Every object in the Ashmolean has passed from hand to hand to reach the Museum. In a new podcast, we uncover the invisible fingerprints left behind by makers, looters, archaeologists, soldiers, rulers, curators, and many more. These stories of touch reveal the ways in which the forces of conflict and colonialism have shaped Britain’s oldest Museum. Join the Ashmolean’s curators alongside artists, experts, and community members. Fingerprints will be released on the Ashmolean’s website, on Spotify, Apple, and wherever you get your podcasts, weekly from 21 January 2022 until 25 February 2022. Guests include Bénédicte Savoy, co-author of the Report on African Cultural Heritage, commissioned by Emmanuel Macron; Professor Dan Hicks, of Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum; and Simukai Chigudu, one of the founding members of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign.
6. Competitive Collecting and Suspicious Shipwrecks
Fingerprints Episode 6 The country’s first major art and antiquities collection now sits in the Ashmolean Museum. It reveals untold stories from the ancient world including shipwrecks, competitively collecting, underhand dealings and how classical art was used by aristocrats at the royal court to boost their status and standing. Join lecturer Alison Pollard, as she takes you on a journey which spans over 2000 years. Find a transcript of this episode here Read more Read about the Arundel mar...
18 Feb 2022
5. Hunting the Minotaur
Fingerprints Episode 5 Curator Andrew Shapland shows us a tiny fragment which reveals the story of the man who set out to hunt down the mythical minotaur. Sir Arthur Evans went on to become known as the father of archaeology, but his journey reveals a culture war between empires in the Mediterranean. Find a transcript of this episode here Read more Read more about the fragment here or view an image here Speakers in this episode: Series host: Lucie Dawkins, Director & Producer, Ashmole...
11 Feb 2022
4. A King from the Trenches
Fingerprints Episode 4 Curator Paul Collins takes us on a journey with a 3000 year old king uncovered by an Indian soldier digging a trench in World War I, and explore what he has to tell us about the formation of Iraq as a nation state. Find a transcript of this episode here Read more Read more about the sculpture here or see an image here Speakers in this episode: Series host: Lucie Dawkins, Director & Producer, Ashmolean MuseumDr Paul Collins, Curator of the Ancient Middle East, Ashm...
4 Feb 2022
3. Displaying People
Fingerprints Episode 3 Mallica Kumbera Landrus, the Ashmolean’s Keeper of Eastern Art, takes us on a journey with 200 clay figures from India, displayed alongside a human zoo at the Colonial and India Exhibition of 1886, and later used to teach young British colonial officers at Oxford’s Indian Institute. Find a transcript of this episode here Read more View images of some of the sculptures mentioned in the episode hereFind out more about Ali Kazim’s exhibition at the Ashmolean here Speaker...
28 Jan 2022
2. The Looted Masks
Fingerprints Episode 2 Dan Hicks takes us on a journey with three bronze masks from the West African city of Benin, through the hands of soldiers, collectors, and curators, and along with special guests considers the responsibility that European museums have towards looted art in their collections. Find a transcript of this episode here Read more View the masks spoken about in the episode hereRead the Pitt Rivers’ interim report on the provenance of African cultural heritage in their collec...
21 Jan 2022
1. A Place For Questioning
Fingerprints Episode 1 Join the Ashmolean Museum’s director, Xa Sturgis, as he questions what a museum is for. He introduces us to Powhatan’s Mantle, one of the museum’s founding objects, and one inextricably linked with British colonial history. From there, he traces the Ashmolean’s story to the present day, as special guests explore how we can transform an uncomfortable past into a more positive future. Find a transcript of this episode here Read more See Powhatan’s Mantle hereFind out mo...
21 Dec 2021
Fingerprints trailer – a new Ashmolean podcast starting 21 January
Every object in the Ashmolean has passed from hand to hand to reach the Museum. In a new podcast, we uncover the invisible fingerprints left behind by makers, looters, archaeologists, soldiers, rulers, curators, and many more. These stories of touch reveal the ways in which the forces of conflict and colonialism have shaped Britain’s oldest Museum. Join the Ashmolean’s curators alongside artists, experts, and community members, for our new podcast: Fingerprints. Fingerprints will be released...
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