E K Myerson curates ‘Anchorless Bodies: Navigating Arabic in Medieval Manuscripts’, Parker Library, 25 May-25 September 2023

Anchorless Bodies: Navigating Arabic in Medieval Manuscripts With Works by Emii Alrai: An Exhibition at the Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, curated by E.K. Myerson, Parker Library ECRF.
Alrai uses the phrase ‘Anchorless Bodies’ to describe her artworks, which draw inspiration from the debris of archaeological excavations, and from medieval astronomy.  ‘Anchorless bodies’ are displaced or unfixed, in space and time: a condition which might be experienced variously by looted objects, ghosts, artifacts in museum vitrines, alchemical metals, celestial bodies and immigrant communities.  In this show, Alrai’s artworks take the viewer on a new route into medieval manuscripts and artefacts related to medieval migration, medicine and alchemy – maps, images and texts, as well as two astrolabes, the scientific instruments used for marine navigation.  The display has been arranged in collaboration with the Whipple Museum, and is supported by AHRC IAA Funding.
The show opens on 25th May and will run until 25th September 2023.  Viewing Monday–Friday, by appointment: contact parker-library@corpus.cam.ac.uk 
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