    Research interests and expertise

    In my studio practice, I explore the ways in which developments in technology have directly impacted on the ways we picture and describe ourselves. Since the mid 90s, I’ve documented and explored the ways in which we have slowly evolved into the networked, social beings we are today. This ongoing research has resulted in many collaborations, screenings, exhibitions and writings on this subject both here and abroad. I enjoy working in a collaborative setting and in interdisciplinary environments and have a special interest in collaborations within the scientific communities.  In recent years I’ve moved beyond traditional lens-based photography to work with 3d rendering applications. I often use digital applications in conjunction with more traditional genres (i.e. studio portraiture) to explore the impact of technologies on gaming and imaginative play.

    Research Topics

    • Digital Culture
    • contemporary photographic practice
    • Representations of Childhood and Adolescence in Contemporary Culture

    Research Outputs

    Publications and research outputs

    • McMurdo, Wendy, Lyden, Ann, Rutherford, Samantha, Fox, Anna and Fast Forward Women in Photography

      (2022), Chapter - Putting Ourselves in the Picture, In: Putting Ourselves in the Picture, Trolley Books, UK, pp. 168-223, ISBN: ISBN 978-1-907112-69-0, Item availability may be restricted.

    • Hopkins, David and McMurdo, Wendy

      (2021), Interview with David Hopkins for the concluding chapter of his 2021 publication 'Dark Toys - Surrealism and the Culture of Childhood (Yale Press), In: Dark Toys - surrealism and the culture of childhood, Yale Press, USA, pp. 286-292, ISBN: 9780300225747, Item availability may be restricted.

    • McMurdo, Wendy

      (2022), 'L’Enfance dans la collection Agnès b' (Group exhibition), In: L’Enfance dans la collection Agnès b, 24th Feb - 30 June 2022, Paris, France

    • McMurdo, Wendy

      (2020), 'Florilegium: A gathering of flowers'- Inverleith House, Royal Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh. Sep 16th – Dec 13th 2020, In: 'Florilegium: A gathering of flowers'- Inverleith House, Royal Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh. Sep 16th – Dec 13th 2020, Sep 16th – Dec 13th 2020, Inverleith House, Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh

    • McMurdo, Wendy

      (2017), When We Were Young - Opening talk with Wendy McMurdo at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and accompanying group show of the same name ( 14th Oct - 13th May 2018), In: Keynote lecture, 1st Nov 2017, Hawthornden Galleries, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, (Unpublished), Item availability may be restricted.

    • McMurdo, Wendy

      (2017), Indeterminate Objects (classrooms). A solo digital commission for the Photographers Gallery, London (Oct 2017- Jan 2018), In: Indeterminate Objects (classrooms), 6th Oct 2017- 12th Jan 2018, The Photographers Gallery, Ramilies Street, London, UK, Item availability may be restricted.

    • McMurdo, Wendy

      (2017), Photographic work exhibited in 'ON AIME L'ART.. !' Collection Lambert, Avignon, France, In: ON AIME L'ART.. !' Works from the Agnes B Collection, Collection Lambert, Avignon, France, 6 July - 5 November 2017, Collection Lambert, Avignon, France

    • McMurdo, Wendy

      (2017), Let's Go to a Place: in Gravitas, group show curated by Christiane Monarchi for Photo50, London Art Fair 2017 and related symposium on collaboration and photography, In: Gravitas - Photo 50, 18-22 Jan 2017, London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, London N1 0QH

    • McMurdo, Wendy

      (2014), 'Digital Play: Wendy McMurdo Collected Works 1995–2012' Mid-career retrospective Solo exhibition Jun-Aug 2014, In: ‘Digital Play: Wendy McMurdo Collected Works 1995 – 2012’, 28th June - 17th Aug 2014, Streetlevel Photoworks, Glasgow, Scotland, UK, Item availability may be restricted.

    • Alexander, Jesse

      McLeod, Gary, Cosgrove, Steph, Sank, Michelle, McMurdo, Wendy, Fontoura, Catarina, Brett, Karen and Pfab, Anna-Maria, (2019), The Living Image: Falmouth Flexible Photography Symposium 2019, Falmouth University

    • McMurdo, Wendy

      (2018), UNSEEN Living Room: Film & Foto, In: Unseen Photo Festival, 22nd Sept 2018, Amsterdam, Netherlands, (Unpublished)

    • McMurdo, Wendy

      (2018), Photographer talk: Wendy McMurdo, In: Public Lecture to launch NEPN's Arts Council funded 'Observe, Experiment, Archive' series, 25th April 2018, NEPN, Newcastle

    • McMurdo, Wendy and National Galleries of Scotland

      (2018), Wendy McMurdo: The Digital Mirror

    • McMurdo, Wendy and Edinburgh Printmakers

      (2023), Fledglings

    Externally funded research grants information

    Collaborators Currency Funder HESA Category Project title Value Year ending Year starting
    Creative Scotland Visual Arts Bursary 5000
    Leverhulme Research Fellowship 25000 2012 2010
    Leverhulme Special research Fellowship 50000 2009 2006
    Creative Scotland Creative Scotland Award 15000 2000
    Henry Moore Foundation Research Fellow 25000 1995 1993

    Events

    2018 Artists Talk, North East Photo Network, Lecture series exploring contemporary photography in relation to science and technology. May 2018

    Events

    2018 Artists Talk and panel discussion, National Galleries of Scotland Research Conference, March 2017

    Events

    2017 'How to Create Magic - an artist's view' (Artists talk and panel discussion), Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS), London

    Events

    2017 Opening Lecture, 'When we were Young', Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, Nov 2017.

    Events

    Events

    2015 Public Lecture, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts, London

    Events

    2017 Public Lecture, School of Fine Art, University of Dundee

    Teaching

    Areas of teaching

    • Photography
    • Photographic Theory
    • Contemporary Practice
    • Art History

    Courses taught

    • Final Major Project module (design and delivery), MA Photography

    Professional Engagement

    Professional esteem indicators

    Year Description
    2018 Appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Academy
    2018 In 2018 I was named as one of the Hundred Heroines by The Royal Photographic Society, an initiative to showcase the best of global contemporary female photographic practice and reflect the amazing diversity of methodologies and approaches of different generations of women working within the medium.