The close relationship between art, politics, and identity is key to much research conducted in the department. Research explores the role of the visual in both describing and shaping identity, whether at the level of the individual, group experience, or broader social movements. Areas covered include the French revolutionary period, the advent of modernity, the formation of the United Kingdom, the rise of fascism in Europe, the American Civil Rights movements, the Cold War and the American Vietnam War. Research conducted under this research area might focus on art works and their intervention into the political realm, or on the many forms of visual culture that reflect political contexts. Also important is the way in which the meaning of images can shift through political change, appropriation or redeployment.