Nostalgia Interviews With Chris Deacy

My guest this week is Anne-Sophie Ouattara who, until March 2023, was the National Portrait Gallery intern at The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge in Canterbury. Anne-Sophie is really interested in nostalgia as a teacher of French literature and language and a curator. She has curated her first exhibition called Rooted in Fabric – an exploration of African and black identities through fabric, and is working on a display of three remarkable women of Canterbury. Anne-Sophie talks about finding ways of touching an audience today, connecting the past and the present. We find out how Anne-Sophie loves getting into other people’s lives but hates writing about herself whereas she loves photography and making images, and the authenticity that comes with that. Anne-Sophie looks at the gaps in our history as part of her curation work where most of the people have been rich, white and powerful, and so the exhibition has been about acknowledging those who have been forgotten. We learn about the founder of the Unive