A history of the world in 100 objects


I don't lecture very often these days. I quit my job as a lecturer a few years ago and found myself doing more work as a model, I just slipped into it. But being an academic is for life, it is a mind set, you don't forget what you know and can always brush up on a topic and update it.
So when I was asked by the curators  of the British Museum, who knew me in my previous incarnation as art and performance historian, whether I wanted to give a gallery talk in connection with their new exhibition on the shadow theatre of Southeast Asia, at first I dithered, then I said yes, why not? It was only a gallery talk, after all, not a research seminar. I did not wish to give a guided tour of the exhibition, that would have been redundant. I chose to talk about the interconnection between shadow theatre and the visual arts. I focused mostly on Indonesia as this was my stomping ground when I was a researcher, my specialty used to be the arts of classical Java. I went back to Indonesia last year, incidentally, donning again my academic hat and doing research on Indonesian fashion, for which I was awarded a fellowship.
Inevitably in my talk I ended up discussing fashion. Some Indonesian designers, like Ghea Panggabean, have created whole collections inspired by the shadow puppets, known in Indonesia as wayang and the gallery talk seemed the right context  to mention it.


I enjoyed giving that talk. I was worried at first but once I began everything was fine. I had a very keen group with me and I almost went overtime. Almost.
In preparation for the talk I went to see the exhibition twice and discovered  some newer books that helped me in the task. One of them was  A history of the world in 100 objects by Neil MacGregor, former director of the British Museum. There is in the book an entry on the character Bimo, one of the puppets used in the shadow theatre and I referred to it, even brought the book along to show it to my audience.
The book
The 100 objects
Finding this book was one of the best things that has happened to me in a long time. I love it. It is what you should keep by your bedside and dip into whenever you fancy. Accessible yet scholarly,   the descriptions of the objects are accurate and engaging, and clear even though there are few visuals (I was told once that the best art historians are those who do not need images to capture your attention) and with each entry there are also stories and anecdotes that bring to life the object descriptions. The book is based entirely on the British Museum's collections and it covers the history of mankind because in their totality that's what the collections of the museum do.
This morning I read about Shiva and Parvati from Orissa. I know that sculptural composition very well, I have been to see it many times. It's a shame it cannot be viewed at the moment as the South and Southeast Asian galleries are being renovated and will open again to the public only in November 2017, a year from now.
It is an image showing the divine couple in a moment of affection, charged with eroticism. For Hindus god is both male and female and, as MacGregor says, one of the central  insights of Hinduism  is that "God may best be conceived not as a single isolated spirit but as a joyous loving couple and that physical love is not evidence of fallen humanity but an essential part of the divine".

Holding a luxury accessory. Photo: Rankin for Hunger 11. Hand model: me
I will continue to read the book and find out more about the objects. It also means I will probably stop by the Museum very soon once again to go and view these wonderful objects from up close and do my own tour of the history of mankind following MacGregor's selection.
Meanwhile I am proud to announce that my hand can be seen in Hunger 11 holding a luxury accessory in the photo taken by Rankin, who is also interviewed in the piece "Outside In" pp. 468

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