Current Employment
Oct 2023-ongoing. Assistant Professor (Lecturer) and Interdisciplinary Fellow
Department of Art History
School of Divinity, History, Philosophy, and Art History, University of Aberdeen.
Environment and Biodiversity Challenge Area, Interdisciplinary Institute
Co-Director of The Centre for the North
Member of the Cryosphere and Climate Change Research Group
PI: From the Floe Edge (2024-ongoing), Teaching Arctic Environments (2023-ongoing)
Professional Experience
2021-2023. Postdoctoral Fellow. Arts & Science Postdoctoral Fellowship (24 months), Department of Art History, University of Toronto.
Junior Fellow of Massey College. Member of the University College Senior Common Room.
Nov 2022-June 2023. Group Coordinator. Oxford-Penn-Toronto International Doctoral Cluster in the Environmental Humanities, School of Environment, University of Toronto. Principal Investigators: Prof. Sherry Lee (Musicology) and Dr. Alexandra Rahr (Munk School)
March 2022. Visiting Scholar. Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Centre, Augustana College, Illinois, U.S.
Sep 2020-Aug 2021. Research Affiliate. Department of Drawing, University of Seville. Member of: The Inhabited Doñana Research Group and HUM 554 Morphology of Nature Research Group. (H2020-MSCA Seal of Excellence & Juan de la Cierva-Formación reserva).
Jan 2020-Feb 2021. Research Affiliate. Department of History of Art, University of York.
Current & Forthcoming Publications
Monographs
I. Gapp. 2024. A Circumpolar Landscape: Art and Environment in Scandinavia and North America, 1890-1930. Lund Humphries. Northern Lights Series.
Reviewed: Helene Engnes Birkeli, Periskop: Forum for kunsthistorisk debat (2024), E.M. Hansen, CHOICE Reviews (2024).
Edited Works
M. A. Cheetham and I. Gapp. Eds. 2022 & 2023. “Visual Cultures of the Circumpolar North Part I and II,” NiCHE (Network in Canadian History & Environment).
Book Chapters
I. Gapp, N.E. Langston, and B. Pushaw, “Circumpolar Caribou and Sámi Reindeer across Alaska, Nunavut and Scotland, 1894-1952.” In Mediated Arctic Geographies, edited by Johannes Riquet, Liisa-Ravna Finbog, and Jenni Ylönen. (Under Review)
I. Gapp. 2021. “An Arctic Impressionism? Anna Boberg and the Lofoten Islands.” In Mapping Impressionist Painting in Transnational Contexts, edited by Emily C. Burns and Alice Price. New York/London: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003044239
I. Gapp. 2019. “A Swedish Landscape? Nature and Identity in the Painting of Gustaf Fjæstad and Helmer Osslund.” In The North as Home: Proceedings from the Nordic Research Network 2017, edited by Stefan Drechsler, Beñat Elortza Larrea, Deniz Cem-Gülen and Heidi Synnove Djuve, 94-107. London: Norvik Press.
Journal Articles
I. Gapp. 2024. “All Aboard the Nascopie: Image-Making, Colonial Modernity, and Coastal Memory in the Eastern Canadian Arctic.” Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d’études canadiennes 58, no.2: 243-275. doi: 10.3138/jcs-2023-0023
I. Gapp. 2024. “Aquatic Art Histories of the North Atlantic: Frida Zachariassen and the Faroe Islands Fisheries.” Periskop, Special Issue:Færøsk kunsthistorie i dag, 32: 66-73. doi: 10.7146/periskop.v2024i32.150339
J. Mace and I. Gapp. 2024. “From Panorama to Parking Garage: An Architectural and Archival History of the Toronto Cyclorama.” Imaginations: Journal of Cross-Cultural Image Studies 15, no.1: 119-143, doi: 10.17742/IMAGE29687
I. Gapp. 2024. “Looking south: making monuments to the British Antarctic Expedition.” Sculpture Journal 33, no.2: 301-314. doi: 10.3828/sj.2024.33.2.15
I. Gapp. 2023. “Coastal Narratives and Baltic Ecotones: Painting Beaches and Boulders at the Water’s Edge.” Coastal Studies & Society. doi: 10.1177/26349817231209715
I. Gapp. 2023. “Ice in Motion: Panoramic Perspectives and Moving Pictures.” ARCTIC – Journal of The Arctic Institute of North America 76, no. 2: 160-178. doi: 10.14430/arctic77740
I. Gapp and B. Pushaw. 2023. “Mobility, materiality, and memory: Silas Sandgreen and the construction of Kalaallit cartography in the 1920s.” Konsthistorisktidskrift 92, no. 2. doi: 10.1080/00233609.2023.2197432
I. Gapp. 2021. “Water in the Wilderness: The Group of Seven and the Coastal Identity of Lake Superior.” Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d’études canadiennes 55, no.3. doi: 10.3138/jcs-2020-0049
I. Gapp. 2021. “A Woman in the Far North: Anna Boberg and the Norwegian Glacial Landscape.” Kunst og Kultur 104, no.2: 82-96. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-3029-2021-02-0
Book Reviews
I. Gapp. 2024. “Review of Capturing Glaciers: A History of Repeat Photography and Global Warming by Dani Inkpen,” H-Net Reviews, H-Environment.
I. Gapp. 2023. “Polar Art and Aesthetics: Past and Present – Climate Change and the New Polar Aesthetics by Lisa Bloom and Visual Culture and Arctic Voyages by Eavan O’Dochartaigh,” Art History 46, no. 3, 619-625. doi: 10.1111/1467-8365.12739
I. Gapp. 2023. “Review of Thinking like an iceberg, by Olivier Remaud (2022). Stephen Muecke, trans. Medford, MA: Polity. 180 pp. ISBN 978-1-509-55148-4.,” Polar Research 42. doi: 10.33265/polar.v42.9249
I. Gapp. 2022. “British Art and the Environment: Changes, Challenges, and Responses since the Industrial Revolution, eds. Charlotte Gould and Sophie Mespléde,” CERCLES Reviews.
I. Gapp. 2021. “Antarctica, Art and Archive by Penny Gould.” caa.reviews. doi: 10.3202/caa.reviews.2021.36
M. Boden and I. Gapp. 2018. “’Whether you can affect the signs of the sky or not, you can the signs of the times’: Ruskin, Turner & the Storm Cloud.” Journal of Victorian Culture, vcz031. doi: 10.1093/jvcult/vcz031
Exhibition Reviews
I. Gapp. 2023. “The Arctic: While the Ice is Melting (Arktis: Medan isen smälter) at Nordiska Museum, Stockholm.” Museum Worlds 11, no. 1: 263-265. doi: 10.3167/armw.2023.110119
Public Humanities
J. Peyton and I. Gapp. 2024. “Part IV – Encountering Extractivism in Visual Cultures of the Circumpolar North,” Network in Canadian History & Environment (NiCHE).
I. Gapp. 2024. “Making Monuments to the RMS Nascopie,” Teaching Arctic Environments, Series One.
I. Gapp. 2023. “ICHO Research Fellowship – Hudson Bay Company Archives and the RMS Nascopie,” Official Website of the International Commission of the History of Oceanography, May 18th.
M. A. Cheetham and I. Gapp. 2023. “An Introduction to Visual Cultures of the Circumpolar North – Part II,” NiCHE (Network in Canadian History & Environment).
M. A. Cheetham and I. Gapp. 2022. “An Introduction to Visual Cultures of the Circumpolar North,” NiCHE (Network in Canadian History & Environment).
I. Gapp. 2022. “Franklin Carmichael. Grace Lake. 1931.” CanadARThistories (Open Educational Resource) through Open Art Histories and Smarthistory.
I. Gapp. 2022. “Anna Boberg and the Lofoten Fishing Industry, dedicated to International Women’s Day,” Arctic Economic Council News, March 8th.
I. Gapp. 2022. “Galvanizing Glaciology: Thoughts on an Ecocritical Art History.” Environmental History Now Blog.
I. Gapp. 2022. “Water in the Wilderness? Rethinking the Canadian Group of Seven.” NiCHE (Network in Canadian History & Environment).
I. Gapp. 2021. “Anna Boberg: Artist, Wife, Polar Explorer.” Guest post for the Art Herstory Blog.
I. Gapp. 2021. “The Boundaries of Arctic Map-Making: Exploration, Environment and Marginalia.” Borders and Boundaries series, guest edited by Heather Green and Jonathan Luedee. NiCHE (Network in Canadian History & Environment).
Curatorial Experience
June-August 2024
Anna Boberg (1864-1935), Painting the Arctic Summer.
Co-curated with and for Ben Elwes Fine Art, London, UK.
Selected Grants & Awards
2025 University of Aberdeen – School of Divinity, History, Philosophy and Art History Conference and Workshop Fund. Co-recipient alongside Gerry Hough. For Experiential Learning in the Humanities at Aberdeen workshop.
2024 British Academy Knowledge Frontiers: International Interdisciplinary Research Projects – Awarded for From the Floe Edge. PI: Isabelle Gapp (Univ. of Aberdeen). Co-PI: Sarah Cooley (Univ. of Oregon). Co-partner: Kinngait Studios, West Baffin Co-Op, Nunavut.
2024 NERC-Arctic Office UK-Greenland Research Bursary – Awarded for Voices on Ice (part of Teaching Arctic Environments). PI: Isabelle Gapp (Univ. of Aberdeen). Co-PI: Penny How (GEUS, Nuuk).
2024 University of Manitoba – University Program & Project Seed Fund (UIPPSF) – Awarded for Teaching Arctic Environments. PI: Jonathan Peyton (Univ. of Manitoba). Co-PI: Isabelle Gapp (Univ. of Aberdeen).
2023 University of Aberdeen Internal Funding to Pump-Prime Research and Research Networks – Award for Networking building within the UArctic consortium. Facilitated travel and network building at UArctic Congress in Bodø, Norway.
2023 Scottish Government Arctic Connections Fund 2023-24 – Awarded for Teaching Arctic Environments. PI: Isabelle Gapp (Univ. of Aberdeen). Collaborators: Nadine Fabbi (Univ. of Washington), and Jonathan Peyton (Univ. of Manitoba).
2023 Jackman Humanities Institute, University of Toronto. For the Visual Cultures in the Circumpolar North Working Group.
2023 New Foundation for Art History Publication Grant For A Circumpolar Landscape book manuscript.
2022 International Commission of the History of Oceanography (ICHO) Travel Fellowship.
2022 Kungliga Patriotiska Sällskapet Publication Grant, Sweden. For A Circumpolar Landscape book manuscript.
2022 Association for Art History (AAH) Scholarly Research Grant. For A Circumpolar Landscape book manuscript.
2022 Jackman Humanities Institute, University of Toronto. For the Visual Cultures in the Circumpolar North Working Group.
Collaborations & Networks
2023-ongoing.
Teaching Arctic Environments. (More information on “Project” page)
PI: Isabelle Gapp (University of Aberdeen). Co-PI: Jonathan Peyton (Univ. of Manitoba).
2023-2024.
Collaborator on Beyond Her Horizons: A Polar Journey
Expedition and project team: Jessica Houston, Okalik Eegeesiak, and Noèmie Planat.
2021-2024.
Visual Cultures of the Circumpolar North, Jackman Humanities Institute Working Group, University of Toronto.
Leads : Isabelle Gapp, Matthew Farish, and Ivana Dizdar
Internal Group Members: Mark Cheetham (co-lead 2021-23), Melissa Gniadeck, Alexandra Rahr, Rowan Red Sky
External Group Members: Amanda Boetzkes, Allison Morehead, Carmen Victor, Margaryta Golovchenko, Andrew Bateman, Hana Nikčević, Haylee Glasel
Selected Event Organisation
August 2024. “Visual Cultures of Arctic Extraction.” Conference session, 4th World Congress for Environmental History (WCEH) 2024, Oulu, Finland. Proposed and co-chaired alongside Prof. Jonathan Peyton (Univ. of Manitoba).
July 2024. “Nordic Art History Roundtables (New Directions in Nordic Art History and Women & Environment in Nordic Art & Design.” London Art Week. Speakers and Chairs: Christopher Riopelle, MaryAnne Stevens, Isabelle Gapp, Bart Pushaw, Jenny Ramkalawon, Charlotte Ashby.
April 2024. “Environmental Art History.” NiCHE & Univ. of Aberdeen Virtual Roundtable, ASEH Environmental History Week. Co-chaired with: Dr Hans Hönes (Univ. of Aberdeen).
April 2023. “NiCHE-JHI Visual Cultures of the Circumpolar North Virtual Roundtable.” ASEH Environmental History Week. Chaired and organised alongside Mark A. Cheetham, Jessica DeWitt, and Sara Spike.
February 2023. “Landscape and Ecology in Nordic Art, 1850-1930.” Conference session, CAA 2023 Annual Conference, New York City, 15-18th February. Proposed and chaired alongside Tonje H. Sørensen (Univ. of Bergen).
June 2022. “Nordic Nature: Art, Ecology, Landscape,” Three-day conference (16-18 June), University of Bergen. Organised in collaboration with MaryClaire Pappas (Indiana Univ.) and Tonje Haugland-Sorensen (Univ. of Bergen), and in partnership with KODE Art Museums and Composer Homes, the University Museum of Bergen, and The Greenhouse at Univ. of Stavanger.
Selected Invited Presentations & Talks
December 2024 “From Áltá to Amadjuak: Archiving Reindeer aboard the RMS Nascopie”, Haunted Shores Online Seminar Series.
November 2024 Keynote Lecture: “Snowbound: Painting Snowscapes in the Circumpolar North,” American Snows Conference, Toulouse, France.
August 2024 “Lecture: A Circumpolar Landscape with Isabelle Gapp. Moving Mountains in Swedish Art History,” Konsthistoriskt seminarium (Art History Seminar), Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden. In-person.
April 2024 “Arctic Visual Culture and Collaborations,” alongside Ella Gilbert, DurhamARCTIC Seminar Series, Durham University, UK. In-person.
December 2023 “The Problem of Wilderness in Circumpolar Collections,” Seminar: At åbne landskabet: Museumssamlingerne genbesøgt, Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK), Copenhagen, Denmark.
December 2023 “Ice in Nineteenth-Century Visual Culture,” as part of the Ice Seminar for the Art and Environment Seminar Series, IHOPE. Online event.
May 2023 “Ice in Motion and the Performative Arctic Panorama,” Arctic Environments Speaker Series, University of Seattle. Online event.
March 2023 “Crysopheric Collaborations around the Circumpolar North,” Confronting Coloniality: Trans-Cultural Connections in the Faroe Islands and Beyond, seminar, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands. In-person.
March 2023 “Galvanizing Glaciology: An Ecocritical Art History of the Cryosphere,” Remote Sensing: Ice, Instruments, Imagination Research Network, Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CRASSH), University of Cambridge, UK. Online event.
Public Talks & Press (featured)
2024 “NiCHE Conversations 5.3: Visualising Extraction and Teaching Arctic Environments with Isabelle Gapp,” Nature’s Past: Canadian Environmental History Podcast – NiCHE Conversations, S05E03.
2024 “Coastal Art History around the Circumpolar North,” Greyhope Bay, Torry, Aberdeen.
2024 “Landscape Paintings of the Circumpolar North: Polar Environmental Humanities Series Episode 1,” ASLE EcoCast.
2022 “NiCHE Conversations 3.2: Visual Cultures of the Circumpolar North with Isabelle Gapp,” Nature’s Past: Canadian Environmental History Podcast – NiCHE Conversations, S03E02.
2022 “Isabelle Gapp on Ecocritical Art History,” Environmental History Now (EHN), July 29, 2022.
2022 “Visual Cultures of the Circumpolar North Working Group,” Jackman Humanities Institute Newsletter, April 13, 2022.
2022 “Grappling with Colonial Arctic Art History with Isabelle Gapp,” The Arctic Institute Bookshelf Podcast, S02E01.
2022 “NiCHE Conversations 2.13: Isabelle Gapp,” Nature’s Past: Canadian Environmental History Podcast – NiCHE Conversations, S02E13.
2022 “Sunlight and Showers, article courtesy of the AGO Insider,” London Art Week Digital, March 10th, 2022.
2022 “Sunlight and Showers,” AGO Insider, March 9th, 2022.
Committees, Affiliations & Service
2021–ongoing. Referee Tasks. Environmental History; Material Culture Review/Revue de la culture matérielle; Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies; ARCTIC Journal – Arctic Institute of North America.
2021-ongoing Member of the Editorial Committee for the Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE)
2020-2023 Member of Web and Publicity Committee, Nineteenth Century Studies Association
2019-2020 Committee Secretary for the York-Anglo Scandinavian Society
Languages
English (mother tongue), Swedish (fluent or bilingual proficiency), German, Norwegian and Danish (reading).
Isabelle Gapp 