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highlyeccentricI was down in Oxford this weekend, mostly to see friends, and realised with just enough time to spare before last entry that I had time to see the 'Spellbound: Magic, Ritual and Witchcraft' exhibition. I hadn't been prioritising it, because... well, honestly, because the kind of excitement I saw about it when it opened was mostly of that annoying 'witchcraft as feminine aesthetic' kind. But my colleague R had the exhibition catalogue at her place when I was there last and spoke highly of it.
And folks, it is GOOD.
Some things about this exhibition:
1. The first thing you see when you walk in is a ladder to nowhere, and the path goes under it. If, as most people will do, you dodge around the ladder, you end up in the first room of exhibits, with the preamble on the walls. The preamble stakes a claim for 'magical thinking' as endemic to human processing, and four of the five exhibits in that room are examples of the kind of thing you'll find throughout - protective charms, a voodoo doll, etc. One of the protective charms is definitively Christian, and only one is non-European. The FIFTH item is Pitt Rivers Object 1926.6.1, glass flask reputed to contain a witch. (Early 20th c Suffolk)
2. It's incredibly well done, and nothing over-stated. There's relatively little in the way of extrapolation signage, but what is there is for the most part designed to draw your attention to similarities between contemporary superstitious practice and the objects on display. The room containing objects associated with love magic, for instance, also has a wall display of broken love-locks removed by the city of Leeds from one particular bridge. The room full of hearth caches indicates at the start that the animal bodies/hearts found under hearths are presumed to be protective against witchcraft, and outlines the difference between 'cunning folk' and 'witches' in early modern practice. In describing the actual items they're very restrained, careful to include the word 'possibly' in phrases like 'possibly magical carving', and almost entirely eschew speculation on why particular objects ended up under particular hearthstones.
3. In its understatement it's also a beautiful exercise in anthopologist snark. It places pilgrims' badges next to love charms, and it does so without making a big fuss either in the direction of 'a lot of orthodox christian practice is superstitious' or 'a lot of things that look like paganism in the early modern record were practiced by devout christians'. It draws its contemporary analogies to folk ritual, like the love-locks, not to religious practices that claim descent from either medieval christian or pagan practices.
3a. Also there's a 'unicorn' (narwhal) horn missing its tip, which was apparently stolen by Robert Dudley as an aphrodisiac. I love the specificity.
In short: A Good. Only on until 6 Jan, do recommend if you have the chance.
And folks, it is GOOD.
Some things about this exhibition:
1. The first thing you see when you walk in is a ladder to nowhere, and the path goes under it. If, as most people will do, you dodge around the ladder, you end up in the first room of exhibits, with the preamble on the walls. The preamble stakes a claim for 'magical thinking' as endemic to human processing, and four of the five exhibits in that room are examples of the kind of thing you'll find throughout - protective charms, a voodoo doll, etc. One of the protective charms is definitively Christian, and only one is non-European. The FIFTH item is Pitt Rivers Object 1926.6.1, glass flask reputed to contain a witch. (Early 20th c Suffolk)
2. It's incredibly well done, and nothing over-stated. There's relatively little in the way of extrapolation signage, but what is there is for the most part designed to draw your attention to similarities between contemporary superstitious practice and the objects on display. The room containing objects associated with love magic, for instance, also has a wall display of broken love-locks removed by the city of Leeds from one particular bridge. The room full of hearth caches indicates at the start that the animal bodies/hearts found under hearths are presumed to be protective against witchcraft, and outlines the difference between 'cunning folk' and 'witches' in early modern practice. In describing the actual items they're very restrained, careful to include the word 'possibly' in phrases like 'possibly magical carving', and almost entirely eschew speculation on why particular objects ended up under particular hearthstones.
3. In its understatement it's also a beautiful exercise in anthopologist snark. It places pilgrims' badges next to love charms, and it does so without making a big fuss either in the direction of 'a lot of orthodox christian practice is superstitious' or 'a lot of things that look like paganism in the early modern record were practiced by devout christians'. It draws its contemporary analogies to folk ritual, like the love-locks, not to religious practices that claim descent from either medieval christian or pagan practices.
3a. Also there's a 'unicorn' (narwhal) horn missing its tip, which was apparently stolen by Robert Dudley as an aphrodisiac. I love the specificity.
In short: A Good. Only on until 6 Jan, do recommend if you have the chance.