Wiley Research Fellowships: María Sebastián Sebastián

As part of our mission to undertake research on the Society’s Collections and to make them more accessible, we awarded four Wiley Research Fellowships for 2022. We spoke to each of our Research Fellows to find out more about their projects. 

María Sebastián Sebastián is from the University of the Balearic Islands, Spain. Maria is examining how representations of tourist architecture in the Balearic Islands create and influence understandings of the Mediterranean. We caught up to discuss her research, why she applied for the Fellowship and what she’s hoping to find in the digital archives.

 

How did you come to be interested in your current research?

I am interested on how the imagery of an idyllic Mediterranean has been constructed to decipher how it has influenced the contemporary built landscape. During my research on architecture in the Balearic Islands, I became acquainted with the work of foreign travellers, artists and architects who were fascinated with the landscape and lifestyle of the Mediterranean and built a paradise-like myth of its countries and islands.

Considering the approaches of geographer, archaeologist and linguist Margaret Hasluck, and botanist and illustrator Emilia Frances Noel, has broadened my reflections on the area in a multidisciplinary sense. Furthermore, choosing the work of two women can shed light on an understanding of the area that may differ from the masculine predominant vision.

 

What made you apply for a WDA Research Fellowship?

I became familiar with the Society by participating in the Annual International Conference. As I am quite far away from UK, I was able to attend the Society's virtual exhibitions and lectures. I began to see the contact points of geography with my research on the history of architecture. Being able to access the Society Collections in the WDA platform enabled me to see images and texts made by Hasluck and Noel and I decided to apply for a WDA Research Fellowship.

 

How does your project sit within your wider research interests?

My research has focused on contemporary architecture, especially of tourism buildings, and its representation in photography. I work back in time from the 1950s, studying the creation of a Mediterranean vernacular stereotype. It involves looking for depictions of the area made not only by architects but also by other travellers who have spread their personal visions.

Although it may seem that the ethnological work made by Margaret Hasluck and the botanic interests of Emilia Frances Noel are very far away from the work of an architect, my research analyses how their writings, photographs and drawings contribute to Mediterranean imagery. They were travellers that moved off the beaten track, especially in the case of Hasluck, so one of the questions I try to solve is whether they are influenced by previous representations of the Mediterranean or if they avoid the most usual images.

 

What are you hoping to find in the digital archives?

I discovered hundreds of photographs produced by Margaret Hasluck in Albania and numerous travel diaries written and illustrated by Emilia Frances Noel that keep an account of their travels through Bosnia, Greece, Italy and Spain, among other countries.

I am eager to bring to light new visions of the Mediterranean landscape and architecture and its inhabitants through their testimonies and to link them with other materials in the digital archive that may help contextualise, understand and reappraise their work.

Find out more about research on our Collections.