Since 2013 I have been a post-doctoral Researcher on the Empires of Faith project. My research interests focus on the emergence of early Islamic art in the context of Late Antiquity. Before joining the Empires of Faith project, I completed a PhD in Islamic art history at the University of Aix-en-Provence in France and have trained in Arabic and Islamic studies. I worked previously as a temporary lecturer in Islamic arts at the University of Aix-en-Provence (2009-2012) and Paris IV-la Sorbonne (2011-2012). I have also held a number of post-doctoral fellowships (Aga Khan Program for Islamic Art at Harvard University, Dumbarton Oaks Summer Fellowship, Max-Planck/KHI Fellowship in the Berlin Museum). Currently, I am working on the transformation of my PhD into a book that reexamines early Islamic iconography (7-8th) in light of the craftsmen’s practices and Henri Focillon’s concept of the life of forms.

Selected Publications:

ARTICLES:
• ‘The Royal Veil: Umayyad Figural Art and the Bilderverbot Reconsidered’ in Religion, Special volume on aniconism edited by Milette Gaifman and Mikael Aktor, forthcoming.
• (In collaboration with Mattia Guidetti), ‘Umayyad palace iconography : some practical aspects of creation’ in The Umayyads : History, Art and Culture in the First Century of Islam, Andrew Marsham and Alain George (eds), Oxford University Press, forthcoming.
• ‘Qusayr ‘Amra and the Continuity of Post-Classical Art in Early Islam: Towards an Iconology of Forms’ in The Diversity of Classical Archaeology, Achim Lichtenberger and Rubina Raja (eds), Brepols, forthcoming.
• ‘Pour une étude globale de l’iconographie des Omeyyades de Syrie et d’Espagne’ in Anales de Historia del Arte 22 (2012): 9-26.
• ‘Qusayr ‘Amra, la peinture du personnage trônant sur l’eau: aspects pratiques de la fabrication d’une image’ in Annales islamologiques 40 (2006): 1-31.
• ‘Combinaisons de représentations féminines et de scènes de chasse dans les décors palatiaux omeyyades’ in Actes du Colloque International: Rencontres Orient-Occident, Paris, 2006, 63-79.
• ‘Une approche du nu féminin en peinture persane’ in Actes du Colloque International L’Orient des femmes, Paris, 2002, 21-34.

BOOK REVIEWS:
• C. Vibert-Guigue et G. Bisheh, Les peintures de Qusayr ‘Amra (Beyrouth, 2007), Bulletin critique des Annales islamologiques 24 (2008): 187-191.
• G. Fowden, Qusayr ‘Amra: Art and the Umayyad Elite in Late Antique Syria (Berkeley, 2004), Bulletin critique des Annales islamologiques 22 (2006): 111-115.
• S. Antonini, Statuaria sudarabica in pietra (Rome, 2001), Chroniques yéménites 11 (2003).

WORK IN PROGRESS (articles submitted and currently under review):
• ‘The Road From Decadence: Personal Histories and the Study of Early Islamic Art’, chapter in Empires of Faith: Histories of Image and Religion in Late Antiquity from India to Ireland (collaborative volume edited by Jas Elsner).
• ‘Acculturated Natives Who Rebel: Revivalist, Ottomanist and Pan-Arabist Engagements with Early Islamic Art, 1876-1930’, chapter in Empires of Faith: Histories of Image and Religion in Late Antiquity from India to Ireland (collaborative volume edited by Jas Elsner).
• (In collaboration with Rachel Wood) ‘The Emergence of Islamic Arts’, chapter in catalogue for Empires of Faith exhibition, Ashmolean Museum (opening October 2017).
• ‘New Perspectives on Qusayr ‘Amra’s Pictorial Programme’ submitted to Dumbarton Oaks Papers.