We’ve teamed up with @storiesfromtheart.bsky.social to bring you something a little different... 🎨✨ This isn’t just a giveaway — it’s a challenge! 🤔💡 Think you really know your art? Let’s find out. Enter now at gleam.io/WEDRv/art-he... We will announce the winner on April 6th! ⏳🎉

We’ve teamed up with @artherstory.bsky.social on a giveaway! Think you really know your art? Let’s find out. Enter now: gleam.io/WEDRv/art-he... 🔗 Don’t wait! Every action (from following profiles to answering questions) earns you points 🏆 The winner is announced on 6th April! ⏳🎉

Being published by Oxford’s Herodotian feels surreal. Being published without a single change to my article? Completely mad. This was meant to be about Sigismondo Malatesta. Instead, it became a piece on propaganda and the misuse of papal power. Don’t you love it when your writing surprises you?

Historian friends: if anyone has good resources on what the Apostolic Palace and St Peter’s would have looked like before our friend Pope Julius II got his hands on them, I would be extremely grateful for any recommendations!

Last week marked two of five scheduled research sessions on the Apostolic Palace, and I’m already feeling incredibly grateful for the wonderful spaces in London that give me a little slice of Rome when I can’t actually be there.

This month’s Ealing Historical Association talk was with the brilliant Dr Ariel Hessayon on the Early Quakers and the English Revolution. Also, as of yesterday, I am officially a member of the EHA committee! Keep an eye on this space for more updates on all the incredible things happening there.

Took Devon out on her belated birthday trip this week to see Hercules! I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about what they did to Hades, but those Muses have completely stolen my heart. I am OBSESSED. 🎭🍿 #TheatreTrip #HerculesMusical #WestEndMagic #BirthdayAdventures #TheatreSnacks

Marietta Robusti: daughter of Tintoretto, one of the most talented female artists of the Renaissance. Courts across Europe wanted her as their painter. Her father refused to let her go. Today, almost none of her work survives under her own name. Read the full piece here: gksihat.com/marietta-rob...

Finally managed to catch the Anna Ancher show at the Dulwich Picture Gallery this weekend! I am obsessed - she is truly a master of light. It's such a shame her art isn't on display worldwide all the time, it really should be.

Last month, we explored the science and poetry in the flower paintings of Rachel Ruysch. 🌸 This month, we’re spotlighting Judith Leyster who blended humour with moral ambiguity, yet whose work was long misattributed to her male contemporaries (sometimes deliberately). gksihat.com/mischief-and...

Back at the National Portrait Gallery and once again reminded how wonderfully eclectic it is. Where else do Rabindranath Tagore, Marcus Rashford, and Rosa Bonheur all coexist? A museum full of conversations across time.

The new hang at the National Gallery is such a joy. Everything feels more spacious and considered, letting familiar works breathe while quietly introducing new favourites. There’s something special about noticing fresh details in old ones you thought you knew by heart.

Wright of Derby: From the Shadows at the National Gallery, on until 10 May and well worth it. Think Caravaggio… but British. The lighting alone is jaw-dropping. Intimate, dramatic, and beautifully installed. It's one of those shows that really stays with you long after you leave it.

Managed to catch Radical Harmony before it closed! 😮‍💨 A really thoughtful look at Neo-Impressionism and how wildly different artists approached pointillism. Not always my favourite style, but this show made a strong case for its subtlety and ambition. Did anyone else manage to see it in time?

Dawn's Early Light at the National Gallery (on free display until 15th February) is STUNNING! Read like a clock, it captures that fragile in-between moment when night finally gives way to morning. Quiet, glowing, full of hope if you give it time. Definitely one to linger with.

A last-minute trip to Rome turns into a meditation on research, memory, and the quiet ways our minds betray us, both on the page and in life. Read all about it here: substack.com/home/post/p-...

We ended the trip in Campo de’ Fiori with a mission: find Vanozza dei Cattenei’s Locanda della Vacca. Book research with family is SO fun! And telling them about Giordano Bruno while shopping the market was a highlight. Perfect ending to a lovely long weekend. 🌻

Those LOVE stickers around Rome look very familiar… 💕 Coming home, catching up on the world after a few tech-free days, and getting the first cold I've had in years… we could all do with more colour, more kindness, more love right now. Rome always reminds me of that.

Food deserves its own spotlight in Roma. 🍝 ...or at least, the locations do. I took the family to an old favourite (Nonno’s), had drinks in Piazza Navona, and then we had doughnuts. Not something you think of when it comes to Rome but it was the size of Nik’s HEAD. I’m still thinking about it.

Just when you think you’ve settled into ancient Rome vibes… hello modern art curveball. Dalí, in the middle of a Roman weekend. 🎭

“What’s that?” Ro asked. “A church,” I replied. “There are over 900 in Rome…” 
“Oh, cool. Can we go in?” 
I nearly cried. Normally I get told off for dragging people into churches but he wanted to go into ALL of them! ⛪️ We limited it to three. Have I mentioned I like this nephew of mine?

Seeing a Caravaggio I was fully expecting to see in Germany… in Rome… was the HIGHLIGHT of the trip. This man. This genius. I am obsessed. My life goal is to see every Caravaggio on public display before 45 - here’s another one ticked off! ✔️

Honestly, I could happily live in the Borgia Apartments. Just lock me in and throw away the key. ✨

We went into the Vatican Museums with clear missions: 
1️⃣ Make sure Ranj sees Raphael’s School of Athens; 
2️⃣ Take photos of Melozzo da Forlì’s library fresco for Barry;
 3️⃣ Double check the layout of the Borgia Apartments for my book; and 
4️⃣ Survive the Sistine Chapel! 
All missions: SUCCESS 💪

Last year I promised my nephews I’d take them to the Colosseum. We didn’t quite make it inside this time - it was a long, tech-free, slow weekend - but we did see a LOT of Ancient Rome from the outside. 🏛️ Looks like we’ll just have to come back…

Veronica Franco wielded words as sharply as her beauty and charm. In Renaissance Venice, she debated men who underestimated her and wrote verses that refused to be ignored. She was admired, desired, condemned... Read all about her here: substack.com/home/post/p-...

I’m not usually fussed about where I stay. Safe area, good bed, hot shower, done. But wow. I’ve officially been spoilt. First Paris, now this Roman flat… I am in actual heaven! 🏡✨ Family trips are clearly levelling up my standards.

That gentle night wander? Fully prepared them for the absolute CHAOS of the next day. 😌 Rome lulls you in softly… then hits you with cars, crowds, and sensory overload. I love it.

I took on the role of tour guide and decided the best way to introduce my family to Roma was with a night walk. 🌙 Wandering streets, turning in the wrong direction (I don’t do lefts and rights, I’M DYSLEXIC!), glowing piazzas… there is no better orientation than getting slightly lost together.

PROUD SISTER MOMENT! 💥 My amazeballs sister, Ranj, had not one but TWO pieces exhibited in Roma. I was already excited, but nothing prepared me for casually walking across a bridge and suddenly seeing her Homage to Frida right there in front of me. Unreal.

I love flying! ✈️ I’m not great at the waiting beforehand (patience is truly not my forte), but once we’re up? Heaven. The view, the turbulence (yes, I’m that weird), the coffee brought to your seat, the blissful permission to ignore the world with headphones in and a book open. 📖

History has a habit of hiding women in the margins, yet they were neither symbols nor spectators. They were not witnesses to history; they were its architects. Among them stood Sardarni Sada Kaur. Warrior. Regent. Diplomat. Kingmaker. Not a footnote, but a foundation.

Kicking off the year at the Ealing Historical Association with a fascinating talk on Redefining National Belonging in Poland after the Second World War by Professor James Bjork. It felt especially poignant given that Ealing is home to London’s largest Polish community.

As some of you may know, this year @storiesfromtheart.bsky.social and I are collaborating with @artherstory.bsky.social. In honour of this collaboration, my monthly blog posts will all be spotlighting female artists! January focuses on Rachel Ruysch: gksihat.com/rachel-ruysch/

Last week, I accidentally gatecrashed the Oxford Real Farmers Conference and ended up watching a Taiko drum band from Japan. The rhythms hit me right in the heart, like the dhol or nagada do. Instant obsession. 💓

There have been complaints that I went MIA this week, but with very good reason: I’ve just come back from a week-long research trip to Oxford (one of the many perks of being an Oxford student).

...then a late lunch by St. Paul’s until the clouds are replaced by stars ✨🌙🥂 
#StPauls #LondonEats #CityWander #WinterSkies #SimpleJoys

What better way to start the year than a trip to the Tate Modern with your sisters and nephews...🎨❤️ 
#TateModern #FamilyTime #ArtDay #LondonLife @tate.bsky.social

Our Caravaggio series has officially started! You won't want to miss this one. Follow on Instagram for the full captions - @storiesfromtheart

I am beyond excited for 2026! 🎨 We’re doing a 12-part series on female artists over on my website (gksihat.com), including a must-read guest post halfway through; 📚 Our Friday Dispatches on Substack (@gksihat) will focus on books by or about women and break down paintings by female artists;

I also found the first of my top five favourite Bodleian libraries. Welcome to the Art, Archaeology, and Ancient History Library!

Took a trip down to Oxford yesterday: 🧸 Visited Paddington — isn’t he always the highlight? 🎄 Found little Christmas gnomes that reminded me of Dad. 🌅 Had a quiet lunch and watched the sunset at the Red Lion. 📚 Caught up on some textbook reading. What a lovely day!

Of course I'd give myself a concussion during the busiest part of the month... [insert your most dramatic eye roll, face palm, and a shake of the head here] At least the view on the way to the doctor's is nice.

I’ve officially joined the conversation. This is my first real step into academia, the first time Oxford has appeared in my byline, and the first time I’ve published something in a field that matters so deeply to my soul. This is mad — I’m so grateful! 🔗 muse.jhu.edu/pub/162/arti...

With Diwali just behind us, I’ve been reflecting on one of my favourite stories: the tale of Bringi. It reminds us that just as Shiva is incomplete without Shakti, society too is incomplete without women’s voices, choices, and leadership. Read the story here: open.substack.com/pub/gksihat/...

When your life has turned into study-work-study-family responsibility-work-study-errands, you take the breathers whenever you can find time. I have never been more grateful to live in such a beautiful location. 🍂

We often think of the Renaissance as a purely European rebirth but that's only half the story. In this month's blogpost, I give an introduction to how knowledge flowed across continents. Read it here: gksihat.com/the-renaissa...

I found myself seeing pieces I would have ordinarily walked past in a new light, finding meaning and beauty in works that didn't initially speak to me, and discovered new favourites from artists I already admired. It was such an inspiring afternoon.

This weekend, I was invited on a private tour of the latest auction pieces and Christie's. Modern art has never been my comfort zone. Still, I went along for the experience, and I'm so glad I did.