Paul Bench

Dr Paul Bench is a lecturer in Historical and Cultural Studies. His central interest is investigating the intersection of visual cultures and queer histories. This research is interdisciplinary, taking in histories of art and photography, biography studies, fashion studies, material cultures research, queer theory and gender studies.

Paul completed a PhD focused on three queer men in interwar Britain, in 2021. This followed an MA in The History and Culture of Fashion and his prior career as a fashion designer.

Having published academic articles and communicating his research in conference settings, Paul is currently working on his book QUEER WAYS OF SEEING, which aims to bring his research to a wider audience. The forthcoming publication will offer new ways of understanding what we mean when we talk about ‘queer art’. It draws fresh comparisons between both historical and recent artworks, establishing a framework for interpretation and in the process, suggesting the potential contours of a queer visual language.