Connor is a second-year master’s student in the European Studies interdisciplinary program at UVA, where he also received his B.A. in Art History and German Studies in 2024. His graduate work continues his interests in interpreting works of art, both literary and visual, as thresholds for meaningful humanistic exchange and connection. Currently, Connor’s primary research focus is on the paintings, sculptures, and books of contemporary German artist Anselm Kiefer (b. 1945) dedicated to the Romanian-Jewish Holocaust survivor and poet Paul Celan (1920–1970). His ongoing master’s thesis, “Paul Celan and Anselm Kiefer: A Questionable Exchange,” seeks to define the politically relevant, transhistorical, and artistic correspondence woven through Celan’s poetry, Kiefer’s reading of it, and the German artist’s commemorative (and at times controversial) reactions to it in his multimedia practice.

Connor is away on exchange at the Freie Universität Berlin for the 2025-2026 academic year. He also has a scholarly interest in the materiality of the book and works part-time as an administrator at the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia.