Dr. RyyA. Bread (aka Dr. Ryya Sanders)
School
University of Plymouth
Year
2001
Keywords
Embodiment, Practice-based research, Subjectivity
Performance as methodology, Artistic research, Feminist psychoanalytic theory, Auto-representation, Interdisciplinary praxis
Thesis Title
Psychical Corporeal Performances of Subjective Specific Auto[erotic]-representations
Abstract
This PhD explores how individual embodied experience can function as a legitimate mode of theory-making by combining written scholarship with artistic practice. Through a dissertation, exhibition, and live performance, it argues for a rethinking of subjectivity beyond language alone, challenging traditional psychoanalytic and academic models by foregrounding embodiment, sexual difference, and auto-representational artistic practices as sites of knowledge production.
Bio
Ryya Bread is an American-born artist and curator based in West Cornwall, where she has lived since 1993. She has been Curatorial Director of Kestle Barton: Rural Centre for Contemporary Arts on The Lizard since its inception in 2010, overseeing exhibitions, public programmes, and audience engagement, following earlier work in commercial and artist-led galleries.
Alongside her curatorial role, Ryya maintains an active fine art practice, working primarily with textile-based methods to explore embodied experience and relational processes. Since 2016, her work has expanded to include facilitating creative and wellbeing-focused workshops, and developing interdisciplinary practices informed by transformational improvisational play (DvT), mindfulness, meditation, and non-violent communication (NVC). She is currently undertaking training in person-centred counselling (2025–2027), furthering her interest in compassionate, creative approaches to personal and professional exchange.
Her work sits at the intersection of contemporary art, embodiment, and relational practice.
