Our Lunchtime talks are delivered by staff, students, academics and researchers at the Barber and our wider University of Birmingham community. Focused on key works in our exhibitions and collection, the talks take place in the gallery and are an informal and interesting way of looking closely at artwork.

Dr Fariha Shaikh is Associate Professor in Victorian Literature, here at the University of Birmingham. Her research focusses on the relationship between the British Empire and Victorian Literature, with specialist interests in migration, settler colonialism, memory and textual and material culture. She has further interests in decolonisation, museums, literature and the visual arts, and is a BBC Radio 3/AHRC New Generation Thinker. She will be talking about the colonial influences in John Frederick Lewis's Lilium Auratum.

See our access page or contact us learning@barber.org.uk for accessibility support.