Savannah Tew

Savannah Tew is a Ph.D. student studying modern and contemporary United States art with Dr. Silveri. She received her B.A. in Arts Management and Art History from the College of Charleston in 2023, and her M.A. In Art History from the University of Florida in 2025. Her master’s thesis, “How to Have Touch in a Crisis: Art and the U.S. HIV/AIDS Epidemic,” explored tactility and interactivity as qualities of art that challenged mainstream media representations and offered venues for connection and remembrance within impacted communities during the first two decades of the HIV/AIDS crisis. Further topics of research include the history of medicine and visual culture, artistic and activist responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, art and craft of the United States South, and the intersection of feminist, queer, and disability studies with art history.