My name is Matt Colquhoun [kuh-hoon] [they/them] and I am a writer and photographer from Hull, UK.
Best known for writing about the work of Mark Fisher, my first book, Egress (2020), explored questions of community and grief in the aftermath of Fisher’s death at Goldsmiths, University of London. I have since edited Fisher’s Postcapitalist Desire lectures (2021) and contributed various introductory and contextualising essays to reissues and translations of his works.
My most recent book, Narcissus in Bloom (2023), presents an alternative reading of the selfie and its relationship to narcissism, which I argue is less a postmodern pathology and more a symptom of a broader political discontent and desire for (self-)transformation.
I’ve spoken about my work at events hosted across Europe in Slovenia, Hungary, Sweden, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Poland, Greece, Italy, the Czech Republic, Estonia, and the UK.
Following a meander through various art schools, attaining a BA(hons) in Photographic Art in 2013 and an MA in Contemporary Art Theory in 2017, as of late 2022 I am a PhD student in the philosophy department at Newcastle University. Working under the supervision of Drs Stephen Overy and Lorenzo Chiesa, my thesis — tentatively titled One or Several Mothers — investigates the role of the Orphan as conceptual persona in the writings of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari.
When not blogging or writing, I pull pints at the Cumberland Arms in Newcastle and work as a freelance proofreader and copyeditor. (A list of assorted credits can be found here.) In another life, I held the role of exhibitions coordinator at Ffotogallery, BAFTA, and D&AD Festival, and my photographs have been exhibited and published around the UK, as well as in France and Japan.
If you would like to hire me, have questions about the blog and its content, want to translate something published here, or just want to say hello, please email matt@xenogothic.com.
For enquiries related to my books, such as the acquisition of translation rights, please contact my publisher directly.
TL;DR
Matt Colquhoun is a writer and photographer from Hull, UK. Best known for writing about the late Mark Fisher, their most recent book, Narcissus in Bloom, was published by Repeater Books in 2023. Currently a PhD candidate in Philosophy at Newcastle University, they blog at xenogothic.com.
Image: Sugar Loaf Tunnel, 2008 by Iain Colquhoun.
