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HomeAcademic staffDr Elena Marchevska
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I joined LSBU in 2012, where I am Associate Professor of Performance Studies in the School of Arts and Creative Industries, and the School’s Director of Postgraduate Research. I work on performance and migration as researcher and performance practitioner. I am predominantly interested in the relationship between performance, politics of migration and environmental cultural studies. At LSBU, I am Course Director of the MA in Creative Performance Practice. My approach to teaching, research and work priorities and ethos that is collaborative and feminist.

My main research interest is the relationship between performance, migration and environmental issues. I have published widely on the issues of belonging, the female body, the border and intergenerational trauma. I retrospectively and selectively write about events that stem from, or are made possible by, being part of a particular cultural identity. My academic work is rooted in my lived experience and I often use auto-ethnography and practice as research methodologies as part of my writing and teaching.

Co-Creation: I recently finished the project ‘Finding Home’ (2018-2020), an interdisciplinary research creation project in which international collaboration and knowledge exchange are critical in answering its research questions. As a team of scholars from Canada,UK and Australia – countries with the some of the strictest migration policies in the world – we came together to explore how local practices can generate a wider cross border discussion on notion of home. The project is quite unique in that it involves researchers, community based partner organizations, and artists working together. This means that all the project participants are engaged in the knowledge mobilization from the very beginning. We are driven by the following question: How can the practice as research approach to migration and artmaking enhance, contradict, complement, or reinvent the official process of crossing a border, home-making, and striving for citizenship?

For over a decade, I am working on researching maternal performance and children in performance. In relation to motherhood, I co-edited, with Valerie Walkerdine, The Maternal in Creative Work: Intergenerational Discussions on Motherhood and Art, Routledge, 2020.

This edited collection is a result of two international conferences I co-organised:

• Motherhood and Creative Practice, held at LSBU in June 2015 and

• Gender Generation, co-hosted between Royal College of Art and LSBU in September 2016.

Practice as research: In the past several years I've developed practice-led research in migration, displacement and art. My most recent practice as research project is the digital conversation piece ‘Third nature’ (2020) commissioned by performing borders and Live Art Development Agency. The Third Nature digital conversation commission, consists of a film and the ongoing digital discussion board that you can access through this link. Third Nature is an open-ended series of digital discussions: a riot of short reflections on lived, precarious, migrant experience patched onto bigger discussions on feminism and care. Our approach to the project felt borderless – without boundaries, In a creatively nurturing way.

Courses taught

Acting and Performance - BA (Hons)

Arts and Creative Industries - PhD

Arts and Creative Industries - MRes

Creative Performance Practice - MA

Postgraduate Research Supervision
Current
Mx D'Bi Young AnitafrikaUbuntu! Decolonial Performance Praxis by Black Womxn in Theatre a Black-Queer-Feminist Critical (Auto)ethnographyPhD
Miss Lynn Adhiambo ObathWhat If We Were Trees: Developing Orality as Decolonial Practice & MethodPhD
Ms Teodora Sinziana FartanDoctoral Research ProjectPhD
Mr Wayne Steven JacksonRemembering Hull: Performing Autobiographical Memory as a Strategy for Place MakingPhD

Awarded in the last 5 years
Ms Georgia KolokythopoulouAudience-generated traces: audience experience in performance documentationPhD
Ms Kristina NillesEvaluating beyond the metrics: understanding the value of participatory arts through plurality of voice PhD
PhD

University of Northampton

2008
2012
MFA

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

2003
2005
Senior Fellowship

Higher Education Academy

2012
FunderYear wonProjectRole
A New Direction2022Powerful Partnerships Research ProgrammePrincipal Investigator
The Daphne Jackson Trust2022Making MothersPrincipal Investigator
Lambeth Council2020ELEVATE Impact StudyPrincipal Investigator
Fulbright Commission2018RC305_ACI_EMarchevska_BenjGerdesPrincipal Investigator
Lyric Hammersmith2018PGR_015_ACI_Stu_Lyric_HammersmithPrincipal Investigator
European Commission (H2020)2017Elena Marchevska_HOUSREGPrincipal Investigator
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council2018Finding Home: Housing, Migration and Research CreationPrincipal Investigator
ProposalProjectRoleFunderStatusStatus last updated
International Collaboration Grants 2024International Collaboration Grants 2024Co-InvestigatorBritish Council OPEN In preparationMar 2024
Professional Development Courses for CreativesProfessional Development Courses for CreativesCo-InvestigatorGrid & Nodes AfricaOPEN Approved for submissionMar 2024
Powerful Partnerships Research ProgrammePowerful Partnerships Research ProgrammePrincipal InvestigatorA New DirectionOPEN Approved for submissionJun 2022
Finding Home: Housing, Migration and Research CreationFinding Home: Housing, Migration and Research CreationPrincipal InvestigatorSocial Sciences and Humanities Research CouncilOPEN Approved for submissionMar 2020
Theatre and Performance Research Association
2017
2020
2018
2021
Lyric Hammersmith

I am an academic liaison for the course MA Creative Performance Practice.

September 2018
September 2024
Lambeth Council

I advice and monitor the evaluation process on Lambeth Council's project ELEVATE (2019-2021), which aimes to open up creative industries professions in the Borough to underrepresented groups (BAME, women, disabled, low socio-economic backgrounds).

Third sector
September 2019
September 2021
Reach and Impact

Motherhood is not a problem to solve, but a reality we must acknowledge (Jul 2015)


Transformations across time and space
Marchevska, E. and Defrin, C. (2023). Transformations across time and space. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training. 14 (4), pp. 550-551. https://doi.org/10.1080/19443927.2023.2275904

North Macedonia
Marchevska, E. (2023). North Macedonia. in: Remshardt and Mancewicz (ed.) Routledge Companion to Contemporary European Theatre and Performance Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group).

Review: Avatars, Activism and Postdigital Performance: precarious intermedial identities
Marchevska, E. (2023). Review: Avatars, Activism and Postdigital Performance: precarious intermedial identities. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media. 19 (2), pp. 285-287. https://doi.org/10.1080/14794713.2023.2213018

Reframing migrant narratives through arts practice
Marchevska, E. and Defin, C. (2023). Reframing migrant narratives through arts practice . Arts. 12 (2), p. 58. https://doi.org/10.3390/arts12020058

There Are Other Worlds: Maternal knowledge beyond borders
Marchevska, E. (2022). There Are Other Worlds: Maternal knowledge beyond borders. in: Underwood-Lee, E. and Šimić, L. (ed.) Mothering Performance: Maternal Action London Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group). pp. 67-80

Creative acts of citizenship: Performance of activist citizenship by migrant artists
Marchevska, E. (2022). Creative acts of citizenship: Performance of activist citizenship by migrant artists. in: Czajka, A. and O'Brien, A. (ed.) Art, Migration and the Production of Democratic Citizenship Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Third Nature Embodiment of borders and thinking beyond: Surviving despite capitalism
Marchevska, E. and Defrin, C. (2021). Third Nature Embodiment of borders and thinking beyond: Surviving despite capitalism. Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices. 13 (1). https://doi.org/10.1386/jdsp_00037_1

Finding Home Catalogue
Marchevska, E., Defrin, C., Hussain, N., Bociurkiw, M., Mwashokera, F., Manzur, A., Leanette, C., Amir, N. and Gardner, J. (2021). Finding Home Catalogue . Toronto Ryerson University . https://doi.org/10.18744/lsbu.8y0xw

Interview with Elena Marchevska
Marchevska, E., Šimić, L. and Underwood-Lee, E. (2020). Interview with Elena Marchevska.

Third Nature
Marchevska, E. (2020). Third Nature.

The Maternal in Creative Work Intergenerational Discussions on Motherhood and Art
Marchevska, E. Marchevska, E. and Walkerdine, V. (ed.) (2019). The Maternal in Creative Work Intergenerational Discussions on Motherhood and Art. London Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group).

Digital Bodies: Creativity and Technology in the Arts and Humanities
Marchevska, E. (2019). Digital Bodies: Creativity and Technology in the Arts and Humanities. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media. pp. 375-376. https://doi.org/10.1080/14794713.2019.1667732

Crossing of Hostile Borders
Marchevska, E (2017). Crossing of Hostile Borders. in: Migrations: Literary and Linguistic Aspects. Cambridge Peter Lang.

The Personal is Political: How Polish women negotiate the price of migration
Hawkins, M. and Marchevska, E. (2018). The Personal is Political: How Polish women negotiate the price of migration.

How to talk about gender equality with a 9 year old: Performing feminist values for children
Marchevska, E (2018). How to talk about gender equality with a 9 year old: Performing feminist values for children. Performance Research: a journal of the performing arts. 23 (1), pp. 102-108. https://doi.org/10.1080/13528165.2018.1460456

Performing the Present, Saving the Future: Digital Media Presence in the Work of Raspeani Skopjani
Marchevska, E (2017). Performing the Present, Saving the Future: Digital Media Presence in the Work of Raspeani Skopjani. Contemporary Theatre Review. 27 (2), pp. 391-397. https://doi.org/10.1080/10486801.2017.1343240

Fluidity and friendship: the choir that surprised the city
Marchevska, E (2017). Fluidity and friendship: the choir that surprised the city. Contemporary Theatre Review. 27 (3).

The Study Room Guide on The Displaced and Privilege: Live Art in Age of Hostility
Marchevska, E (2017). The Study Room Guide on The Displaced and Privilege: Live Art in Age of Hostility. London Live Art Development Agency.

Belonging and absence: resisting the division
Marchevska, E (2017). Belonging and absence: resisting the division. in: Rudakoff, J (ed.) Performing Exile: Foreign Bodies Intellect.

Performing Everyday Maternal Practice: Activist Structures in Creative Work [Editorial]
Marchevska, E and Walkerdine, V (2016). Performing Everyday Maternal Practice: Activist Structures in Creative Work [Editorial]. Studies in the Maternal. 8 (2), pp. 1-4. https://doi.org/10.16995/sim.236

Performing everyday maternal practice: Activist structures in creative work
Marchevska, E (2016). Performing everyday maternal practice: Activist structures in creative work. Studies in the Maternal. 8 (2), pp. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.16995/sim.235

Living in a Terminal
Marchevska, E (2016). Living in a Terminal. in: Santamaria, N (ed.) De fronteres i arts escèniques Lleida, Spain Punctum. pp. 307-317

Performing Inequality: Feminist performative acts as protest gestures
Marchevska, E (2016). Performing Inequality: Feminist performative acts as protest gestures. Journal of Arts and Communities. 8 (1-2). https://doi.org/10.1386/jaac.8.1-2.107_1

The Place where We were Last Together: Encountering the Border from Within
Marchevska, E (2016). The Place where We were Last Together: Encountering the Border from Within. Studies in the Maternal. 8 (1), pp. 1 - 22. https://doi.org/10.16995/sim.210

Borders with/in the mother
Marchevska, E (2016). Borders with/in the mother. M/other Voices. 2016.

Solidarity and self-organisation as generators of change: The role of self-organised art initiatives in Macedonia
Marchevska, E (2015). Solidarity and self-organisation as generators of change: The role of self-organised art initiatives in Macedonia. Open Engagement [blog].

Technologies of Change: Body Coded in Motion
Marchevska, E (2010). Technologies of Change: Body Coded in Motion. eSharp.