Michael Ohajura

Michael Ohajuru is a Senior Fellow of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies with honours degrees in Physics and Art History.

He blogs, writes and speaks regularly on the black presence in Renaissance Europe and has spoken at the British Library, National Archives and Victoria and Albert Museum on the subject.

He is the founder of Image of the Black in London Galleries, a series of gallery tours highlighting the overt and covert black presences to be found in the national art collections in London.

He is originator and project director for The John Blanke Project, a contemporary art and archive project celebrating John Blanke the Black trumpeter to the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII. The project has been critically acclaimed as a novel, innovative way to present history.

He is the co-convener of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies What’s Happening in Black British History series of workshops fostering a creative dialogue between researchers, educationalists, archivists, curators and policy makers. He is also co-convenor the Institute of Historical Research Black British History seminar program.

With S.I. Martin his ground-breaking The Guide to Black London will be published by September Publishing in 2024.