Local Studies

In recent decades, scholars have increasingly challenged the dominance of canonical centres in art historical narratives. Yet the frameworks of centre and periphery continue to shape how local art histories are researched, written and valued. Too often, studies of regional or site-specific practices must justify themselves by claiming international significance or by aligning with dominant paradigms and places. What becomes visible when we take locality seriously—not as a stepping stone to global relevance, but as a meaningful endpoint in itself? How might alternative methods of engaging with the regional, including community collaboration, archival re-readings and situated critique, help construct new art historical narratives?

In focusing on the local, this session aims to expand the possibilities of art history—not only upward or outward, but laterally and intimately. We seek contributions that explore the richness of local art histories without recourse to external validation, and resist and subvert that impulse.

This session also invites reflection on the ecological, economic and ethical dimensions of working locally. In an era of climate crisis, rising costs and increasing awareness of extractive research practices, locally-grounded studies may offer more sustainable models for scholarship—less dependent on long-haul travel, global art fairs and elite networks, and more embedded in relationships of care, accountability and reciprocity.

Papers might address topics such as: artist-led initiatives outside major urban centres; vernacular practices and their historiography; the politics of regional collecting, display and reception; and the ethics of writing from and about the local.

Submit your Paper via this form. Please download, complete and send it directly to the Session Convenor(s) below by Sunday 2 November 2025:

Fiona Anderson, Newcastle University, fiona.anderson@newcastle.ac.uk

James Boaden, University of York, james.boaden@york.ac.uk

RJ Wade, University of Leeds, r.j.wade@leeds.ac.uk