Sharon Sliwinski is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work forges a bridge between the fields of visual culture, political theory, and the life of the mind. Her first book, Human Rights In Camera (2011), explored the visual politics of human rights. She has contributed broadly to the field of photography studies, most recently co-editing Photography and the Optical Unconscious (2017). Sliwinski’s most recent work investigates the social, political, and cultural significance of dream-life, which is represented in her book Dreaming Dark Times (2017) and The Museum of Dreams.
Apart from her affiliation in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies, Sliwinski is a core member of the Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism and an affiliate in the Centre for Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Resolution. In 2017, she was elected to the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. She currently holds the 2017-19 Rogers Chair in Journalism & New Information Technology. She serves on the editorial boards of Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development and Topia: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies and has been a long-time member of the research collective known as the Toronto Photography Seminar. Sliwinski received her PhD from the Social and Political Thought Program at York University in 2005.
