Barbara Maria Stafford is an independent writer, curator, and speaker whose work explores the intersections between visual arts and the physical and biological sciences from early modern to contemporary eras.
Her current research examines how the neurosciences are reshaping our understanding of human and animal sensation, perception, emotion, mental imagery, and subjectivity. William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor Emerita at the University of Chicago, she has also held positions at Georgia Tech and the University of Melbourne.
View Full CV →Featured Books
Echo Objects
An investigation into the cognitive function of images — how pictures communicate embodied knowledge and function as instruments of understanding.
Body Criticism
A landmark study of Enlightenment-era imaging techniques and the visualization of invisible interior worlds in art and medicine.
A Field Guide to a New Meta-Field
Bridges the humanities-neuroscience divide, charting shared terrain between disciplines long considered incommensurable.
Postscript: What more can museum architecture do?
Chapter 10 in Museum Configurations
An inquiry into the spatial and sensory possibilities of museum architecture — asking not merely what buildings contain, but what they can prompt, provoke, and transform in those who move through them.
Read More Essays →
Flying Leaves
A space for shorter reflections on art, science, perception, and the visual world. Independent and ongoing.