Our work

Research projects

Current project

Digitising K.A.C. Creswell’s International Photographic Collections

Generously funded by the Barakat Trust, the project develops a searchable digital archive to bring together K.A.C. Creswell’s photographs of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Turkey, Tunisia and Spain, housed in international institutions; making some of the photos available online for the first time.

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Current project

The Morris & Co. Wallpaper Network

The Morris & Co. Wallpaper Network launched in 2026 at the V&A in partnership with the William Morris Gallery. It brings together wallpaper historians, curators, archivists and conservators to examine museum collections of Morris & Co. wallpapers to identify future directions of research.

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Current project

Creative Fellowship (National Art Library Collections)

How can we explore the National Art Library through play? VARI Creative Fellow Hafsa Jamal Makda explores the role of joy and wonder at the National Art Library, looking into the idea of research as a leisure activity and turning to the library collections as inspiration for her creative practice.

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Current project

I Am a Man and a Brother: Re-interpreting Wedgwood’s Anti-Slavery Medallion

Supported by the Art Fund, I Am a Man and a Brother seeks to expand the narrative of the Wedgwood Anti-Slavery Medallion. Considering its creation, imagery and significance for today’s audiences, the project aims to rethink the medallion for the 21st century through events, displays and discussion.

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Current project

Future Ecologies of Clay

Future Ecologies of Clay addresses the challenges of UK museums in collecting ephemeral, live, performative, site-specific and participatory works in clay. The project seeks to ensure that artworks in the ‘expanded field of clay’ can be identified, explored and analysed in the future.

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Current project

Archive records

Provenance Research at the V&A

The V&A is actively engaged in provenance research. We continually seek to learn more about the origins of objects, books and archives in our care, and to share this knowledge openly and transparently. We are particularly committed to examining colonial and Nazi-era provenance in our collections.

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Current project

A mounted, colourful shirt

Uncovering the History of Colour in Palestinian Dress

Research into the V&A’s collection of historic Palestinian dress, a collaboration between the V&A and the British Museum. The project will expand our knowledge of fabric and dye practices in Palestine in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

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Current project

Visitors looking at objects at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford

Reanimating Tibetan Heritage: Transforming collections, Empowering communities

Using the case study of Tibetan collections in British museums, Reanimating Tibetan Heritage focuses on developing a proof-of-concept for working with communities at an intersection of theory and museum practice.

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Past project

Checked fabric

Connecting Threads: Digitally Connecting Collections, Expanding Public Engagement

Connecting Threads focuses on the influence of under-represented actors in global fashion history. It investigates the consumption of Indian fabrics by communities of the global south, amplifying the impacts of Indian producers and Caribbean consumers on global networks of design, trade, and taste.

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