Uncovered

Anissa Talahite-Moodley talks to Tamara Abdul Hadi, an internationally known Iraqi photographer based in Canada, about her artistic practice and her re-imagining of land, people and histories through photography. Tamara's webpage: https://www.tamarabdulhadi.com/ Articles about Tamara's work: https://www.1854.photography/2025/01/tamara-abdul-hadi-marshes-iraq-photo-book/ https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/publications/essays/depicting-past-and-future-tamara-abdul-hadi-and-the-iraqi-marshlands https://metalmagazine.eu/en/post/tamara-abdul-hadi https://www.vice.com/en/tag/tamara-abdul-hadi/ Image Descriptions of Re-imagining Return to the Marshes: https://aimlabgallery.accessinthemaking.ca/projects/re-imagining-return-to-the-marshes.php Self-Portraits from Inside Palestine (video): https://www.tpff.ca/program-guide-2015/2015/9/24/template-zesh8

Martina Borghi talks to Dr Stacy Boldrick from the School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester about iconoclasm - the destruction of art! She tells us how museums approach this subject and discusses how to present the history of objects that have undergone various forms of damage. Stacy's bio: https://le.ac.uk/people/stacy-boldrick Artworks and artists’ projects mentioned: Diego Velázquez, The Toilet of Venus (The Rokeby Venus), oil on canvas, 1647-51 - https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/diego-velazquez-the-toilet-of-venus-the-rokeby-venus John Cassidy and others, Edward Colston statue,1895/2020. Bronze, mixed media M shed (Bristol Museums) display, 2021 - https://exhibitions.bristolmuseums.org.uk/the-colston-statue/ Kate Davis, Reversibility (Militant Methods), 2011. Framed pencil drawing and silkscreen print on paper, 135 x 80cm - https://katedavisartist.co.uk/peace-at-last-2/ Sonia Boyce, Black artists and Modernism (2015-2018) - https://www.arts.ac.uk/ual-decolonising-arts-institute/ual-related-activities/black-artists-and-modernism Hew Locke, Patriots series (2018) - http://www.hewlocke.net/patriots.html Titus Kaphar, Impressions of Liberty, Wood (American sycamore and plywood), etched glass, sculpting foam, graphite and LED lights, 2017 - https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/132361?lat=40.349209&lon=-74.660278 Francisco Goya, Disasters of War (Los Desastres de la Guerra), series of prints, 1810, Etching, drypoint, burin, burnisher - https://www.parkwestgallery.com/francisco-goya-disasters-of-war/ Steve McQueen, Bass, 2024 (Dia Beacon) - https://www.diaart.org/exhibition/exhibitions-projects/steve-mcqueen-exhibition Raqs Media Collective, Coronation Park (2015) - https://works.raqsmediacollective.net/index.php/2015/12/05/coronation-park/ Exhibitions mentioned: Iconoclash (2002), ZKM Medienmuseum (Karlsruhe Germany). - https://zkm.de/en/exhibition/2002/05/iconoclash Books and articles mentioned in the Podcast: - David Freedberg, The Power of Images (Yale University Press, 1989) - David Freedberg, Iconoclasm (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2021) - Dario Gamboni, The Destruction of Art: Iconoclasm and Vandalism since the French Revolution, 2nd edn (London: Reaktion, 2018) - Stacy Boldrick and Richard Clay (eds.), Iconoclasm: Contested Objects, Contested Terms (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007) - Stacy Boldrick, Iconoclasm and the museum (Oxon: Routledge, 2020) - Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel (eds), Iconoclash: Beyond the Image Wars in Science, Religion, and Art, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe (Cambridge and London: MIT Press, 2002) - Margaret Aston, Broken Idols of the English Reformation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016) - James Simpson, Under the Hammer: Iconoclasm in the Anglo-American Tradition (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2010) - Ramon Sarró, The Politics of Religious Change on the Upper Guinea Coast Iconoclasm Done and Undone (London: Edinburgh University Press for the International African Institute, 2009) - James Noyes, The Politics of Iconoclasm: Religion, Violence and the Culture of Image-Breaking in Christianity and Islam (London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 2013) - Robert Bevan, The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at war (London: Reaktion, 2007) - Henry Chapman, Iconoclasm and Later Prehistory (London: Routledge, 2018) - Fabio Rambelli, Eric Reinders, Buddhism and Iconoclasm in East Asia (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012) - Christoph Brumann and David Berliner (eds), World Heritage on the Ground. Etnographic prospective (New York and Oxford: Berghahn, 2016) - José Antonio Gonzalez Zarandona, ‘Heritage destruction in Myanmar’s Rakhine state: legal and illegal iconoclasm’ in International Journal of Heritage Studies, 5 (2020), pp. 519-538

This episode's guest is Sandy Saad-Smith, curator of the Doris McCarthy Gallery, a professional public art gallery within the University of Toronto Scarborough. In conversation with CVC's Anissa Talahite-Moodley, Sandy talks us through the process of curating it’s because of the shimmer, the verge, and the yet, a solo exhibition of works by the artist Erika DeFreitas, whose practice reflects on loss, post-memory, legacy, and objecthood. DeFreitas' artwork addresses historical and archival absences, offering a rich, poetic reimagining of an alternate text that attests to the complex lives of women, including Maud Sulter, Jeanne Duval, Gertrude Stein, and Agnes Martin. Sandy also tells us about a new exhibition in the gallery by the Waard Ward collective in collaboration with Anne Campbell, Nicolas Fleming, Reza Nik, Darren Rigo & Alize Zorlutuna. Featuring photography, ceramics, florals, and a site-specific garden installation, A rose gives its fragrance even to the hand that crushes it evokes the memory of the Nanaa family’s garden, courtyard, and home, lost in the Syrian war. The exhibition explores the colonial history of flowers, the legacy of war on land, the imagined landscape, the displacement of people, and the longing for home. Find out more about the gallery and the exhibitions Sandy has worked on: Doris McCarthy Gallery A rose gives its fragrance even to the hand that crushes it it’s because of the shimmer, the verge, and the yet The Yet See Sandy's website here CVC website Email: centreforvisualcultures@rhul.ac.uk X / Twitter: @RHUL_CVC Instagram: @rhul_cvc

Royal Holloway doctoral researchers Caroline Harris and Briony Hughes tell us how they curated Words from the Wild: the Nature of Poetry, a new exhibition which explores many different forms of poetry, all of which respond to the natural world. They talk about their eco-poetic practice, the challenges of putting together a multi-sensory poetry exhibition, and the importance of bringing poets into the conversation on questions of biodiversity, sustainability, and climate crisis. More info on Words from the Wild: https://royalholloway.ac.uk/about-us/the-library/the-exhibition-space-at-the-emily-wilding-davison-building/words-from-the-wild/ You can find out more about Joan Retallack, ‘procedural ecologies’ and Mandelbrot’s fractal geometry in this article by A. J. Carruthers. Jonathan Skinner on ecopoetics: https://jacket2.org/commentary/jonathan-skinner CVC website: https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/research-and-teaching/departments-and-schools/languages-literatures-and-cultures/research/our-research-areas/centre-for-visual-cultures/ centreforvisualcultures@rhul.ac.uk @rhul_cvc

(un)touched delves into the themes of touch, tangibility and intangibility in the world of art and visual culture. In this episode, Anissa Talahite-Moodley, Assistant Professor at University of Toronto and Honorary Research Associate at Royal Holloway, speaks to Dr Vasuki Shanmuganathan, an artist, researcher and educator. For more information on Vasuki's work and the projects mentioned in this podcast, see here: www.forallicare.ca https://thepublicstudio.ca/gallery/tamil-aavana-kaappaka-tittam-தமிழ்-ஆர்கைவ்-ப்ரொஜெக்ட் www.tamilarchive.ca www.instagram.com/tamilarchive https://www.instagram.com/inclusivetamilarts https://femmeartreview.com/2022/09/29/seeds-and-dyes-queer-tamil-lineages-scarborough/ More information on us, the Centre for Visual Cultures, can be found here, you can email us at: centreforvisualcultures@rhul.ac.uk and tweet us at: @RHUL_CVC. Thank you for listening to this episode!

(un)touched delves into the themes of touch, tangibility and intangibility in the world of art and visual culture. In this episode, Gareth Hughes, Doctoral Researcher and member of the CVC, speaks to Sarah Douglas, director of The Liminal Space, about their work translating complex ideas to interactive experiences and how visual culture can bring social issues to a wider public audience. For more information on please see here: The Liminal Space - https://www.the-liminal-space.com/ Cut + Paste at The Francis Crick Institute - https://www.crick.ac.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/cut-paste/cut-paste-exhibition William Kentridge's The Head and the Load - https://www.theheadandtheload.com/ More information on us, the Centre for Visual Cultures, can be found here, you can email us at: centreforvisualcultures@rhul.ac.uk and tweet us at: @RHUL_CVC. Thank you for listening to this episode!

(un)touched delves into the themes of touch, tangibility and intangibility in the world of art and visual culture. In this episode, Anna Price, Research Centre Associate at the CVC, speaks to Julie Sanders, Principal of Royal Holloway, about her research on early modern drama and adaptation, what live performance means and how we engage with the tangible aspects of theatre. Thank you for listening to this episode! More information on us, the Centre for Visual Cultures, can be found here, you can email us at: centreforvisualcultures@rhul.ac.uk and tweet us at: @RHUL_CVC.

(un)touched delves into the themes of touch, tangibility and intangibility in the world of art and visual culture. In this episode, Dr Carlotta Paltrinieri, Lecturer in Italian Studies, speaks to Prof Hannah Thompson, Professor of French and Critical Disability Studies, and Dr Hannah Platts, Lecturer in Ancient History and Archeology. Carlotta, Hannah and Hannah discuss the benefits, and potential limitations, of applying digital and computational to the study of visual culture and the humanities. They explore how digital methods can explore new research pathways that are more inclusive, accessible and sustainable. Please see the links below for more information on elements discussed in this episode: The Royal Holloway Picture Gallery Multisensory Museums and New Modes of Access Tudors Augmented The Photographer's Gallery Sensational Books at the Weston Library, Oxford Sm[art]ify Time Detectives: The Mystery of the Mary Rose Augmented Reality App Thank you for listening to this episode! More information on us, the Centre for Visual Cultures, can be found here, you can email us at: centreforvisualcultures@rhul.ac.uk and tweet us at: @RHUL_CVC.

(un)touched delves into the themes of touch, tangibility and intangibility in the world of art and visual culture. In this episode, Judith Meddick, Honorary Research Associate at the CVC, speaks to Anne-Marie Purcell, Archives and Special Collections Curator at Royal Holloway. Judith and Anne-Marie discuss the contents of the RHUL Archive and Special Collections, what accessing and physically touching the materials can bring to research and the curatorial plans for the future. Thank you for listening to this episode! More information on us, the Centre for Visual Cultures, can be found here, you can email us at: centreforvisualcultures@rhul.ac.uk and tweet us at: @RHUL_CVC. Please find a list below of the key links from this Podcast: Chard Theatre Group - http://185.121.204.135/archives/#/home Bomb Damage Maps at the LMA - https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/history-and-heritage/london-metropolitan-archives/collections/london-county-council-bomb-damage-maps RHUL Archives and Special Collections - royalholloway.ac.uk/about-us/the-library/our-archives/ RHUL Archive Catalogue - http://185.121.204.135/archives/#/home

(un)touched delves into the themes of touch, tangibility and intangibility in the world of art and visual culture. In this episode, Anna Price speaks to Martina Borghi and Kate Devine, two PhD students at Royal Holloway, about their recent 'Sensing Art' workshop about what engaging non-visually with art means from a research perspective and how utilising our senses can enhance our understanding of visual culture. Thank you for listening to this episode! More information on us, the Centre for Visual Cultures, can be found here, you can email us at: centreforvisualcultures@rhul.ac.uk and tweet us at: @RHUL_CVC. Please find a list below of the key artworks mentioned: Edmonia Lewis - The Death of Cleopatra - 1876 - Marble - Smithsonian American Art Museum - https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/death-cleopatra-33878 El Anatsui - Fresh and Fading Memories - 2007 - Aluminium and copper wire Gabriele Devecchi - Superficie in vibrazione, 1959 - Wood (or in alternative aluminum or aluminum and methacrylate), natural rubber, steel pins, v220 motor – 2 rpm (or in alternative battery motors) - https://www.reprogrammed-art.cc/library/25/Superficie-in-vibrazione Gianni Colombo - Elastic Space - 1967 - Fluorescent elastic cords, electrical motors, Wood’s lamp - https://www.reprogrammed-art.cc/library/104/Spazio-elastico Mario Merz - Cone - 1967 - Willow - Tate Modern London- https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/merz-cone-t03674‘Cone’, Mario Merz, c.1967 | Tate And the key articles mentioned: Christopher Perricone - The place of touch in the arts - https://www.jstor.org/stable/4140242 Lenka Clayton - http://www.lenkaclayton.com/ and https://www.artnews.com/art-news/reviews/blind-copies-lenka-clayton-captures-the-rhythms-of-everyday-life-and-questions-the-nature-of-originality-8547/ For the transcript of this podcast, please see this PDF.

Thank you for listening to this episode! More information on us, the Centre for Visual Cultures, can be found here, you can email us at: centreforvisualcultures@rhul.ac.uk and tweet us at: @RHUL_CVC. More information on the River and Rowing Museum can be found here. The painting Cate mentions is Jan Siberecht's 'Henley from the Wargrave Road' and can be viewed here. Cate also mentions the 'Winged Nike', also known as the 'Winged Victory of Samothrace', more information on which can be found here. For the transcript of this podcast, please see this PDF.