Current research students

Turning a decades-long fascination into a PhD: I’m exploring the art and archaeology of bicorporates at the OU.

Hello, my name is Etsuko Zakoji, and I am a first-year PhD student in art history at The Open University. My research focuses on bicorporates in medieval England, a fascinating subject that has captivated me for decades. Bicorporates, essentially creatures with a single head and two bodies, appear in diverse art forms and material cultures across a wide chronology and geography.

My fascination began decades ago in Copenhagen when the late Danish art historian Ulla Haastrup gifted me Vilhelm Slomann's book on bicorporates, which were prevalent on Danish baptismal fonts in Romanesque churches of the twelfth century. This sparked a dream to delve into their history, bridging art history and archaeology. After years of waiting, I pursued this interest further, writing my MA dissertation on bicorporates in Classical Archaeology at Birkbeck, University of London, in 2017.

Now, with the support of my supervisors at The Open University, I am thrilled to recommit to this lifelong passion, exploring bicorporates with a particular emphasis on their presence in England. I hope my research will offer fresh perspectives on this captivating field, connecting my personal journey with scholarly exploration.

My OU PhD combines academic rigor with a hands-on partnership at London’s Museum of the Home.

Hi, my name is Izzy Stone. I am a first-year art history PhD student at The Open University. My project is a collaborative doctoral partnership with The Museum of the Home in east London titled ‘Netherlandish Networks’.

My research focuses on the impact Dutch, Flemish and Sephardic Jewish migrants made on the material culture of the home in London in the early modern period. This age of global ‘discovery’ and the expansion European trade overseas enabled the unprecedented availability of new, diverse and curious goods, which came to constitute and change the environs of the home. Coffee, tea and spices shifted European tastes and social habits. Further to this, the European fascination with the material and visual qualities of Asian porcelain and lacquer inspired entire domestic industries built on their imitation. These communities with familial and religious ties across borders were key players in the global trading networks which facilitated the influx of these new objects, materials and commodities into the homes of many Londoners.

My research is important because it seeks to highlight how the merchants of these communities contributed to the rich and changing material culture of this era in London. Scholarly attention has largely been directed at the sourcing, trade, types and abundance of objects like porcelain and lacquer and the shifting tastes of Europe’s ruling elite. There has, however, been less research into their domestic sales at a lower social level via merchants’ networks active both in the Dutch Republic and England. I am excited to start unpicking some of stories of those involved and to trace relationships between traders in the materials and objects which came to shape the home.

This project with The Open University was a great choice for me. Not only did this project provide a chance to pursue art-historical questions which fascinate me, the OU additionally offers great flexibility and support, at an institutional level and through the guidance of expert and experienced supervisors. Being able to work with the Museum of the Home was a central motivating factor for me. I am keen that my future findings and research feed into the broader vision for their early modern rooms and have the potential to make an impact at public level. To have that opportunity is just fantastic .