Curating Cultures Exhibitions in the Wolfson Gallery

18 January 2022

Over nine weeks – from October to December 2021 – MA students on the “Curating Cultures A” module in the School of Arts at SOAS developed exhibitions using the History of Art and Archaeology Department’s teaching collections. Each group was allocated one showcase. They were tasked with developing an exhibition theme, researching the objects, writing and producing the label texts and envisioning the overall design. This culminated in their exhibitions being displayed in the Wolfson Gallery of the SOAS Library from 14th December 2021 to 14th January 2022.

The exhibitions explored a range of themes and issues about representing cultures and were assessed as part of the coursework. On the day they opened, the students had the opportunity to present their exhibitions to Dr Alexandra Green, Henry Ginsburg Curator for Southeast Asia at the British Museum who provided insightful feedback and advise on each one.

It is hoped that SOAS students and staff alike had the opportunity to visit and reflect on the themes and objects displayed over the one month period.

The five exhibitions were:

Transcendence: Worship in China and Myanmar
Giovanni Agostinelli
Hanyi Fang
Sing Ying Kwan
Rebecca Stevens
Yitong Wu

Lucky Gifts: Exploring stories of auspicious objects
Alanoud Al Thani
Wojtek Daria Dernalowicz D'aboville
Jinsu Kang
Ketki Mahajan
Xinying Zeng

A Mother’s Morning Prayer
Cai Fengnian
Aisha Khan
Thaw Zin Latt
Rachel Miles
Hannah Olukoga

'Upon the Windy Citadel'
Merje Laiapea
Natasha Natarajan
Philipp Schütz
Benjamin Anthony Roliah Wright

Vessels of Life: Pottery & Ceramics
Nur Amira
Yuning Liu
Kezia Permata
Shangyu Wang

Module convenor:
Dr Stephen A Murphy , Pratapaditya Pal Senior Lecturer in Curating and Museology of Asian Art (Dept. of History of Art and Archaeology)

We would like to express our thanks to everyone at SOAS that assisted in making this exhibition possible and in particular:
John Hollingworth MBE AMA (Head of Galleries and Exhibitions, Brunei Gallery)
Lucy Kauser (Collections and Engagement Officer, Brunei Gallery)
Karen Crouch (Interim Head of Library Services)
Professor Scott Redford (Dept. of History of Art and Archaeology)
Emeritus Professor Elizabeth H. Moore (Dept. of History of Art and Archaeology)