From January 2025 – May 2026 I’m taking up this research position at the University of Leeds, working with the archive of artist, educator and writer Maurice de Sausmarez (1915-1969).

I’ll be curating a public programme of events including an exhibition from January 2026. For the first event I’ve commissioned artist Kelly Cumberland to create a practical workshop for this year’s Be Curious festival at the University on Saturday 17 May, responding to de Sausmarez’s influential book Basic Design (1964).

Acquired by the University’s Cultural Collections with support from the Bridget Riley Art Foundation in 2019, the Maurice de Sausmarez archive has been catalogued and is now available to researchers. De Sausmarez was incredibly well networked in both London and the regions, particularly in Leeds and surrounding areas where he taught at Leeds College of Art (1947-50) and then as Head of the Department of Fine Art at the University of Leeds (1950-59). The archive is rich in correspondence between de Sausmarez and women working in a variety of roles during a period of dynamic artistic development. My research seeks to surface new narratives on women – as artists, educators, administrators, publishers, curators and gallerists – in 20th Century British Art.