Brigitte De Boef

Biography

Brigitte is a PhD student at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, working on the circulation, reuse, and recontextualisation of historical war imagery in contemporary digital environments. Her doctoral project examines how archival images move from institutional collections into algorithmic feeds, where they are cropped, recaptioned, remixed, and redeployed within contemporary propaganda, disinformation, and verification cultures.

Her research sits at the intersection of visual culture, media theory, propaganda studies, archival studies, and digital disinformation. She is particularly interested in how images acquire new political force when detached from their original historical contexts and reactivated through platform circulation.

Before beginning her PhD at UAL, she completed an MA in International Studies on Media, Power and Difference at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, where her research examined digital nomadism, urban desirability, and platform-mediated transformations of place. She also holds a BA in Media Studies from the University of Groningen, where her thesis explored print photography, material memory, and the emotional value of tangible images in a digitised visual culture.