Vanessa Damilola Macaulay 

Vanessa is a British artist scholar whose research is embedded in the practical and intellectual work of Black feminism. She is an Assistant Professor at the School of the Art Institute and is currently based in Chicago, US. 

In her research, she uses both practice-based and written approaches to challenge the imbalances of intersectional identities, speaking to contemporary struggles and anxieties about the performing Black body. Vanessa has performed across the UK and Europe, and her scholarly work has been published in Performance Research, Feminist Theory and Contemporary Theatre Review. Her manuscript in progress explores the critical and creative work imagined through body-based experimental performances and the specific historical, cultural, and material circumstances of Black women and our bodies to explore the strategies (both artistic and academic) for making and thinking about performance.