PhD in Visualising History, MA Art and Design in Education, PGCHE in Teaching and Supporting Learning, BA (Hons) Illustration, Intensive Foundation in Art and Design
School of Psychology, Social Work and Public Health
Faculty of Health and Sciences and Technology
Email: k.dimitrova@brookes.ac.uk
Website: www.kremenadimitrova.com
I am a part-time arts-based postdoctoral researcher on the project “Our Caring World through Art” (Oxford Brookes University in collaboration with The Open University). The study examines arts deprivation in underserved communities as part of the European Union's Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme, ALPHABETICA “Activating Learning Paths: Holistic Arts-based Education and Training for Inclusion and Cultural Awareness".
https://alphabetica-project.eu/
Weaving interdisciplinary, arts-based, and participatory ethnographic methods such as comics-based research, deep and countermapping, poetic inquiry, and co-creation, I am interested and have experience in:
- Arts-based methods for bringing the arts, humanities, and social sciences closer together
- Arts-based research through co-creation
- Comics-based research and research comics
- Comics co-creation as a research method and methodology
I hold a practice-based PhD in visualising history from the University of Portsmouth titled, Runaway poetics: Mapping histories of migration through comics but not only (2025). In conceptualising and trialling comics-as-maps-as-poetry as a comics-based research methodology, my three case studies examined colonial enslavement, statelessness, refuge and immigration through co-creation from a child’s perspective.
My academic career and research grew from my professional practice as a socially engaged and interdisciplinary illustrator-as-historian, co-creator, and consultant. I specialise in visual storytelling in the cultural, heritage, education, and community sectors with experience of more than 10 years. Weaving theory with practice, I use different artistic approaches, including text and images, creative writing, mapping, comics and character development—with a touch of humour and emotion—to bring untold, hidden, forgotten, marginalised, and fragmented narratives to life.
Davies, D., & Dimitrova, K. (2024). Power Grids: Community Energy and Comics Co-creation. Funder: The British Academy Leverhulme Small Grant.
Iqbal, H., & Dimitrova, K. (2023). Think in Your Heart, Think… Machar Colony, Statelessness, and the Search for Belonging. Funder: UKRI – UK Research and Innovation Grant.
Dimitrova, K. (2024). What is Home: Arriving and Departing. Pamela Cox Public History Prize, Social History Society
Davies, D., & Dimitrova, K. (forthcoming 2026). Reimagining Infrastructure in Comics. In I. Horton, J. Miers, & E. A. Woock (Eds.), Drawing Conclusions: The Rise of Research Comics. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. Taylor & Francis.
Davies, D., & Dimitrova, K. (forthcoming 2026). Power Grids: Community Energy and Comics Co-creation. In E. A. Woock & A. Matthewson (Eds.), Comprehending Comics in the Social Sciences. Palgrave.
Dimitrova, K. (forthcoming 2025). War Retrospectives, Unforgotten Protagonists, Graphic Legacies: Making History Public from the First World War to VJ Day and Beyond. In S. Connor & E. H. Earle (Eds.), Battle Lines Drawn: War Comics since 1914. Taylor & Francis.
Dimitrova, K. (2024). Decolonising Benjamin Franklin House through Comics: Reflections and Potential. In A. Sinner, P. Osler, & B. White (Eds.), Propositions for Museum Education: International Art Educators in Conversation (pp. 37-48). Intellect.
Dimitrova, K. (2023). Absented from His Master’s Service: Benjamin Franklin House, Slavery, and Comics. In R. Kauranen, O. Löytty, A. Nikkilä, & A. Vuorinne (Eds.), Comics and Migration: Representation and Other Practices (pp. 201-211). Routledge.
Dimitrova, K. (2023). Running with the Runaway: Everywhere and Nowhere: Comics-based Research as a Contemporary Form of Decolonial Resistance. In D. W. Bulla, K. E. Bravo, J. N. Onwubiko, & K. Dimitrova (Eds.), Legacies of Slavery and Contemporary Resistance (pp. 147-178). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Dimitrova, K. (2021). Empty Spaces: Perspectives on Emptiness in Modern History. Contemporary British History, 37(2), 304-306.
Memberships of professional bodies
Member of the Social History Society (SHS)
Member of the a-n The Artists Information Company (a-n)
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
I have experience in:
Teaching studio practice in Art, Design, and Architecture at foundation, undergraduate, and masters level
Delivering lectures, talks, and seminars in Art, Design, and Architecture at undergraduate and masters level nationally and internationally
Supervising theory and practice route thesis in Art and Design subjects at undergraduate level
Friends of Gordon Hill Station, Enfield Chase Station Partners, & Dimitrova, K. (2024/25). Funder: Small Grants Fund for England - Community Rail Network’s Small Grants Fund.
Buckinghamshire Council Libraries & Dimitrova, K. (2024). Art Unites: Our Stories (Creative Communities: A Visual Arts Journey in Bucks Libraries). Funder: Arts Council England Grant and BC Community Development Fund.
Xenia Women & Dimitrova, K. (2022). Untold Stories: Trailblazing Women. Funder: Mayor of London Untold Stories: Greater London Authority Grant by the Commission for Diversity in Public Realm.
Benjamin Franklin House & Dimitrova, K. (2018). Funder: National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Benjamin Franklin House & Dimitrova, K. (2017). Funder: National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Friends of Gordon Hill Station, Enfield Chase Station Partners, & Dimitrova, K. (2025). Community Rail Awards Shortlist (2025), Category of Community Creative Projects and Station Art.
Dimitrova, K. (2013). Arthur Silver Award. Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture.
Steering Committee Member of the Thinking Through Infrastructure Network (TTiN)
Advisory Board Member of the Livingmaps Network
