Egypt and Jerusalem as seen by German painter Karl Werner during his travels in the 1860s.
Yearn to be a traveler in an antique land? Take all the time you need with these paintings which are fully digitised on our collections website: https://wellcome.info/werner
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1: Humans and camels look tiny before the colossal Sphinx and Great Pyramid of Giza. 40357i
2: A campfire, with a small group huddled around it, lights up the carvings on the statues of Memnon. Three millennia after his death, these statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III still tower over mortal men. 40355i
3: A small group gathers under a wall which is covered in hieroglyphics. 40358i
4: Camels pass over a sun baked landscape and by the ruined tomb of Sultan Barsbai. 40352i
5: A small boat piled high with reeds is piloted by a man in a fez down the river Nile near Akhmim. 40353i
6: A monk and others pray in a church, decorated with icons, situated in the same land where their faith was born. 30532i
7: A man smoking a long pipe sits high upon a camel while a crowd bustles below. 25469i
8: As humans look tiny compared to the Pyramids, they themselves are rendered insignificant to the immensity of the Earth. Across the desert the pyramids of Giza look minute. 40352i
9: In the shadows of a shop a man smokes a long pipe while another plays a stringed instrument. Out in the light of the street two women in white shop. 25224
10: The river and palm trees by the temple of Isis at Philae. 40356i
11: Jewish worshippers at the Wailing Wall. 40359i
12: A shaft of light shines down in an ornate Jerusalem coffee house. A little fountain decorates this courtyard. 18120i
13: A woman in a veil sits in the shade and clutches a palm, where she sells piles of oranges from wicker baskets.
14: A tent sits in the shade in the Egyptian desert. 40357i
15: Palms, ruins and camels by the Nile at Aswān. 40354i
16: A gleaming full moon shines through the ruins of the Ancient Egyptians reflects a celestial ro
What's the value of food, comfort, and sensuality? Does the world really matter, or is it just a distraction from a higher truth? This is the story of how a goddess and her husband fell out over these questions, and how she taught him the true worth of material things. With the help of some extraordinary Indian artworks held in our collection, our engagement facilitator and storyteller Sana tells us more.
Alt text: This reel shows a series of 'Kalighat' paintings, a style of beautiful, brightly-coloured illustration originating in 19th century West Bengal. The pictures include vivid portraits of the Goddess Annapurna and her husband Lord Shiva, as well as wonderful details of landscapes, plants and animal life.
Music: "Ancient Winds" by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
Our galleries, Reading Room and cafe are back open!
Though, be aware, we are closed on New Year’s Day 😴
This is also your last chance to see our exhibition by artist Jason Wilsher-Mills (@wilshermills), a playful exploration of creativity, disability and childhood memory.
Find out more about Jason's exhibition, open until 12th January 2025: wellcome.info/jason-wilsher-mills
[Alt text: The video opens with artist Jason Wilsher-Mills at one of his light up dioramas in the exhibition space. We first witness sped up animation of Jason shading in his sketch of a hippo, the original pencil drawing above and the digital copy below. We then see the finished product in the diorama, the hippo now has wings and is against a textured blue and mauve background.]
As we enter the final month of his exhibition ‘Jason and the Adventure of 254’, artist Jason Wilsher-Mills reflects on the inspiration he’s taken from Wellcome’s historical medical collection including our 16th century anatomy pop-up books.
Explore these amazing objects further on our collections website: https://wellcome.info/fugitive
Find out more about Jason Wilsher-Mills’s exhibition, open until 12th January 2025: wellcome.info/jason-wilsher-mills
[Alt text: The video opens with Jason and a conservator looking at fugitive sheets. The conservator is using a small pointer to lift the flaps on a historic anatomy book. On one she opens up the right lung to reveal the heart and blood vessels underneath, on another she raises the chest of a woman to reveal the organs and intestines underneath. We snap through many examples of these fascinating early modern printed objects.]
These wonderful illustrations are from a Japanese manuscript in our collection called Toshin seiyo (痘疹精要), The Essentials of Smallpox, attributed to the doctor Kanda Gensen (c.1670-1746). They show variations of the symptoms of an illness that once caused millions of deaths worldwide.
In 1980, the World Health Organisation declared Smallpox eradicated - making it the only human infectious disease ever to have been officially wiped out, though the virus survives in research facilities in the US and Siberia.
Alt text: This reel shows twenty illustrations of faces showing various symptoms of smallpox. The smallpox pustules, blisters and rashes shown are a range of colours: some are like pink and white primroses or gold and white daisies, while others pastel green with white concentric circles or dark red and brown.
Credit: MS Japanese 63. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Congratulations to Jasleen Kaur, winner of the 2024 Turner Prize. Jasleen's work was featured in our 2021 season 'On Happiness' - here she is talking about how her art responds to colonial histories and the hidden violence of the wellness industry.
Alt text: In this film from our archive, Jasleen Kaur is shown wearing an orange shirt against a background of flickering projections.
What does it mean to be a blind mum? @BlondeHistorian Amy Kavanagh talks to us about her experience of breastfeeding as a person with visual impairment: for her, a form of defiance against the expectations put on her by an ableist world. Along the way, she talks about how museums can create space for experiences of disability to be recognised and shared.
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Amy is a white woman with blonde hair and vintage sunglasses, accompanied by her golden retriever Guide Dog Ava. Amy and Ava are in the Reading Room, a gallery and library space with red carpet and ornate lighting. During the video, Amy moves around the room and we see her stand by a table with objects connected to infant feeding. As we observe the objects the camera wobbles and a caption appears reading "*professional camera work". Amy handles the knitted breast as she talks about her experience of breastfeeding.
#blindness
#breastfeeding
#parenting
#InternationalDayOfPersonsWithDisabilities
#motherhood
For #NationalIllustrationDay we share artist Jason’s Wilsher-Mills advice for anyone who wants to be creative: just do it!
Jason’s bright and intricate illustrations adorn his exhibition ‘Jason and the Adventure of 254’, open now at Wellcome Collection until the 12th January 2025.
Join us on this exploration of disability, imagination and the power of art. Find out more here: wellcome.info/jason-wilsher-mills
[Alt text: The video opens with sped up footage of Jason Wilsher-Mills flipping through his sketchbook. We then see Jason in the gallery with his illustrations blown up to enormous size on the display boards in the exhibition.]
A reminder this #WorldMentalHealthDay that Wellcome Collection is free and open to everyone, whoever you are and however you’re feeling.
Alt text: This reel shows a wood carving representing Job, a figure in the Old Testament who lives through extremes of suffering. He’s pictured here head in hands, with broken skin and wide, contemplative eyes. The captions read: in a corner of our Reading Room, in a glass case on top of a bookshelf, this figure sits in permanent meditation. For more than 2000 years, Job has been a figure of reflection for the grieving, the sick, the dispossessed, those with troubled thoughts and those in despair. Welcome Collection is free and open to everyone, whoever and however you are.
Credit: Carved wooden figure of Job, 1750-1850
How do you reach out to an angel? Our engagement facilitator and resident sorceress Polly shows us a manuscript in our collection that promises magical access to divine powers 🔮
Alt text: In this reel, we see pages and motifs from an anonymous 18th century manuscript in our collection: the 'sigils' are complex, rune-like symbols that represent angels or astrological signs.
Credit: Frydau, Johann Ferdinand von. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Jambūdvīpa is the realm of human life in Jainism, an ancient religion originating in India and practiced today by more than seven million people. In this video, our engagement facilitator Sana shows us an extraordinary illustration of this world and the creatures, ecologies and elements we share it with: each seen by Jainism as possessing souls like own. With this vision of a deeply ensouled world, Jainism teaches non-violence, non-possessiveness and the importance of recognising the interdependence of all life.
Alt text: This wonderfully detailed map, currently in our collection, is arranged in concentric circles of blue, gold, red and grey, linked by crescent-shapes perhaps representing rivers, and annotated with tiny calligraphy.
Credit: Jambūdvīpa, the central continent of the middle world in Jain cosmology. Unknown maker, c. 19th century. Watercolour. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.
Music: "Ancient Winds" by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
What work do we value, and why? And what traces does work leave on the body?
Hard Graft is our major new free exhibition exploring work, health and rights. From prison labour to domestic work, from street vendors to sex workers, this show brings into focus working practices that may be marginalised, undervalued or unseen. Bringing together contemporary artworks and voices from the archive, Hard Graft looks at how these forms of work imprint themselves on the bodies and health of the people who carry them out. Along the way, it highlights stories of resistance, solidarity and healing.
Open now at Wellcome Collection, until April 2025.
Find out more at wellcome.info/hard-graft.
Alt text: This trailer for Hard Graft shows a selection of images from the exhibition, including photographs, paintings, sculpture and film. These show historic and contemporary images of protest, creative artworks addressing work and health, and photographic portraits of workers.