Hi! I’m Emma Pearce and I live in the UK, between York and Cambridgeshire. Living in these two amazing places has given me so much opportunity to engage with the beautiful art and culture of the UK. 

I’m in my final year of a History of Art degree at the University of York. As you’d expect, I’m into all things art and museums! My particular interests within art history are nineteenth and early twentieth century painting and textiles. I’m especially interested in researching ideas of oppressed identity in art, especially in relationship to gender and sexuality. I’m hoping to continue to study at postgraduate level and research areas of queer sexuality in female painters of the early twentieth century!

I am also the treasurer and a curator of the Norman Rea Gallery, our student run gallery at the University of York, which has been an amazing project to be part of. We put on several exhibitions a year showing contemporary art works, and in the past have focused on feminist issues such as challenging the gaze and documenting the struggles on female migrant workers through material culture. When I’m not writing essays or at the gallery, I will probably be eating brunch with my friends or watching too much Drag Race.

My dream job would be to continue to work with art! I would love to work in academia, with opportunities to expand my research and discover new and exciting things about under represented artists to inspire future generations. Alongside this, I would love to be a curator, as I think exhibitions are so important in informing the general public on new ideas and encouraging people to see art in new ways. 

My favourite museum will always be the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. It’s somewhere that I have visited hundreds of times as my local museum whilst growing up, and has inspired and fascinated me with every visit. I’m so lucky to have access to such an extensive collection, and it’s amazing array of Victorian paintings was definitely one of the factors that made me want to study History of Art at university. Although in many ways still a very traditionalist museum, the Fitzwilliam and other museums under the University of Cambridge have also been trying to become more diverse through their Bringing Binaries LGBTQ+ Tours which are a great initiative to highlight inclusivity even within traditional art history.

I’m so glad to have been given the opportunity to volunteer with Girl Museum! I really hope it will give me the chance to explore interests that I don’t always get to in my studies, and connect with a range of people from across the globe. One of the biggest issues facing girls around me is knowing, and asserting. our self worth. I want to be part of Girl Museum to help empower women to be ambitious and succeed in everything they want to achieve.

-Emma Pearce
Junior Girl
Girl Museum Inc.