The Professional Guidance Department is delighted to welcome Hope Francis, OG (ED 2016) and Yasmin Siabi, OG (CG 2013), who will be presenting a virtual talk which is open to our state school and community partners, as well as the whole St Swithun's community.  
 

History of Art at University College London

Hope Frances (Biography):

Hope left St Swithun’s in 2016 and a took a gap year before going to study History of Art at University College London.

She graduated in 2020 and is now completing her FGA Gemmology Qualification while working at the gallery Messums Wiltshire. 

Yasmin Siabi (Biography):

Yasmin left St Swithun's in 2013, having been a student from nursery through to the end of her A Level studies.  She is now a PhD candidate and lecturer at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.  She attended the Courtauld Institute for her undergraduate degree (2013-2016) where she began her journey into the History of Art. Yasmin continued her studies at the Courtauld to embark on a Masters degree (2016-2017), where she specialised in Persian painting and transcultural visuality, gaining a distinction as well as Gingko publisher awards for independent research.  Subsequently, she has curated Islamic Art exhibitions at the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, worked in London art galleries, and co-founded a clothing brand that seeks to give a platform to emerging young and mid-career artists.   After a brief hiatus from Art History to complete a Law Conversion degree (2017-2018), she returned to the Courtauld Institute to begin her doctoral studies, where she is now a PhD candidate.  Her PhD research focuses on early modern Persian art and architecture with further interests in urbanism, Islamic architectural history and spatial choreography.  It examines the final chapter of the Persian Safavid Era (1501-1722) and the rise in power of the religious elite, exploring its intersection with the masterworks of Safavid Persia and how the conception of these projects served to reorient urban culture and urban thinking in Iran. It is the first research project of its kind to analyse this period in Persian history and interrogate realisations of imperial priorities.  In addition to her PhD research, Yasmin lectures undergraduates and post-graduates at the Courtauld Institute, as well as teaching GCSE/A-Level students in London as part of the Government Catch Up scheme.