Lorna Dillon

I joined the University of Cambridge as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Centre of Latin American Studies. I later moved to the University of Cambridge Department of History of Art. I have been working in PACE since 2021 and I am affiliated to Murray Edwards College.

Between 2021 and 2025 I co-directed the Mst in History of Art. I convened a module on socially-engaged art and curating. During this time I invited lecturers from the TATE, the Essex Collection of Latin American Art, the Pitt Rivers Museum and the University of Cambridge Museums to contribute to the postgraduate programme in History of Art. 

I specialise in modern and contemporary art theory, with a particular focus on decolonial feminist theory. I am particularly interested in art from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and their diasporas. I am best known for my work on textile art. I have published three books on the embroidery artist Violeta Parra: Violeta Parra: Life and Work (2017), Violeta Parra's Visual Art: Painted Songs (2020) and The Visionary Praxis of Violeta Parra (2025).

I am currently researching feminist embroidery, cultural diplomacy and computer generated art. I also teach in Hong Kong and split my time between my house in Cambridge and my apartment in Hong Kong.

My work has been supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the British Academy, the Leverhulme Trust, the Isaac Newton Trust and many other organisations.