Shanti Lara Giovannetti-Singh

Shanti Lara Giovannetti-Singh is a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge. She holds an MSt in English 1550-1700 from the University of Oxford, and a BA(Hons) in English from UCL. Her doctoral research examines monstrosity in early modern textual and visual culture. Closely analysing Renaissance paintings, by artists such as Arcimboldo, Bronzino and Vasari, alongside works of poetics by Philip Sidney and Giambattista Guarini, her research examines how monstrous creatures influence and inform Renaissance aesthetic theory. In doing so, her doctoral research strives to expand and complicate how monstrosity was understood in early modern Europe. During her fellowship, Shanti will analyse archival material, such as clothing receipts, inventories, and letters to better understand the lived experiences of court dwarves in Renaissance Italy. Alongside her studies, Shanti has worked for the Fitzwilliam Museum, the BBC and the Guardian News and Media, and the ERC-funded project TIDE (Travel, Transculturality, and Identity in England, c. 1550 – 170