The Qutb Mosque in Delhi
Why was spolia used in the architecture of the Qutb Mosque? This talk examines the first congregational mosque of Delhi to find what its range of use of spolia tells us about the Ghurid attitude towards Indian art, culture, and people. Figure 1. Delhi, Qutb Mosque,...
A Rock-Cut Panel from the Viar
Was Viar a Buddhist temple or an Islamic monument? This talk explores how dragon reliefs and Islamic motifs at the unfinished Dash Kasan complex reveal the eclectic religious and artistic climate of the Ilkhanate. Figure 1. Rock-cut panel on the western façade with a...
A Talismanic Shirt
How did the Muslim elite utilise the Qurʾan as protection in life and death in the early modern world? This talk examines an example of a type of shirt that was made for the protection of its elite wearers in the early modern Islamic world. Figure 1. Talismanic shirt,...
An Iranian Gold Seal Ring
Can jewellery shape more than just its owners’ fashion and taste? This talk examines the social and historical significance of jewellery, specifically seal rings, in Medieval Iran. From dazzling possessions to protective talismans, rings travelled across the globe...
Emin Minaret in Turfan, China
Why is the tallest minaret in China more than just a tower? Discover how the Emin Minaret in Turfan reveals centuries of Silk Road culture, religion, and architecture.Figure 1. Emin Minaret and Mosque, Turfan (Turpan), the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China....
Ali Kazimi
A professor of cinema and media arts at Ontario’s York University, Ali Kazimi is a filmmaker, writer and visual artist whose work deals with race, social justice, migration, history, memory and archive. He was presented with the Governor General’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in Visual and Media Arts in 2019, as well as a Doctor of Letters honoris causa from UBC. In 2023 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Anne Dymond
Dr. Anne Dymond, Associate Professor of Art History, Department of Art, University of Lethbridge, speaks on “Getting the Keys to the Vault: How feminist, decolonizing and anti-racist work is changing collections.” This Distinguished Women Scholar lecture was presented as part of the “Latent: Critical Conversations about Collections”
Alice Ming Wai Jim
An art historian and curator based in Montreal, Dr Jim is currently Concordia University Research Chair in Critical Curatorial Studies and Decolonizing Art Institutions and founding editor-in-chief of the journal “Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas”. Jim has galvanized a new generation of students and scholars in the study of ethnocultural art histories that extends to curatorial studies and critical race museology.
Distinguished Women Scholar
Distinguished Women Scholar "Critical Conversations About Collections"Critical Conversations About Collections This roundtable discussion was filmed as part of the Distinguished Women Scholar event on Jan 27, 2024. Panelists include Lynda Gammon (Professor Emeritus,...
Pat Bovey
Bovey has lectured and published extensively on western Canadian art over many years, including Western Voices in Canadian Art (2023), Don Proch: Masking and Mapping (2019 Manitoba Book Awards’ finalist) and Pat Martin Bates: Balancing on a Thread (2015 Alberta Book Awards’ recipient).
ORION Lecture Series: Documentary Filmmaker Velcrow Ripper
Orion Lecture in Fine Arts Documentary Filmmaker Velcrow Ripper FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2023 | 7-9 PM ORION lecture by award-winning documentary filmmaker Velcrow Ripper, giving a lecture entitled “Cinema as a Tool for Transforming Crisis.” This is a recording of the...
Dr. Chen Shen
Dr. Chen Shen Vice President of Art & Culture at Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)Museum and Object Being the Agency in Transforming Peoples’ Lives. Dr. Chen Shen serves as the Vice President of Art & Culture at Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), responsible for research...
Creative Futures: “Documenting the Climate Crisis”
Fine Arts Dean's Speaker Series presents Creative Futures: "Documenting the Climate Crisis" Published JULY 6, 2022 How can the arts help people better understand the impact of the climate crisis? Discover how artists & scholars in the Faculty of Fine Arts are...
Counter Mapping and Sinixt Resurgence
Marilyn James is a Smum iem Matriarch appointed by her Sinixt elders to uphold Sinixt protocols and laws in the Sinixt təmxʷúlaʔxʷ (homeland) under the laws of whuplak’n and smum iem. Her work has included the repatriation of 64 ancestral remains from museums and...
Living Lightly on the Earth
Visiting Scholar: Steve Mannell The Orion Series in Fine Arts proudly welcomes guest Steve Mannell, who will give an online lecture entitled, “Living Lightly on the Earth.” Built in 1976 by Solsearch Architects and the New Alchemy Institute as an “early...
Strength in Spirit
Strength in spirit Living with COVID-19 Artists work This last year has been a particularly challenging one for the art world. COVID-19 spread across the world like a wildfire, forcing us into a public lock-down. Confined physically, Indigenous artists have had to...
Blue and White
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria Dr. Heng Wu AGGV Curator of Asian Art Adjunct Assistant Professor, Art History and Visual Studies University of Victoria Marcus Milwright Department Chair, Professor Art History and Visual Studies
Islamic Tiles in Museums: Past, Present & Future
Visiting Scholar: Richard McClary Islamic tiles are always a challenge to present, as individually they are but one small part of a larger decorative programme. This talk offers a way to contextualise the objects and tell their stories more fully by examining the...
Unmasking Meaning: Culture, Collection and Family
Description Through the generous support of the Orion Fund in Fine Arts, the University of Victoria is pleased to present: Monika ZessnikCurator North American Collections, Ethnologisches Museum Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Presented by UVic’s Department of Art History...
Pop goes the art!
Legacy Art Galleries exhibit unites two alumni through art Absurdist leopard-print paintings may not pop immediately to mind when you think of Victoria’s artistic legacy. But that’s an oversight a new Legacy Maltwood exhibit will address with Eric Metcalfe: Pop...
Dr Fahmida Suleman
Since the late 19th century, museums have devoted attention to Islamic art and craft, encompassing objects dating from the seventh century to the present. Ideas about how the diverse and fascinating visual and material cultures of the Islamic world should be displayed have changed significantly over time, reflecting the broader trends in museum practice.
Life Stories
Life Stories Exhibition brings to light a provocative array of visual and material culture from the University of Victoria Art Collections that engages with life stages and related rituals. The exhibition runs December 2, 2020 - April 3, 2021 at the Legacy Art Gallery...
Jennifer Baichwal
Discover the life story of the planet Join Canadian filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal in conversation with local writer, filmmaker and TV producer Barbara Todd Hager for this lively Orion Series discussion, which is part of the public programming for the exhibition Life...
A glazed Stonepaste Bowl
What is stonepaste, and why was this material so important in the development of glazed pottery across the Islamic world? This talk considers a Medieval glazed stonepaste bowl from the Tushingham collection and looks at the ways in which the form and decoration were...
Handmade Pottery from Medieval Jordan
Why would anyone choose to form a ceramic vessel by hand when it is easier and quicker to make it on a potter’s wheel? This talk looks at two handmade pottery vessels from medieval Jordan and considers what the technological and visual characteristics might tell us...
A Painting from Hama
What unusual substance was used to make this painting? This talk considers a monochrome painting on paper made in 2005, and discusses the cultural significance of the substance used in the paint.Figure 1.Painting on paper by Sameer Tanbur. Hama, 2005. Private...
A Block-Printed Fabric from Hama
Why is a cotton sheet made in the Syrian city of Hama decorated with images of waterwheels? This talk discusses the visual characteristics of this simple textile and explores the links that can be made between the repeated decoration has to block-printed cotton...
A Brass Lunchbox
How many different techniques were required to manufacture this brass lunchbox? This talk examines the form and function of the lunchbox, and links it to earlier examples produced during the Mamluk sultanate (1250-1517) in Egypt and Syria? Figure 1. Brass lunchbox,...
A Rock-Cut Panel in Viar, Zanjan
Beyond the historical and aesthetic values of surviving architectural fragments in ruined sites, what is the importance of studying them? What do they tell us about the circumstances within which they were created? This talk looks at a rock-cut panel with the design...
A Glass Medicine Bottle
Why do we often use the term ‘balsam’ to describe a soothing medicine? This talk discusses a small glass bottle dating to the nineteenth century, and connects it to the use of medicinal tree resins in ancient and medieval times.Figure 1. Clear glass bottle of...
A Brick Dome in Iran
Why is brick such an important material in the architecture of Iran, and how was it used both for structural and decorative purposes? This talk examines an elaborate dome built over the prayer hall of a medieval mosque in the town of Ardistan in central Iran.Figure 1....
The Wildflowers Around Victoria Painted on Silk
Elizabeth Yeend Duer (1889–1951) was born in Nagasaki, Japan. Her father was an Englishman, Yeend Duer (1846–1921) and her mother a Japanese woman, Yasu Tsunekawa (née Zama, 1859–1936). Elizabeth grew up knowing much about both English and Japanese culture and language and learned to selectively deploy this knowledge, depending on context and the message she wished to convey.
Nashtifan Windmills
In a world where we are surrounded by high-tech architecture, why is it important to study and preserve different forms of vernacular architecture? This talk looks at the windmills of Nashtifan and examines the structural and functional features of these vernacular...
Crafts of Syria
The Traditional Crafts of Syria What can we learn about the artistic traditions of a country by learning about the lives and working practices of its artisans? This site allows you to explore the rich heritage of crafts in Syria from the seventh century to the...
The Arts of Death and the Afterlife in South Asian Traditions
Melia Belli Bose of University of Victoria discusses the arts of death and the afterlife in South Asian traditions as part of the Society for Asian Art's Arts of Asia lecture series, Visions of the Afterlife in Asia. For more information:...
A Satellite Image of Shahrasb
What are the challenges faced by architectural historians in gaining access to historical buildings and archaeological sites? Wars? Pandemics? Political conflicts? Or simply high costs of travelling? When physical presence in a historical site is not feasible, what...
Three Wooden Amulets
What leads people to make protective charms and why do these objects take some many different forms? This talk examines three amulets from Afghanistan, and links them to a tradition that stretches back before the birth of Islam.Figure 1. Carved wooden amulets,...
A Sheet of Handmade Paper
What makes handmade paper different from the paper we use in our everyday lives? This talk suggests that we should pay more attention to how paper is made and the impact it can have on drawing, printmaking, calligraphy, and painting.Figure 1. Sheet of handmade cotton...
Two Ceramic Bowls
Why might people drill through ceramic bowls. This talk examines what drill holes might tell us about the practices of display and repair in the Medieval Islamic Middle East.Figure 1. Sherds from a decorated lead-glazed bowl, excavated in Karak, Jordan. Late twelfth...
Two Brass Candlesticks
Why did craftsmen choose to copy the styles and techniques of earlier periods? This talk examines a pair of inlaid brass candlesticks made in Cairo, and argues that the revivalist decoration is both inventive and expressive of the spirit of the time.Figure 1. Brass...
A Woven Rug from Jordan
How do nomadic groups in the Middle East make their rugs? This talk examines a fragmentary flat weave rug from Jordan and considers the materials and methods involved in its manufacture.Flat weave woollen rug purchased in Jordan. Probably mid twentieth century....
An Aerial Photograph of Shibam
Why is Shibam sometimes called the Manhattan of Arabia? This talk examines the extraordinary style of traditional mud-brick architecture constructed in the southern Arabia. Aerial view of Shibam, Yemen, c. 1964. Photograph: R. Digby Milwright
Three Conder Tokens
What do a druid, a mythical king, and an eighteenth-century Engish actor have in common? This talk examines the phenomenon of Conder tokens, and explains what economic circumstances brought into being this unusual form of money.Obverse faces of three copper halfpenny...
A Mosaic Image of the Sea
Why do pagan images from the Classical world appear in Jordanian churches. This talk examines the designs and inscriptions in a roundel at the centre of a mosaic pavement in an ancient church in the town of Madaba.Roundel from the mosaic pavement of the Church of...
AHVS Stay at Home Quiz 2020
On each slide you will see a composite picture. Identify each image and follow the instructions. Answers will be posted July 1st. Good luck!
A Silver Coin from Baghdad
How did coins made in ninth-century Iraq end up in Scandinavia? This talk examines a silver coin (dirham) minted in Baghdad and connects it to the active trading networks that spread north from the eastern regions of the Islamic world from the late eighth to the end...
A Silver Trade Coin
Can we always trust the date we see on a coin? This talk examines one of the most famous coins ever minted, the Maria Theresa Thaler, and asks why it became so popular in countries like the Yemen. For more on the history and circulation of the Maria Theresa Thaler...
A Medieval Tower in Jordan
Why do the exteriors of Medieval military buildings sometimes carry decoration? This talk examines the political and cultural context of a thirteenth-century fortification from the Jordanian town of Karak.Burj al-Banawi, Karak, Jordan. After 1263. Ordered by sultan...