My name is Petr Nuska and I am a visual ethnomusicologist – an interdisciplinary researcher delving into the world of music through visual and anthropological lenses.

In the past, I have explored professional careers in both research and the creative industries. Eventually, I settled on doing research in a creative way.

I hold a PhD in Ethnomusicology & Visual Culture from Durham University (2022). Currently, I work as a researcher in ethnomusicology at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, where I am implementing my Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship on the mystery of Romani chords.

If you are wondering what visual ethnomusicologists do, just keep scrolling…

I like pictures, especially those in motion. I appreciate them as powerful tools for artistic expression and as an unorthodox ways to tell stories, including those that are not easy to tell. I have shot still photographs since 2006 and started experimenting with video and film in 2011. I attended two intensive courses on ethnographic filmmaking and a one-year film production programme at Prague’s FAMU. But I have learned most through independent practice (that is, trying, failing and trying again). I am especially interested in how visual media can be used in ethnographic and ethnomusicological research. Most often, I employ visuality to explore the fascinating world of music – whether in music videos or ethnographic documentaries on music …

The academic disciplines that have captivated me most share prefixes like “ethno” (from the Greek ethnos, meaning “people”) and “anthro” (from anthropos, meaning “human”). These fields explore how cultural and social contexts shape human knowledge and practices, striving to convey the wisdom of diverse cultures for a broader understanding of humanity. In the end, ethnomusicology won my heart the most of all – it is dedicated to unravelling the intricate relationships between music and culture. Over time, my passion deepened as I received formal training in a range of anthropological and ethnomusicological methods, spending more than two years conducting fieldwork across various ethnographic sites…

Music is not just the centre of my scholarly enquiry but also a lifetime passion. Both my academic and artistic approaches are motivated by looking at the world of music from underexplored angles. In my work, music is sometimes the topic, sometimes the lens and sometimes both in parallel. Everything I know about music has been learned away from the school classroom. It comes through passionate, curious and intuitive wandering around this exciting world. These approaches have turned out to be both my greatest weakness and my greatest strength. When I am not researching or placing music in my camera frame, I like to make music.