Participant Info

First Name
Rosamund Lily
Last Name
West
Country
United Kingdom
State
Affiliation
Kingston University
Website URL
https://www.kingston.ac.uk/research/research-degrees/research-degree-students/profile/rosamund-lily-west-47/
Keywords
London, council housing, post-war, public art, municipal, community, architecture, sculpture, mural, twentieth century, urban
Availability
Media Contact
Additional Contact Information
PhD
other credentials

Personal Info

Photo
About Me

I am a curator and part-time PhD student at Kingston University. My PhD, ‘The ‘concrete citizens’ of the London County Council’s housing schemes, 1943-1965′ looks at the London County Council’s post-war housing schemes containing  sculpture depicting the human figure. My research positions these artworks in the context of wartime and post-war planning for London, concentrating on the London County Council’s housing of communities, and how these communities reacted to their new environments. I am looking at the artworks in their physical and intellectual context, to reveal the LCC’s wider intent for the post-war housing of Londoners.

As a museum professional, I have worked in a variety of national, independent and local authority museums since 2007. Currently, I have two curatorial roles, as both Curator at Kingston Museum and Documentary Curator at London Transport Museum, a role which involves documenting modern London. I previously worked as the Paul Mellon Research Curator at the Royal Society of Sculptors.

I am a trustee of Art History Link Up, and have previously been a trustee of Eastside Community Heritage. I have been a mentor for the charity Arts Emergency. In 2020, I was elected an Early Career Member of the Royal Historical Society.

Both through my research and professional work, I continue to engage with community heritage and public history. I am interested in public and community engagement with heritage and the built environment and have researched, written and led architectural tours for the V&A, London Festival of Architecture and the Architecture Foundation.

Recent Publications

‘Each For All And All For Each – the buildings of the Royal Arsenal Co-Operative Society’, in Hatherley, O (ed). The Alternative Guide to the London Boroughs, (London: Open House Publishing) 2020

‘I Am Convinced I Shall Achieve Something Valuable If I Can Brighten the Lives of the People Here’: Bombsites, Housing and Art in Lambeth’. The London Journal, DOI: 10.1080/03058034.2019.1706952,

‘The ‘Pioneering Women’ in the archive of the Royal Society of Sculptors’, ALISS quarterly, vol. 15, no.1, October 2019, p.18-20

‘Pioneering Women’, PMC notes, no. 13, October 2019, p.11-13

‘Have you met the Neighbours’. Modernist magazine, Inventory, issue 29, Winter 2018. December 2018

Media Coverage
In January 2022, I was interviewed for Open City's podcast 'The Londown', https://open-city.org.uk/the-londown, In April 2019, I spoke on BBC Woman's Hour on sculptor Anne Acheson FRBS in my role as Research Curator at the Royal Society of Sculptors. Abou
Country Focus
England
Expertise by Geography
England, United Kingdom
Expertise by Chronology
8
Expertise by Topic
Art & Architectural History, Museums, Public History, Urban History, Women