In the Academic year 2024-2025 The Courtauld Spotlight, a student led initiative supported by the Courtauld Students’ Union and the Research Forum, began to survey and respond to a crisis of engagement in regard to students studying the History of Art sometimes seemingly detached from the cultural engine that is London’s Contemporary art scene. As consequence, often leaving students studies to be untethered to contemporary creative practise and critical perspectives in discourse.
This symposium is structured to not only engage critically with The Courtauld’s curriculum but to present our programmes findings and experiences through the study of our now strengthened relationship to contemporary artists, academics and industry professionals. Lines of Inquiry we wish to follow are: How relevant is commercial gallery practise to the academic study of Art history? What methodologies should a programme engage with to maintain ethical, researched and accessible dialogue with its participants? What were our key findings in our trial year with students? What did we uncover with the Courtauld Spotlight?.
Our Morning Session will involve a Keynote presentation form Noah N.B Smith, The Courtauld Spotlight Programme Director, and a panel conversation with a series of artists to reinterpret the Courtauld Curriculum in their body of work. Our afternoon Session will include presentations and panels organised by each member of The Courtauld Spotlight Team, wherein each member will present their research from their course of study, followed by a Q and A. After the presentations, there will be a wine reception and celebratory art display of the collaborative effort made by all of the previous panellists and contributors the programme amongst an exhibition of chosen artworks that review the discourse and engagement The Courtauld Spotlight has been able to provide.
Speakers
Noah N.B Smith – is the Programme Director of The Courtauld Spotlight, 2024/2025 Vice-President of The Courtauld Student’s Union, a current BA2 History of Art Student at the Courtauld, Event and Digital Assistant for The Courtauld’s Research Forum, having previously worked for The Courtauld’s Short Courses Summer School and Marketing Department. Before he joined The Courtauld he spearheaded the Eurostar-Queer Project, which sought to promote safe travel for 18-21 year olds within Europe focusing on the cultural exchange of artists, event organisations and services that would allow growth in European exchange combatting the cultural thaw of Brexit for the Queer Community on the continent.
As of today, Noah is pursuing research of the 1938 Internment Camp for Homosexual on San Domino In the Tremiti Islands in Italy, with the aim of investigating the concept and consequence of a “One generation Utopia” in contemporary Art; where queer lives unmarked by the heteronormative rites of time are given the opportunity to explode many points in our experiences as human beings; means and decision over reproduction, economic stance, political movements, sex, sexuality, and gender, all of which lead to effects on culture and discourse over ethics that differ from one generation or regime to another, fascist or otherwise.
Smith’s further research interests lie in reparative readings of 20th century psychoanalytic theory, with a strong emphasis on psychosexual therapy, alongside his broader interest in Queer Studies and contemporary community building projects.
Maxwell Sutter Zinkievich – is the Staff Writer at the Courtauld Spotlight. His scholarly interests concentrate around the American built environment, iconographic shadows from the ancient world, both historic and contemporary Western Queer Movements as well as explorative theories of “underground” or otherwise culturally obscured visual artistic practice.
He earned his B.A. in the History of Art from the University of California at Berkeley in 2023. While at Berkeley, Maxwell received a Curatorial Internship Award funded by Ruth Berson and the Jay DeFeo Foundation, and wrote his undergraduate honors thesis on the construction of an American Queer iconography under the advisership of Dr. Whitney Davis. Upon graduation, he was awarded the title of Valedictorian by the History of Art Department.
After his undergraduate, Maxwell held a position at the Bob Mizer Foundation in San Francisco where he worked to research, preserve and exhibit early 20th century American Queer erotic material including photography, painting, film and ephemera. He routinely writes for the Foundation’s quarterly publication Physique Pictorial as well as hosted monthly film screenings from the Foundation’s world-class physique films collection. His curatorial debut, entitled Physique Pictorial: The Manufacture, Craft and Art of Mizer’s Magazine, opened on the 20th of October 2023. The exhibition highlights the handcrafted nature of the pioneering American homoerotic magazine Physique Pictorial and displays never-before seen elements of its physical manufacture and evolution from the early 1950s to today.
Maxwell is currently a Masters student at The Courtauld Institute of Art, focusing on late 19th to mid 20th century Transatlantic Western art and architecture in the special option: New York, London, Paris, 1880-1940.
Jeanne-Eugenia Gatineau – Events assistant of The Courtauld Spotlight, and a Masters student at The Courtauld Institute within the “Wordplay: Intersections between the verbal and the visual, c. 1870-now” cohort. She is also an archivist for the East Wing Biennale, the Institute’s on-campus, student-led exhibition. Before joining the Courtauld, Jeanne-Eugénie took an intensive foundation degree in Humanities in Paris, with a focus on English literature as well as Esthetics, before completing a BA in Art History at the University of Lille, where she specialised in the Contemporary period. She also studied Japanese Art History and Danish Film at the University of Copenhagen as a part of the Erasmus+ programme. Jeanne-Eugénie is now researching on the echoes between word and image, from the illustration of ekphrasis and narrative to the structural similarities between the composition of an image and the construction of meaning through language. She is currently working on a Virtual Exhibition project which explores the links between text and textile, two words which share a common etymology (texere, “to weave” in Latin).
Amanda Martin-Parras –is the Copy Editor of The Courtauld Spotlight and a current Master’s student at the Courtauld Institute studying “Violent Materials: Art and War in the Early Modern World, ca. 1500-1800.” Before joining The Courtauld, she completed a BA in Art History at UC Santa Barbara while intensively studying German language and culture to support further research. She spent one year in Berlin at the Freie Universität Berlin, focusing on modern 19th- and 20th-century art, German history, and language immersion. This past year, Amanda has been researching the art and material culture of 16th-century Europe, particularly exploring the interplay between art and violence within military contexts; curatorial practices that underscore imperialism and monarchy; cross-cultural connections between Spain and the Low Countries; and Swiss mercenary artists. Her ongoing dissertation delves into Niklaus Manuel’s oeuvre, exploring the materiality of his early 16th-century drawings and his role as an intellectual creator, blurring the boundaries between art and literature as an artist, mercenary, writer, and reformer embedded into Bernese society and the Swiss Reformation.
Lily Catherall – is Digital Assistant of the Courtauld Spotlight and a current BA2 History of Art Student at the Courtauld. Her interests lie in 17th and 18th century European Art in particular the power in portraiture to be used as a political tool. Her ongoing undergraduate dissertation is entitled “Born to Obey: The Matronage of Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun and Adélaïde Labille-Guiard” and centres around the matronage of female artists by royal women to explore the power of portraiture in manipulating the artist-subject-viewer relationship. She is also a member of the curatorial committee of the 16th East Wing Biennial that will open later this year. Through this, she is able to explore the power of curation in influencing the viewer’s perception of histories, as well as exploring narrative structure and demonstrate the power of art to tell a story. In addition to her studies at the Courtauld, she volunteers at her local gallery which she finds is a great way to engage with the public perception of historical houses as a time capsule for the preservation of a historical narrative.
Wednesday Zhu – Content and Outreach Lead of The Courtauld Spotlight. She is a current BA3 History of Art student in the Courtauld. Her interests lie regionally in East Asian works and thematically in mysticism and occultism. Apart from courses in Courtauld, her training in Chinese painting and calligraphy authentication, as well as early antique porcelain, inspired her to recognize how the creative process is an immersive experience for artists—one that is an agency and leaves a profound impression on them. Viewing artworks through a theoretical lens inspired by practice can, to some extent, provide a perspective that bridges the roles of participant and observer. Her ongoing undergraduate thesis explores the interplay between spatial arrangement in 15th-century Persian miniature painting, Sufi poetry, and Sufi philosophy, as well as its practical applications.
Guests
Nora Cammann – (b.1994) Is a German photographic artist with a background in photojournalism and documentary photography. Her work is marked by an inquisitive and experimental approach: with a subversive attitude she often returns to the darkroom to explore alternative processes and non-traditional ways of printing that embrace imperfection and abstraction.
An Nguyen – (they/them b.1995) is an image-maker who mobilizes intersectional identities to address ideas of agency through their photographic world-building, exploring matters of subjectivity and autonomy in the process. With a keen interest for experimentations across genres, Nguyen’s practice shows a commitment to concepts of cultural meaning and affect through the artist’s accounts of interactions between material, visual and interpersonal memories.
Steorra Sundborg – (b. 2004) is an artist from the UK’s South Coast, Dorset, currently located in London. Their work centres around identity, reproduction, and reparative readings of psychoanalytic theory. With Lacan’s image screen forming the basis of much of the visual rhetoric, Sundborg, in their most recent work “Dressing Up, Dressing Down, and Dancing”, has sought to approach contemporary psychosexual therapy within a visual dialogue. Having exhibited their work as part of group shows in Dorset, Sundborg recently held their first solo show in Islington. ‘Steorra’ showcased a number of works tackling ‘Queer’ as a disembodied term, yet one that is demonstrably devious, through Sundborg’s mock-cave paintings of self-automated pleasure and their drawn superimposition into the history of portraiture. Sundborg’s work realises virtual realities as a Queer domain and, as a multimedia artist, seeks to repair visual narratives that support growth and pleasure in the loss of coherency within the subject of identity.
Theo Dunne – (they/them b.1996) is a trans world-builder, crafter and story weaver of alternative realities. Pulling on the thread of stories and archives, Theo builds mystical environments out of found scraps – tying together loose ends in the form of words, sounds, images, matter and movements.
Theo’s research focuses on the relationship between non-linear narratives and queer identities, alongside the complexities of experiencing grief whilst coming into their transness. In their practice this is approached through lenses of folklore, bio-fiction and apocalypses – creating a chimera of archaic tales and contemporary everyday occurrences.
Theo studied a BA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins from 2017 – 2021, then went on to obtain a Masters Degree in Contemporary Art Practice at the Royal College of Art from 2022 – 2023.
Most recently they have been artist in residence at APT Gallery, London, which culminated in a significant solo exhibition in December 2024 titled A Whole Open Mouth. This show consisted of a large scale installation built around a fictional vampire narrative. In August 2024, Theo exhibited their debut solo show From The Ground Up at Nunhead Cemetery in tandem with The Feminist Lecture Program and the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery.
They have exhibited and collaborated with Tate Lates and Tate Exchange at Tate Modern, Montez Press Radio, Queeriosities, Bona Varda, APT Gallery, Gasleak Mountain, O! Peste Destroyed, School of the Damned, Harts Lane, Art Hub, Lethaby Gallery and more.
Oli Raptor – Oliver Sarley (he/him b. 1986), also known as Oli Raptor, is a London-based artist whose photography captures an essence of queer life. Sarley’s work, reflective of a “lifetime of censorship,” sheds light on the experiences of marginalized communities, transcending societal restrictions. Through his alter ego, Oli Raptor, Sarley meticulously documents intimate moments with strangers, friends, and lovers, capturing the raw essence of these experiences.
His photographs defy societal norms, challenging viewers to contemplate the rich tapestry of human diversity. Sarley not only sparks dialogue but also raises awareness and advocates against censorship through his art. Notable showcases include “The Violators” in NYC and the Tom of Finland Foundation Fairs in LA & London. Recognition in publications such as Pornceptual, Scanners & Crap Zine/s.
He has exhibited recently at Queeriosites Art and Makers Fair/s. Notably his works were added to the permanent collections of the Tom of Finland Foundation and Bob Mizer Foundation.
Oli’s first photography book OUTSIDER/s by Bona Varda launching at PhotoLondonFair May 2025.
Toscane Huster – (b. 2003) Is a French textile practitioner based in London. She first started engaging with textile while completing her BA in Arts and Sciences at UCL, a time when she learnt crochet and started creating garments, especially headpieces. Selling her work at fairs, she began meeting other textile artists, some of whom she collaborated with – one of her crocheted headpieces was included in a musical performance by the Cold Hippy project.
With a background in special effects make-up and prosthetics, Toscane uses unconventional media, such as synthetic hair and resin, to create her orignial pieces, some of
which in collaboration with Knitward London, a machine knitting studio in London where she works. Her main area of interest is currently centred around mixing media and investigating the interactions between textile and skin, and how the garment can create an illusion, becoming both protective and invasive.
Polina Osipova – (b. 1998) Is a multimedia artist whose practice explores Indigenous Chuvash legends and myths at the junction of craft and digital technologies. She refers to, reflects on and learns from the expertise of her female ancestors, using textiles and archival family photos to explore the threads between past and future.
The recurring symbols of photographs in her work creates the illusion of an untold story hidden in her family archives. She mostly creates wearable sculptures, textile sculptures, engages with performance and photography – a set of works she considers intrinsically bound together and functioning as an organic whole. The wearable sculptures and objects she creates function as both regular sculptures as well as garments that are performed in, and which subsequently become a part of a digital mythology, captured in photos and videos.
Lea Rose Kara – (b. 1998), Lea Rose Kara is originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, and now lives in London, UK . Lea’s practice is grounded conceptually in biology, archaeology, and epistemology. She creates sculptural works which explore themes of Ecology and the manipulation of nature through materials such as resin, bronze, wool, and found forest objects.
Before completing her Masters in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art (2022), Lea received a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Bath Spa University (2020) and a Foundation Diploma in Art & Design from City and Guilds of London Art School (2017). Lea has completed residencies at Porthleven in Cornwall (2019) where she was a Prize Winner, the Freud Museum London in 2021, and the Standpoint Gallery, London in 2022. She has received multiple awards that allowed her to spend summers living in Italy working with artists specialising in glass, printmaking, and sculpting. In 2018 the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association supported her in a mentorship with acclaimed British sculptor Julian Wild. Lea has exhibited nationally and internationally in both solo and group shows including ‘In Between’ at RuptureXIBIT, London (solo), ‘MIXTAPE’ at Pi Artworks gallery, London and ‘Brighten up the Night’ at the Yuan Art Museum in China.
William Atkin – is an Associate lecturer at The Courtauld, and teaches a range of topics spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Key subjects and themes of my teaching have included: Romantic art and literature, early photography, artistic and literary figurations of science and industry in the nineteenth century, Symbolist art and poetry, twentieth-century avant-gardism, and the history of the Surrealist Movement, which is the principal focus of my research.
Fei Wu – is a Master’s student in the RCA Jewellery Design programme who previously studied diagnostic radiology. Her recent design project centres around the theme of “traces.” As a jewellery designer, she actively engages with metalwork and gemstone manipulation, working in tandem with natural elements. With over a decade of experience in high-end commercial jewellery, her recent projects include 3D scans of organic textures, which she considers a journey of transformation
George Daniel Garry – (b. 2003) is a UK-based artist whose practice blends mixed media, stop-motion animation, and puppetry to create visually captivating narratives. Specialising in stop-motion animation, George uses found objects and a variety of materials to craft intricate worlds where dark themes of horror coexist with a whimsical, vibrant visual language. His work is deeply inspired by the surreal and unsettling creations of Czech filmmaker Jan Švankmajer, whose influence is evident in George’s imaginative, tactile approach to storytelling.
After studying Animation and Illustration at Arts University Bournemouth, George developed a unique style that fuses the macabre with a playful sense of wonder. His projects often explore the uncanny, delving into psychological and existential themes through the medium of animation, while maintaining an unmistakable sense of charm and uncanniness.
George’s work has been recognised and shortlisted for multiple film festivals, including the Young Presence 9:16 Film Competition, New Designers: Screening Room Prize, and he received an Honourable Mention at the Bristol ‘PuppetPlace’ 48-Hour Challenge. His use of puppetry and found objects allows him to create immersive, tactile experiences where the boundaries between the animate and inanimate blur, challenging viewers to engage with both the eerie and the enchanting.
Louise Furley – (b.2000, London), is an accomplished illustrator known for their bold use of colour. Utilizing both digital and mixed media techniques, they create a balanced visual experience in their 2D and 3D works, often incorporating fabrics, lino prints, and knitting for added texture.
Their art explores a spectrum of themes, from light-hearted subjects to serious issues such as depression and love. Heavily inspired by nostalgic cartoon art styles from early 2000s shows on Cartoon Network and Sesame Street, their work evokes a warm familiarity for audiences.
Primarily recognized for their children’s illustrations and books, Furley has also ventured into stop-motion animation. A graduate of the Arts University of Bournemouth, they have developed a distinct art style that has gained recognition in films, posters, animation contests, and various commissioned projects.
Panels
Nora Cammann: Sound and Vision
This conversation will centre around the photographic works of Nora Cammann, alongside her involvement and founding of ‘supportisnocrime’ . Covering vision, photographic apparatus, sound and community, this conversation seeks to shine a spotlight on London’s local tastemaker.
Interrogating Queer Vision and Image
The chief concerns that this panel are centred around questions of queer composition, subject, artistic argument, and vision. In contemporary art circles, there is an overall understanding of the “queer artist”, or artistic movements as an overall genre or section. Usually, these understood genres grapple with the cis, heteronormative world using underpinning iconography and arguments developed in the early to mid-twentieth century. These earlier underpinnings come from the works of earlier gay or bisexual artists (Cahun, Hockney, Haring, Warhol, Wilde, etc.) and cast their shadows to the present. Less-often does this contemporary understanding
Weaving, Stitching, Knitting: Contemporary Textile Artists and their Practise
What are the recent evolutions in contemporary textile practices? The panel Weaving, Stitching, Knitting will seek to amplify the voices of today’s textile artistic scene and discuss each panellist’s approach to the medium. In doing so, we aim at addressing textile’s capacity to convey meaning and hold memories, its link to craftsmanship, and its traditional association with inferior, womanly labour. The very legitimacy of textile as an art form will be discussed, and each artist will have the opportunity to explain why they chose such a medium and reflect on its recognition.
Distilling Reality: Artists as Alchemists
This panel is premised on the metaphor of the artist as alchemist, bringing together three diverse voices to explore how creative practices—rooted in material transformation, intuition, and mystery. From the selection of materials to gemstone manipulation, from symbolic storytelling to material experimentation, and from historical analysis to the digital transformation of organic forms, the panellists will share perspectives and practices that reflect alchemical processes in both spirit and method.
By gathering speakers from various disciplines, this discussion will ask: What does it mean to work with matter as meaning? How can the act of choosing a material become a metaphysical gesture? And how might such practices affect or shape our understanding of what constitutes reality.
Black Representation in Portraiture: Examining the legacy of Dido Belle
This presentation will centre around the representation of the black body in portraiture. Using the portrait of Dido Belle and Her Cousin Lady Elisbeth Murray as a springboard into the way the black body is represented raises further questions about contemporary attitudes towards slavery. Analyzing her story further also reveals the entangled pasts between Europe and colonialism, highlighting that portraiture was used just as much to break down racial stereotypes as it does to perpetuate them.
Between Schweizerdegen and Pen: (Con)textualizing Niklaus Manuel’s (c. 1484-1530) Drawings of Women in 1510s Bern
Swiss artist, mercenary, writer, and reformer Niklaus Manuel produced a series of drawings in the 1510s that strongly featured women. By integrating his signature comprising the monogram “NMD,” a Swiss dagger (Schweizerdegen), and a curvilinear flourish, Manuel possibly alluded to his own self-inscription as well as Swiss nationalism. Such use of line and text also fit into the greater 16th-century development of producing drawings as independent works in Italy and Germany, demonstrating intellectual creation with disegno. Through an investigation of Manuel’s artistic oeuvre and written Fastnachtspiele, topos such as Weibermacht and verkehrte Welt become apparent in his drawings of women—wielding lassos, daggers, and magical love knots—and men—bound by rope and wearing frilly garters
Programme
13:00 – Keynote Presentation from Noah N.B Smith
13:20 – Artist Spotlight: Nora Cammann: Sound and Vision
Noah N.B Smith with Nora Cammann
13:50 – Q&A
14:00 – Panel: Interrogating Queer Vision and Image
Maxwell Sutter Zinkievich with An Nguyen, Oli Raptor and Theo Dunne
14:30 – Q&A
14:40 – Panel: Weaving, Stitching, Knitting: Contemporary Textile Artists and their Practise
Jeane-Eugenie Gatineau with Toscane Huster and Polina Osipova
15:10 – Q&A
15:20– Tea Break
15:40 – Panel: Distilling Reality: Artists as Alchemists
Wednesday Zhu with Fei Wu, William Atkin and Lea Rose Kara
16:10 – Q&A
16:20–Black Representation in Portraiture: Examining the legacy of Dido Belle
Lily Catherall
16:35 – Between Schweizerdegen and Pen: (Con)textualizing Niklaus Manuel’s (c. 1484-1530) Drawings of Women in 1510s Bern
Amanda Martin-Parras
16:50 – Team Q&A
17:00 – End Note Noah N.B Smith
17:30 – Celebration
The Courtauld Spotlight Team with George Daniel Garry, Louise Furley and Steorra Sundborg.
19:30 – End Of Drinks Reception
