Julia Arens

Julia joined the Department in fall 2026. Her research sits at the intersection of design history and death studies. She is particularly interested in minor death media – such as coffins, tombstones, obituaries and death certificates – as well as in gendered economies of dying.

She holds an MA in Cultural Analysis from the University of Amsterdam and a BA in Visual Communication from the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). She also spent several years working as a graphic designer, an experience that continues to inform her approach to research.

Julia has presented work on topics ranging from Käthe Kollwitz’s gravestones to the afterlife of colonial typefaces in contemporary advertising at venues including the International Association of Word and Image Studies (IAWIS/AIERTI), the European Race and Imagery Foundation, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and the German Poster Museum.