Professor Niamh Thornton DPhil

Niamh Thornton has a particular interest in the War Story in its various manifestations. This includes how it is represented in fiction and non-fiction literature and film. As a specialist in Mexican cultural output, this has largely focused on the Mexican Revolution, but it also includes 1968, the subsequent Dirty War, the Zapatista Rebellion, and, more recently, the so-called Drugs War.

During the past century the Mexican nation has experienced periods of significant political and social unrest where lives have been lost amidst a context of conflict and violence. Of particular note are the Revolution (1910-20), the student unrest, and massacre at the Plaza de Tlatelolco in 1968, the subsequent dirty war of the 1970s, the EZLN uprising in Chiapas (1994–present), and more recently, the current Drug Wars which seen a tarnish of the country’s external image and continues to dominate political debate. Within this climate Mexican filmmakers, artists, photographers, designers, performance artists and painters turn to address the traumatic events of the past and present, choosing to represent these insights through a variety of visual media. This is a collaborative project with Miriam Haddu, Royal Holloway.For more on the Specular Ghosts Project, click here.

This recent project is related to her earlier projects on the War Story and are a reflection on the emerging ways that grand historical moments have been represented and re-presented by filmmakers and curators.