Contact
Teaching Summary
Postgraduate Teaching Assistant, University of Nottingham, Autumn 2023. Seminar tutor for second year module 'Understanding Cultural Industries.'
Research Summary
Current Status
PhD (full-time) - currently registered
Research Topic
To East and West, to North and South: Regionalism and Mythology in Contemporary American Photography
Profile
Jarkko Tanninen is a PhD candidate at the University of Nottingham, where he studies contemporary art and visual culture with a focus on American photography. He holds an MA (with Honours) in History of Art from the University of Glasgow and an MA in Curating Art, including Management and Law, from the University of Stockholm, where his MA thesis explored contemporary road trip photography in the United States.
Jarkko's PhD thesis engages with regionalism in contemporary American photography and visual culture. His research investigates representations of cultural imaginaries and narrative myths in regions such as the Deep South, the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest, and the Appalachia. By exploring the tensions between local realities and regional mythologies, the research project traces how the emphasis on place and space can shape contemporary readings of American visual culture and Americanness at large, in addition to underlining photography's inherent ability to intertwine fact and fiction.
Jarkko is currently a Research Fellow in the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution. He has presented his scholarly work across the United Kingdom and the United States, including Harvard University.
Conferences
Out of the Boondocks: (Re)Performing Regional Imaginaries in Contemporary American Photography. Revisiting Region: Locating the "Where" in American Studies, New England American Studies Association, 22nd June 2024, Harvard University, US.
In Search of Ohio: Todd Hido and the Suburban Gothic. CLAS Conference, 22nd May 2024, University of Nottingham, UK.
Whither Goest Thou, America?: European Perspectives in Contemporary Road Trip Photography. Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association's Annual Conference, 9th November 2023, Philadelphia, US.
American Images: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Contemporary Photography. Midlands4Cities Research Festival, 4th October 2023, Birmingham, UK.
"Keep Your Eyes on the Woods": The Pacific Northwest and the Eerie. CMVS Postgraduate Conference, 24th May 2023, University of Nottingham, UK.
Silence after Violence: Photographic Absence in Joel Sternfeld's 'On This Site: Landscape in Memoriam' (1996). Saying Nothing to Say: Sense, Silence, and Impossible Texts in the 20th Century, 13th May 2023, University of Warwick, UK.
Research Activities
Research Fellow, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, September 2024-present, Washington, D.C.
'Rome: Changing Landscapes of the Eternal City.' Interdisciplinary workshop, March 2023, The British School at Rome, Italy.
Research Interests
My research interests include contemporary American art and visual culture, in particular the fictions and mythologies associated with the United States; the development of popular iconographies and imaginaries through popular culture; the history of the road trip; photography and cinema; art crime and authenticity.
Research Supervisors
Dr Mark Rawlinson; Dr Stephanie Lewthwaite
Previous Education
International Master's Program in Curating, including Art, Management and Law, Stockholm University, 2021.
Master of Arts (Honours) in History of Art, University of Glasgow, 2019.