Carlos Espí Forcén

Carlos Espí Forcén is Associate Professor of Ancient and Medieval Art at the University of Murcia's Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Department of History of Art. He leads the research group 'Historical Archaeology and Heritage of the Western Mediterranean' and is principal investigator of the project 'La Antigüedad tras la pantalla' (22640/PI/24). He earned his PhD from Universidad de Murcia in 2008 under Dr. Noelia García Pérez and Dr. Alejandro García Avilés, with prior fellowships at Johns Hopkins University.

His research explores iconography, material culture, and cross-cultural exchanges in ancient Mediterranean and medieval contexts, with foci on Iberian funerary sculpture, Roman numismatics, Greek vase painting, and medieval visual rhetoric. Recent work examines power symbolism in Flavian Rome, alchemical imagery in Byzantine manuscripts, and the reception of antiquity in modern media.

Major awards include the Premio Extraordinario and Premio Nacional de Fin de Carrera. He directs the journal Imafronte and has curated exhibitions like 'Íberos y africanos en el germen de la vanguardia' at El Cigarralejo Museum.