About

I am a writer, historian, university professor, and occasional curator. I am fascinated by how the past endures in the present, often in ways we take for granted or fail to see. I write about photography, art, museums, and heritage. I am best known for my work on archaeology, photography, and museums, in particular the history of the Tutankhamun excavation. My new project considers the visual cultures of coal and the industrial heritage of mining, transport, and dams. As someone who believes in art’s ability to change how we perceive the world, each other, and ourselves, I am also interested in artistic responses to social, political, and economic challenges.

You can find my writing in Apollo, History Today, the Times Literary Supplement, the London Review of Books, and even Italia magazine, where I won a travel essay prize for my account of dancing Argentine tango in Turin. I am the author of three academic books, four books for a wider reading public, and a catalogue of photographs from the 1920s excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb. My agent is Patrick Walsh at PEW Literary.

I work at Durham University in the northeast of England, where I am Professor of the History of Visual Culture in the Department of History. I divide my time between the beautiful countryside of County Durham and the elegant Baroque city of Turin in northern Italy.

Follow me on Twitter: @ChristinaJRiggs

Photo credit: Andy Crouch