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Object Matters

Object Matters

Written by: Chau Chak Wing Museum University of Sydney
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The Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney's monthly podcast series. Host Dr Craig Barker asks guests to choose any one item to discuss from the museum’s collections of art, archaeology, natural history, science and culture.

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Episodes
  • 52: The statue of William Charles Wentworth and Adelaide Ironside

    52: The statue of William Charles Wentworth and Adelaide Ironside
    Dec 23 2023
    In this episode of Object Matters host Dr Craig Barker is joined by historian and author Dr Kiera Lindsey. Together they discuss her new book on colonial Sydney artist Adelaide Ironside titled Wild Love. Together they examine speculative history, writing biographies and art in  colonial New South Wales, and explore Adelaide's complex relationship with University of Sydney founders William Charles Wentworth and Sir Charles Nicholson.

    Guest: Dr Kiera Lindsey is a creative historian who works across the public and academic sectors. She works at the History Trust of SA (HTSA) as South Australia’s History Advocate.
    She has over twenty years of research and writing experience in the area of nineteenth-century, Indigenous and women's histories and have also published nationally and internationally on the topics of speculative biography and life writing. She had served as Vice President of the History Council of New South Wales as well as a member of the Sydney Living Museum's Curatorial and Public Engagement Advisory Committee. She features regularly on radio and podcasts, and was a consultant and on-camera historian for a 4-part series entitled LAWLESS: The Real Bushrangers which first aired on Foxtel's History Channel in 2017. Kiera has also designed two online public history courses on the GLAM sector. Wild Love was published through Allen & Unwin in November 2023, joining her first book The Convict's Daughter, and a volume coedited with Donna Brien on the topic of speculative biography. Wild Love was the produce of an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) while she was at University of Technology Sydney (UTS).  Follow Kiera on X: @LindseyKiera

    Host: Dr Craig Barker, Head of Public Engagement, Chau Chak Wing Museum and Director, Paphos Theatre Archaeological Excavations. Follow @DrCraig_B on X and Instagram.

    Object details:
    Pietro Tenerani, life-size statue of William Charles Wentworth, marble, 1861.
    Purchased with funds from public subscription 1861 [UA1861.1]
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    58 mins
  • 51: Fragment of terracotta cult statue from Cyprus

    51: Fragment of terracotta cult statue from Cyprus
    Nov 27 2023
    In this episode of Object Matters host Dr Craig Barker is joined by Dr Anastasia Christophilopoulou, an archaeologist and curator at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and the 2023 Sir Charles Nicholson Lecturer. Together they discuss the Being An Islander project and associated Islanders: The Making of the Mediterranean exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, as well as Anastasia's archaeological interests in material culture in island environments, including Crete, Sardinia and Cyprus, where they discuss an Archaic period cult sanctuary site called Salamis Toumba.

    Guest: Dr Anastasia Christophilopoulou is Curator of Greece, Rome and Cyprus at the Department of Antiquities of the Fitzwilliam Museum. She is responsible for research and exhibition projects and permanent displays in the fields of Greek, Cypriot and Roman collections of the museum. Anastasia gained her PhD in Classical Archaeology at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge (2008) and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Topoi Excellence Cluster, Freie Universität Berlin (2009-2010), prior to joining the Fitzwilliam Museum. She served as leader of the 4-year research project ‘Being an Islander’: Art and Identity of the large Mediterranean Islands, (2019-2023) which aimed to critically re-examine the concept of island life through material culture.
    In 2023 she visited the University of Sydney as the Chau Chak Wing Museum's Sir Charles Nicholson Lecturer. Follow Anastasia on X: @AChristophilop1

    Host: Dr Craig Barker, Head of Public Engagement, Chau Chak Wing Museum and Director, Paphos Theatre Archaeological Excavations. Follow @DrCraig_B on X and Instagram.

    Objects details:
    Fragmentary human head, terracotta, Salamis Toumba, Cyprus, Cypro-Archaic, 750-475 BC.
    Donated by the Museum of Classical Archaeology, University of Cambridge 1947 [NM47.388]
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    49 mins
  • 50: Heba Abd el-Gawad on Rethinking Egyptian Antiquities in Museums

    50: Heba Abd el-Gawad on Rethinking Egyptian Antiquities in Museums
    Nov 1 2023
    In this special episode of Object Matters host Dr Craig Barker is joined by Egyptian archaeologist Dr Heba Abd el-Gawad. Together they discuss the unique role ancient Egypt plays in museums globally, the missing modern Egyptian voice in ancient Egyptian exhibitions, decolonising collections and her work as part of the AHRC-funded project ‘Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage: views from Egypt’, partnering with UK museums and archives to communicate the history of cultural dispersal and examining opportunities to create dialogue with modern Egyptian communities.

    Guest: Dr Heba Abd el-Gawad is an Egyptian archaeologist.
    She is the project researcher for the AHRC funded project: ‘Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage: Views from Egypt’ at the Institute of Archaeology, University College of London aimed at amplifying the voice, visibility, and validity of modern Egyptian communities in UK museums. She has previously led various curatorial roles in the UK. Heba specializes in the history of Egyptian archaeology focusing on the past and present Egyptian perceptions and representations of the collection and distribution of archaeological finds from Egypt to the world. Follow @GawadHeba on X.

    Host: Dr Craig Barker, Head of Public Engagement, Chau Chak Wing Museum and Director, Paphos Theatre Archaeological Excavations. Follow @DrCraig_B on X and Instagram.
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    35 mins
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