Photograph of ectoplasm on the face of medium Mary Marshall during a séance at T.G. Hamilton’s home (left), and artist Teresa Burrows’s version of the same image (right), Mary Swallowed a Spirit, beading and cheesecloth, 14” x 22”, 2021
- Friday, November 4, 2022
- 12:00pm – 1:00pm
- MAWA, 611 Main St, Winnipeg, MB
Join us in person or online.
In the 20th century, Winnipeggers T.G. and Lillian Hamilton documented evidence of “trance personalities,” spirits who had survived death and could communicate with the living. Their “scientific” séances produced a large archive of uncanny photographs of female mediums expelling ectoplasm from their bodies. Ectoplasm fell out of favour by the 1940s, but came back into popular culture through the movie Ghostbusters (1984) and its remakes, as well as the digitization of the Hamilton photographs in 2000. In this talk, Serena Keshavjee will contextualize how artists have depicted ectoplasm from its invention in the late 19th century to the contemporary period. Artists have re-interpreted ectoplasm in several different ways, from a feminist lens reflecting the performative actions of female mediums, to DIY ectoplasm and reimagining the original, organic vitalist characteristics of ectoplasm.
Online broadcasts will feature ASL translation. Within a couple of weeks, the First Friday Lectures will be posted with captioning and ASL at mawa.ca/videos/lectures.
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85323733087
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Serena Keshavjee coordinates the Curatorial Practices specialization of the Masters in Cultural Studies while teaching Modern Art and Architectural History at the University of Winnipeg. Her academic publishing focuses on the intersection of art and science in visual culture at the fin-de-siècle. Keshavjee’s current projects are an exhibition, The Undead Archive, to be held in Winnipeg in 2023, and a book, Photographing “Ghosts”, with the University of Manitoba Press.
Free, everyone welcome! Please wear a mask if attending in person. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85323733087
