Dr Vicki Thornton

Biography

Vicki Thornton is the Interim Associate Dean of the Media School at the London College of Communication (LCC). She was previously Co-Programme Director for Photography, Course Leader, and Senior Lecturer for the BA (Hons) Photojournalism and Documentary Photography course at LCC.

Vicki holds a PhD in Film Practice from Queen Mary University of London and an MA in Photography from the Royal College of Art. Her doctoral research, supported by Creative Europe, the British Council in Ukraine, House of Europe, and the Ukrainian Cultural Fund, examined the decolonisation of Ukraine’s politics of memory between 2014 and 2022 through an analysis of documentary films and artists’ moving-image projects produced during and after the Maidan Revolution.

Vicki worked extensively in Ukraine between 2016 and 2022, directing and producing documentary film projects in Donbas, Kyiv and Lviv (2018–2021); co-directing the interdisciplinary musical film performance Antratsyt: Perseverance Day at the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre, Kyiv (2021); exhibiting at Yermilov Centre, Kharkiv (2018); developing work as artist-in-residence at IZOLYATSIA Platform for Cultural Initiatives, Kyiv as part of the British Council and the Liverpool Biennial’s SWAP UK/Ukraine artists’ residency scheme (2017–2018); and participating in the British Council Ukraine, Sheffield Doc/Fest and Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival’s DocWorks UA: UK documentary development programme (2016–2017).

She is an ELIA UAx Abakanowicz Fellowship Mentor, supporting war-affected art students to continue their degree studies in Ukraine and develop their artistic practices through mentorship, and recently developed and led Reframed Realities: UK/Ukraine, a collaborative student exchange initiative that took place in June 2026 between London College of Communication and the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, Kyiv, exploring creative practice as a form of resistance while fostering meaningful intercultural dialogue and collaboration across both institutions.