Claire Mead is an English/French freelance curator with museums and heritage sites specialising in making collections and programming more inclusive, specifically in terms of women’s narratives and LGBTQI narratives. Claire also fences with foil and longsword. Since recording the episode she has taken the post of Programme Manager at the National Videogame Museum.
In this episode we have a fascinating conversation about how a traditionally white, male perspective of history has overlooked many women, people of colour and those from the LGBTQI community. Did you know that one of the foremost fencers of the 18th century was black, and another was trans?
I mention two African-born emperors of Rome. These are: Lucius Septimius Severus, who was a Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna, at that time a Roman province in Africa. His eldest son, Lucius Septimius Bassianus, commonly known as Caracalla, was Emperor from 211 to 217.
In the second half of the podcast we talk about Claire’s webcomic The Girls’ School of Knighthood and also discuss depictions of women holding swords in art, particularly Judith slaying Holofernes.
Here is the Caravaggio version:
This is the Artemisia Gentileschi version, which is Claire’s favourite:
And her second favourite, by Lucas Cranach the Elder:
Compared to his painting of Salome:
This is Botticelli’s version of Judith and her handmaid, strolling along on their way home from decapitating Holofernes:
To find Claire Mead and her work, visit:
Webzine: Girls’ School of Knighthood
Podcast: Bustles & Broadswords
Patreon: www.patreon.com/clairemead