Introduction

This website exists to document and publish work by Sam Bowker, mostly in relation to his independent research projects.

Sam Bowker’s current research interests include portraiture, self-portraiture, various twentieth-century art and design movements, Australian art, exhibition reviews, nineteenth century travelling artists, contemporary Orientalism, Saharan rock art, philatelic design, obscure South Atlantic islands, and war art.

His PhD thesis, “Their War and Mine: The use of self-portraiture in Australian war art”, was completed in 2011 for the Australian National University, supervised by Dr Elisabeth Findlay. He now divides his time between lecturing in Art History and Visual Culture for Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga (since 2012), and facilitating a wide range of learning programs for the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra (since 2003).

Previously, Sam Bowker lectured in Art and Design Theory for the Australian National University’s School of Art (2008-2010). Since 2004, he has also worked in various roles for the National Museum of Australia, the National Library of Australia, and the Canberra Institute of Technology.