About

About me: I am a British art historian. I have lived extensively in France and the US and I have degrees from British, French and American universities. I would say that these transnational journeys have shaped my intellectual outlook. I teach art history full-time at Northeastern University, London and I work occasionally and virtually for the ICE/University of Cambridge. The topics I teach relate to British, European and North American art history. I specialise in the Early Modern era and have a particular interest in urban print cultures; political and social satire; text/image relationships; national and transnational identities and immigrant communities, specifically protestant (Huguenot) networks c.1680s-1760s in London and the south. I have a book in preparation nearing completion called ‘Hogarth’s French’ which addresses national Identity and graphic satire and an article in preparation on visual criminology in 18th century Britain.

My interest in transnational immigrant cultures is constantly being informed by new contexts and new materials. Between 2015-18 I was based in Tel Aviv; from 2018 to 2022 I was working between London and Yaoundé (Cameroon) and I currently live between London and Belgrade (Serbia). A new research area is developing in work around identity, movement and migration and this relates to street vending in Africa, where I have been investigating how people move within societies and migrate between societies in order to sell goods by walking the street and by displaying them on their bodies. My initial research shows how the street in Yaoundé can throw a spotlight on informal urban economies in the Cameroon and also on inter-African migration. I see street vending as a contemporary social and cultural practice too – not just economic.  In visual culture, there is a venerable pictorial tradition for depicting street criers.  My project is to produce a new version of the ‘Cries’ in contemporary media, using the visual framework to highlight the presence and practices and economic livelihoods of some of the city’s liminal populations. I am interested in the patterns of movement that these individuals could highlight. You can find a more detailed account of my professional activities on this website. I am also on linked in and Academia.edu .