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.

Could Shakespeare have been inspired by Arabic and Persian poetry? Did Romeo and Juliet have their origins in the Bedouin nomads of the Levant? Join Francesca Leoni as she takes us through the ancient love story of Layla and Majnun, through the lens of a jewel-like miniature painting in the Ashmolean’s archives. In this episode, you’ll hear the poetry of Shakespeare and Nizami Ganjavi.

Poetry in this episode
Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare
Layli wa Majnun, by Nizami Ganjavi, with a prose translation by Rudolph Gelpke

Artwork in this episode
Page depicting Layla visiting Majnun in the wilderness View this online

Hosted by Lucie Dawkins, with Francesca Leoni. The producer is Lucie Dawkins.

About Objects Out Loud: From a magician who inspired Shakespeare, and poems woven into Japanese prints, to manuscripts illuminated with the ancient love story of Layla and Majnun, this new podcast series will delve into the poetry and literature hidden in the collections at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Meet Paolo Uccello’s spine-tingling painting The Hunt in Forest, with a mysterious vanishing point right at its very heart. It is an image which has fascinated poets, including Derek Mahon and John Burnside, who both wrote collections inspired by this 600 year old painting. John Burnside joins host Lucie Dawkins in this episode, to talk about why The Hunt in the Forest has gripped his imagination, and we also hear a reading of Derek Mahon’s poem.

What do you see when you stare into the place where everything vanishes?


Poems in this episode:

‘The Hunt in the Forest’ by John Burnside from The Hunt in the Forest (2009)

'The Hunt by Night’ by Derek Mahon from New Collected Poems (2011), reproduced by kind permission of the author’s Estate c/o The Gallery Press. www.gallerypress.com


Artwork in this episode:

The Hunt in the Forest View this online

If you want to take a closer look at the artwork mentioned in this episode, you can view it at the link above. Visit the podcast page on the Ashmolean website: ashmolean.org/objects-out-loud


Hosted by Lucie Dawkins, with John Burnside, featuring the voice of Damian Gildea. With poems by John Burnside and Derek Mahon.

The producer is Lucie Dawkins.


About Objects Out Loud: From a magician who inspired Shakespeare, and poems woven into Japanese prints, to manuscripts illuminated with the ancient love story of Layla and Majnun, this new podcast series will delve into the poetry and literature hidden in the collections at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.