Karla McManus

Karla McManus is an art historian and visual theorist who specializes in the study of photography and the environmental imaginary. Her scholarly output, in the form of curation, publications, and presentations, focuses on how historic and contemporary concerns, from wildlife conservation, to environmental disasters, to anxiety about the future, are visualized photographically. Her recent projects include an exploration of the history of bird photography and its impact on the twentieth century conservation movement and the Prairie Art Network, a community-building project to promote and develop connections in the arts of the prairies. Both have been supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Karla’s research informs her teaching of the histories and theories of photography and art. Since July 2019, she has been Assistant Professor of Visual Arts (Art History) in the Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance at the University of Regina where she teaches courses on a wide variety of topics and courses including: Introduction to Art History, Modern Art History, the History of Photography, Canadian Art History, and Ecocritical Art History. Karla is interested in supervising undergraduate honours and graduate students in areas including the history of photography in Canada, ecocritical art andphotography, and prairie art history. 

Karla is a Member of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art at Concordia University as well as an Affiliate Member of the Documentary Research Centre at Toronto Metropolitan University. She sits on the Board of Directors of the Universities Art Association of Canada as the Prairie Representative and on the Board of Blackflash Magazine.