Ashmolean launches new photographic campaign
02 Oct 08
Oxford University’s Ashmolean Museum has launched a series of portrait photographs to celebrate its collections in the lead up to the launch of the new Rich Mather building in autumn 2009.
Both celebrities and members of the local community have collaborated with photographer Theo Chalmers in the project My Ashmolean, My Museum.
By connecting contemporary faces to the Museum’s world-renowned collections of art and archaeology the project juxtaposes modern and historic traditions. The series includes a range of stories from across time and culture and each portrait will present viewers with inspiring new ways of seeing the collections.
The first large-scale graphics from the series have been installed on Ashmolean hoardings on Beaumont Street, Oxford and will remain in place for four weeks.
With support from Colin Dexter, author of Inspector Morse, and Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox, from the ITV series Lewis, their portraits illustrate Oxford's dark history of crime and punishment. The subjects are pictured holding Cranmer's Band, The Manacle and the Bocardo Prison Key, which were used in the imprisonment of the Oxford Martyrs in the Saxon tower, next to St. Michael at the Northgate Church, Cornmarket. Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer were incarcerated for their Protestant faith under the Roman Catholic rule of Queen Mary, before being burnt at the stake on Broad Street, Oxford, in 1555-6.
Dr Christopher Brown, Director of the Ashmolean, said: ‘We are extremely grateful to the individuals who have generously given their time and support to this campaign. With their involvement, Theo Chalmers has created a magnificent series of portraits with which the public can identify. Our thanks also go to the Oxford Bus Company which has been working with us on an innovative project to keep the Ashmolean in the public eye during the final phase of the Museum’s exciting developments.’
Details of a second installment of images and a project with the Oxford Bus Company will be announced next month.
An online exhibition of the photographs will be developed alongside an interactive area for the public to upload their favourite stories from the Ashmolean collections or to share experiences, which they have enjoyed at the Museum.