Mrs Rachel Cross
(she/her)
BA (Hons), MA LMusTCL FHEA MISM
Teacher/Tutor
Overview
I am a postgraduate research student working in the exciting field of Illustration Studies within English Literature. My work focuses on intermedial relationships, specifically those between image, music and text, and how their varied interconnections reveal cultural values.
I am also a Teaching Associate at Cardiff and enjoy teaching undergraduates about intermedial relationships and how we read multimedial publications.
Research
I am interested in Victorian popular song, illustration and music.
For my PhD thesis, I am researching depictions of race and gender in Victorian illustrated songs. During Victoria's reign, the rise of the piano and an increased interest in singing led to the widescale publication of popular songs for performance at home. To improve marketability, many songs were sold with an illustrated front cover. The illustrated Victorian song was therefore a uniquely integrated art form, with illustration, music and lyrics packaged together. Presenting themes in such a way allows for a fascinating insight into Victorian cultural feeling. My analyses of these three media introduce tripartite inter- and intra-art comparisons and analogies between image, music and text in an investigation about how this art form contributed to the construction of meanings and the development of racial and sexual stereotypes.
Teaching
I have taught on three undergraduate modules at Cardiff University: Critical Reading and Critical Writing; Transforming Visions (both year one); and The Illustrated Book (year three). I undertook training at Cardiff to become a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.