Kit Gurnos

I am a London-based art writer and curator specialising in contemporary art with a particular interest in women- and queer-led narratives.​

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I am dedicated to making art as accessible to as wide an audience as possible by telling nuanced stories in a clear and engaging manner. This led me to launch the Instagram account @artistic.identities (now @kit.gurnos) in November 2023, where I posted daily videos and posts presenting the work of artists that excite me – both filling in gaps in art history and discovering emerging talent.

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I am passionate about offering curatorial support to emerging artists at the start of their careers, working collaboratively with individuals to develop textual and conceptual frameworks for their practices.

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My early background as a freelance costume professional led me to pursue a PhD at the University of Oxford to examine the relationships between gender and performance design. I continue to pursue my particular interest in performance art and the ways in which costumes, props and the designed environment work in conjunction with performers and artists to tell diverse narratives about identity, often in a manner that transcends the potential of language alone.

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I have written numerous extended articles for arts and heritage organisations, including the Courtauld Institute of Art, Modern Art Oxford (MAO) and the National Trust. I have published peer-reviewed articles in academic journals and contributed an introductory text to The Routledge Anthology of Women's Theatre Theory and Dramatic Criticism (2023; edited by Catherine Burroughs and J. Ellen Gainor). I have devised and conducted oral history projects centred on collecting underrepresented women's experiences, the recordings of which are archived in The Women's Library at the London School of Economics (LSE), and contributed to the interpretation of museum and institutional collections, including those of the Old Operating Theatre, London, the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and the photographic collection of Conway Library at the Courtauld Institute of Art.

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Recently curated exhibitions:

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Noah Davis, Barbican Art Gallery, London, 6 February - 11 May 2025 (curatorial assistant)

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The Work of Being: Gianna T. & Vincent Matuschka, Wild Trumpets, London, 30 January - 18 February 2025 (curator)

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Embodied Forms: Painting Now, group show (Carolina Aguirre, Dean Fox, Olga Grotova, Michael Ho, Effie Wanyi Li, YaYa Yajie Liang, Eva Helene Pade), Thaddaeus Ropac, London, 2 - 28 September 2024 (curator)​​​​