The Silk Road ran over 4,000 miles for approximately 1,000 years. That’s a lot of cultural exchange to cover in one hour, but we’ll do it. This talk introduces the value of studying art across borders and beliefs and we’ll explore how art can tell us about the cultural relations that developed across history’s largest trade route. After introducing the artistic origins of this trade route, we’ll look objects in a variety of mediums from textiles and ceramics to stone sculpture and painting to see how travel, trade and human interaction laid the foundations of the modern world.
THE ARTS SOCIETY ACCREDITED LECTURER
Ms Sarah Jaffray
Sarah is an art historian, educator, curator and writer based in London.
Before her current position heading the art history programme at City Lit, Sarah worked as lead educator for the Bridget Riley Art Foundation in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. She has also worked at Wellcome Collection exploring the connections of art, medicine and human experience. And, before relocating to London for family, she was as a tenured professor of Art History based in Los Angeles.
Her MA in Art History focused on the links between poetry and painting in late 19th century France while her MA in Cultural Studies focused on photography and political protest.
She lectures on a variety of topics and prefers to place artworks and objects in their wider social and cultural contexts, from the European Renaissance to the contemporary, emphasising new narratives and approaches to Western Art History. Her art historical research emphasises modern art, the politics and philosophies of the 19th and 20th centuries and how they are related to artistic process: drawing, printmaking, painting and photography.
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12 Mar 2026 - 14:00
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