I would like to thank my amazing supervisor and advisor, Dr Lorenza Gianfrancesco
for her sage guidance and support with this dissertation and my life at the University, as
well as inspiring me to use art as a means of historical investigation for The Black Death,
Kingdom of Heaven, and Art and Knowledge modules. I would like to thank Amelia Francis,
Professor Hugo Frey, and Professor Hakim Adi for organising and teaching the Africa and the
African Diaspora module in September 2020, which encouraged me to look further into
black history.
I would like to thank my parents, Sophie and Iain, my sibling, Genevieve, my
maternal grandmother, Bonnie, and my dog, Pippin, for looking after me and keeping me on
an even keel during the creation of this dissertation. I would like to dedicate this
dissertation to my late grandfather, David, who has shared with me his love of art, his
fascination with everything and his support of me to achieve whatever I set my mind to.