GUERNICA AS ORIENT

This project will produce the first scholarly analysis of the 1937 attack on Gernika as a political and artistic event rooted in and in ongoing dialogue with colonial violence in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA). It connects the evolution of aerial bombardment as a tactic of colonial control to the bombing of Gernika, and the widespread disinformation campaign which then worked to cover it up. In parallel, it traces the reception of Picasso's painting, Guernica (1937) across the MENA region, where it was immediately seized on by artists and activists who re-interpreted the Surrealist work as a symbol of their own plight, as victims of colonial violence. Drawing on government records, press archives, works of art, private papers and oral testimonies from across Europe and the broader MENA region, the project will demonstrate how the attack on Gernika became the fulcrum for a set of momentous transitions in the conduct of war, the politics of art, and the manipulation of news media, whose consequences we continue to grapple with to this day. The Researcher, Dr Erin OHalloran, is a historian of transnational politics and empire with long experience of archival research between Europe and the Arab region, who seeks new skills in and knowledge of heritage studies set within a multidisciplinary context. Based at the Cambridge Heritage Research Centre, she will benefit from the expertise of the Supervisor, Dr Dacia Viejo-Rose, and additional mentors and trainers at Cambridge. ensuring the rigorous pursuit of the project's multidisciplinary aspects. The project and its activities will support the longterm goal of building Dr. OHalloran's career across academic research, policy engagement, and public outreach focused on the relevance of the past to contemporary society.