Temi Odumosu

Centre for GeoGenetics, University of Copenhagen
Natural History Museum of Denmark
Øster Voldgade 5-7
DK-1350 Copenhagen

About me:

I am an art historian with a research focus on the imaging of African peoples in Western visual culture. I am particularly interested in the ways in which popular prints and ephemera (such as advertising or children’s toys) perpetuate ethnic stereotypes and racist attitudes, through signification and reproduction.

My PhD research at the University of Cambridge documented the role of African characters as symbolic figures in Georgian political caricature produced during the age of abolition. I have also worked more generally on Black presences in 18th and 19th century British art and curated an exhibition on race and identity during the enlightenment, with an emphasis on African personalities documented in fairs, freak shows and medical/anatomical collections.

So many challenging and contested aspects of human history are overshadowed by myths, half-truths and historical misrepresentation. I seek to redress these imbalances and am passionate about bringing hidden histories to light. I am also inspired by innovative thinking, and believe that EURTOAST offers unique opportunities to clarify and reframe the history of the transatlantic slave trade, using new scientific processes of information recovery and analysis.

As a non-scientist and the only visual historian in this project, I hope to bring new perspectives to the EUROTAST experience particularly by encouraging the PhD fellows to work collaboratively and to see this subject and their research in diverse ways. I also aim to develop opportunities for creative public engagement with our research, through media, educational and cultural heritage interventions.