Katrina Whitehead is a lecturer in Fashion Promotion and Creative Writing, teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Huddersfield since 2017 and also a Programme Tutor for Creative Arts at the Open College of the Arts (part of Open University) since 2008.

Katrina studied Fine Art, graduating in 2004 with a BA (Hons.) in Fine Art at Bretton Hall College / University of Leeds, taught by Professor Rob Ward a practising Sculptor and Professor Griselda Pollock whose area of expertise is in Feminist Studies in Art History. 

Katrina went on to study a Masters in Printmaking at Bradford College of Art where she studied feminism, the climate crisis and specialised in photo silkscreen printmaking and artists’ bookmaking. 

In 2007 Katrina gained a PGCE from the University of Huddersfield and obtained a Fellowship in the Higher Education Academy. Katrina is a qualified Licentiate member of the British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP) and former Chair. of BIPP (Yorkshire).

Originally inspired by research into the women in her family tree, Katrina uses the archive as a source of inspiration, including family albums, letters, diaries and vintage fashion ephemera, to explore the lives of women through a creative blend of historical truth and imaginative reconstruction. This has included collaborating with a costumier and milliner to reimagine the story of Mary Rogers, a real-life murder victim in a cold case from 1841. 

Within the Department of Arts and Humanities at the University of Huddersfield, Katrina completed a practice-based PhD in which her research addressed a critical gap in academic discourse concerning the representation of femicide and the fetishisation of women within true crime magazines. Building on this work, she is now developing a new strand of research exploring the portrayal of female spies within visual and material culture, with a continued focus on the book as a critical and creative form.

Katrina has exhibited her work internationally and has presented at conferences worldwide, including engagements with the Royal Photographic Society and the Association for Art History. 

University Research Profile
Wordpress - katrinawhitehead.wordpress.com
Instagram - katrina.whitehead
YouTube - @KatrinaWhitehead