Visions of Egypt

M, B and I visited the Visions of Egypt exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia in Norwich today.

The exhibition was fascinating and our guide explained how our vision of Egypt is influenced by so many factors, one being how the Romans 'interpreted' Egyptian statues and artworks and added their own 'Romanism' to them.  Some of these images were then used by other cultures, including European empires which they then layered with further interpretations of their own.  The exhibition had many paintings, furniture, jewellery  and even clothes (see extra) that had all been influenced and inspired by Egypt's culture.

This head of Nefertiti was the last exhibit on display and the information displayed beside it is fascinating...and I quote...'In response to Germany's refusal to return to Egypt a 3,000 year old bust of Queen Nefertiti, smuggled by German archeologists in 1912, [Nora] Al-Badri and  [Jan Nikolai] Nelles covertly scanned the original in Berlin's Neues Museum and released a free digital model online.  This version, 3D printed from that scan at the University of East Anglia, raises important questions about ownership and authenticity in the digital age'.

Just to lower the tone, my other extra is of the ladies toilets.  I've photographed these before as I love the shiny surfaces and clean lines and just couldn't resist taking more images of them.