Every object in the Ashmolean has passed from hand to hand to reach the Museum. In a new podcast, we uncover the invisible fingerprints left behind by makers, looters, archaeologists, soldiers, rulers, curators, and many more. These stories of touch reveal the ways in which the forces of conflict and colonialism have shaped Britain’s oldest Museum. Join the Ashmolean’s curators alongside artists, experts, and community members, for our new podcast: Fingerprints.

Fingerprints will be released on the Ashmolean’s website, on Spotify, Apple, and wherever you get your podcasts, weekly from 21 January 2022 until 25 February 2022.

Fingerprints is produced and hosted by Lucie Dawkins. Guests include Bénédicte Savoy, co-author of the Report on African Cultural Heritage, commissioned by Emmanuel Macron; Professor Dan Hicks, of Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum; and Simukai Chigudu, one of the founding members of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign.

--- Transcript for this trailer ---

Voice 1: Every object in the Ashmolean has passed from hand to hand to reach the Museum.

In a new podcast, we uncover the invisible fingerprints left behind by makers, looters, archaeologists, soldiers, rulers, curators, and many more.

These stories of touch reveal the ways in which the forces of conflict and colonialism have shaped Britain’s oldest Museum.

Join the Ashmolean’s curators alongside artists, experts, and community members, for our new podcast: Fingerprints.

Voice 2: It was magical to touch the impressions of someone’s hand, who may have made this piece thousands of years ago.

Voice 3: There’s a large gouge from the front of the statue of the pick that the Indian soldier had been using to dig his trench.

Voice 4: Those are signifiers and messages that are embedded, are hidden in them for each generation. So, their importance can never be underestimated even though they have been removed from where they were created.

Voice 5: It’s obvious that it’s the face of the human figure that has been scratched out.

Voice 6: One of the main attractions was the live display of 34 human beings who were transported from India.

Voice 7: So they’d suggests bribing a local Imam to say that the sculptures are against the tenets of Islam.

Voice 8: Although some of these stories can be uncomfortable they’re also vital. They’re stories which connect us to a vast global web of human experiences that allow the objects to speak to us in different ways and with different voices.

Voice 9: Because museums are very political places.

Voice 1: So, watch out for Fingerprints on the Ashmolean’s website, on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts, for weekly releases from the 21st of January.

Fingerprints Episode 1

Join the Ashmolean Museum’s director, Xa Sturgis, as he questions what a museum is for. He introduces us to Powhatan’s Mantle, one of the museum’s founding objects, and one inextricably linked with British colonial history. From there, he traces the Ashmolean’s story to the present day, as special guests explore how we can transform an uncomfortable past into a more positive future. Find a transcript of this episode here

Read more

• See Powhatan’s Mantle here
• Find out more about Oxford University’s procedures about the return of cultural objects here

Speakers in this episode:

• Series host: Lucie Dawkins, Director & Producer, Ashmolean Museum
• Xa Sturgis, Director of the Ashmolean Museum
• Sumaya Kassim, writer, curator and museum-sceptic
• Reyahn King, CEO of York Museums Trust
• Dr Laura van Broekhoven, Director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford
• Mustafa Barcho, Oxford-Middle East Community Ambassador, Ashmolean Museum
• Marenka Thompson-Odlum, Researcher, Pitt Rivers
• Nicola Bird, Community Engagement Officer, Oxford's Gardens, Libraries and Museums

About the Fingerprints podcast

Every object in the Ashmolean has passed from hand to hand to reach the Museum. In a new podcast, we uncover the invisible fingerprints left behind by makers, looters, archaeologists, soldiers, rulers, curators, and many more. These stories of touch reveal the ways in which the forces of conflict and colonialism have shaped Britain’s oldest Museum. Join the Ashmolean’s curators alongside artists, experts, and community members, for our new podcast: Fingerprints.

Fingerprints will be released on the Ashmolean’s website, on Spotify, Apple, and wherever you get your podcasts, weekly from 21 January 2022 until 25 February 2022.

Fingerprints is produced and hosted by Lucie Dawkins. Guests include Bénédicte Savoy, co-author of the Report on African Cultural Heritage, commissioned by Emmanuel Macron; Professor Dan Hicks, of Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum; and Simukai Chigudu, one of the founding members of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign.

www.ashmolean.org/fingerprints

Fingerprints Episode 2

Dan Hicks takes us on a journey with three bronze masks from the West African city of Benin, through the hands of soldiers, collectors, and curators, and along with special guests considers the responsibility that European museums have towards looted art in their collections. Find a transcript of this episode here

Read more

• View the masks spoken about in the episode here
• Read the Pitt Rivers’ interim report on the provenance of African cultural heritage in their collection here
• Find out more about the Benin Bronzes and the Benin Dialogue Group here
• Find out more about Oxford University’s procedures about the return of cultural objects here
• And find more about Dan Hicks' book, The Brutish Museums

Speakers in this episode:

• Series host: Lucie Dawkins, Director & Producer, Ashmolean Museum
• Xa Sturgis, Director of the Ashmolean Museum
• Simukai Chigudu, Professor of African Politics, University of Oxford and founding member of Rhodes Must Fall
• Dan Hicks, Professor of Contemporary Archaeology, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford
• Victor Ehikhamenor, artist
• Adenike Cosgrove, collector and historian of African Art Historian
• Professor Bénédicte Savoy, art historian and co-author of the report, The Restitution of African Cultural Heritage commissioned by President Emmanuel Macron

About the Fingerprints podcast

Every object in the Ashmolean has passed from hand to hand to reach the Museum. In a new podcast, we uncover the invisible fingerprints left behind by makers, looters, archaeologists, soldiers, rulers, curators, and many more. These stories of touch reveal the ways in which the forces of conflict and colonialism have shaped Britain’s oldest Museum. Join the Ashmolean’s curators alongside artists, experts, and community members, for our new podcast: Fingerprints.

Fingerprints will be released on the Ashmolean’s website, on Spotify, Apple, and wherever you get your podcasts, weekly from 21 January 2022 until 25 February 2022.

Fingerprints is produced and hosted by Lucie Dawkins. Guests include Bénédicte Savoy, co-author of the Report on African Cultural Heritage, commissioned by Emmanuel Macron; Professor Dan Hicks, of Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum; and Simukai Chigudu, one of the founding members of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign.

www.ashmolean.org/fingerprints