Context 164 - May 2020

C O N T E X T 1 6 4 : M A Y 2 0 2 0 49 Vox pop Lucie Carayon Who has been your greatest inspiration? Professor John House, who was my tutor at the Courtauld Institute when I took my MA in art history in the 1990s. John was brilliant in his own work and a great teacher. He was very supportive of students, especially those with similar academic sensibilities, and he always encouraged original work based on thorough primary research. He had a generosity of heart and an attitude to life which set him apart from others. I also loved the fact that he was a great Francophile (I am half French) and that he had a social conscience. John became a friend and mentor, and he gave me great encouragement over the years. The two main lessons he taught me is that people are just as important as the subject matter in any enterprise and that art is never divorced from the environment within which it is produced. He died very suddenly eight years ago, and I still miss him. What has been your best idea? Last spring I had lunch with a former colleague from Historic England who I had not seen for years. Towards the end of the meal we started talking about the climate change emergency and how perfectly we were placed, as heritage professionals, to draw out the synergies between the built environment and the environment more generally.We decided to meet another friend to discuss the matter further, and over the summer three became nine. Out of our group discussions came Heritage Declares, an initiative that seeks to encourage heritage bodies and professionals to play their part in combating man- made climate change. (To read and sign the declaration see www.heritagedeclares.org ). What would you like to have been if you had not become a conservationist? A couple of people have told me in recent weeks – including my own mother! – that I should have been a lawyer. It is true that I like to research, analyse and synthesise information and, in a way, dealing with planning and listed building consent applications does require something of a legalistic mind. Retaining vast amounts of information is not my main strength, though – I am more of a strategic thinker and I always look for high-level trends coming up on the horizon. I certainly feel that it is important for heritage professionals to advocate for people who do not ordinarily have much of a voice in society and I am a great believer in the value of everyday ‘humble heritage’. I also love bringing people together, listening to their views and helping them to put them into some sort of order, so perhaps a community organiser or group facilitator is something else I would have enjoyed doing. How do you reply when at a party someone asks what you do? I usually begin by saying that I am