Leona Rita Valente Cosgrove
she/her
What do we discover when thinking of Visual Culture and Beyoncé through dress?
Focusing on Beyoncé's 2022 album "Act I:RENAISSANCE" and its 2023 world tour, my research project, ‘What do we discover when thinking of Visual Culture and Beyoncé through dress?’, involved a detailed analysis of Beyoncé within the context of Visual Culture, emphasising the centrality of her dressed and undressed body. By examining the superstar’s adorned physicality alongside theories of dress, spectacle, performance, music, race, gender, and posthumanism, the cultural significance and power of these images were amplified.
This research project marked the culmination of my profound interest in dress and fashion, especially in relation to female bodies. My work as a final year student was recently awarded the NCAD Staff Prize and also led to my acceptance into the Design History and Material Culture MA programme. These postgraduate studies will provide a platform to further refine my skills as a creative researcher and writer, specifically focusing on developing a material understanding of dress and fashion.
Research
Untitled, anon., 2023
<p><em>Vogue July Issue,</em> Pavarotti, 2022</p>
Dedicated to Uncle Johnny, @cowboycarterb8, 2023
Costume in Performance: Materiality, Culture, and the Body, Barbieri, D. and Trimingham, M., 2017
More Brilliant than the Sun, Eshun, K., 1999