Hatty Nestor

Dr Hatty Nestor is a writer and scholar. Her work explores questions of art, ethics, and gender, to confront contemporary issues related to social justice and representation. Her interdisciplinary research and teaching interests focus on marginalised voices and questions of memorialisation and archives, as demonstrated in her forthcoming book that explores the legacy of the Cuban-American artist Ana Mendieta.

Her first book Ethical Portraits: In Search of Representational Justice was published in 2021 by Zero Books, and uncovered forms of representation in the US criminal justice system. Through wide-ranging interviews and creative nonfiction, it explores the roles of prison portraiture, such as courtroom sketches, DNA profiling, and the incarceration of Chelsea Manning. It was supported by Art Council England’s National Lottery

Project Grant. The Aching Poem, a pamphlet documenting chronic health conditions and the body, was also published in 2021 by Boise State Press.

Hatty’s writing and criticism has appeared in The Times Literary Supplement, Granta, Tribune, The White Review, and many other publications. She has also been commissioned by galleries in the UK and abroad for exhibition texts and interviews, including The Royal College of Art. Prior to Reading, Hatty held positions at Birkbeck University of London, The Glasgow School of Art, and the Sandberg Instituut, and was a visiting fellow at The Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC and MACBA, Barcelona. She also worked as a lead researcher on both the AHRC-funded Feminist Queer Archives group and Animating Archives project at Goldsmiths, University of London. Hatty has also facilitated writing workshops at several art galleries and cultural institutions such as the ICA and has been a writer-in-residence at organisations including CCA in Glasgow, Cove Park, Scotland, Jerwood Arts, London.