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Ritual Across Time: Lorraine O’Grady and Egyptology
Wednesday, November 12
12:30 - 2:00 PM
Lucille M. and Richard F. X. Spagnuolo Gallery
Light refreshments will be served.
Join Guest Curator Donna Honarpisheh and Georgetown Professor Lingxin Zhang for a conversation on the ancient Egyptian rituals that inform Lorraine O’Grady’s Miscegenated Family Album, currently on view in the Spagnuolo Gallery. In this exhibition, O’Grady pairs photographs of her own family with representations of Queen Nefertiti, illuminating the parallels in how both women navigated estranged relationships with their sisters and the legacies of mixed-race lineage and marriage across time.The discussion will explore themes of ancestry, materiality, gender, and Egyptology.
During this drop-in style program, topics will shift every 15–20 minutes, allowing visitors to plan their visit and join the dialogue at any point. Guests are invited to stop by, enjoy a custom cookie inspired by Egyptian symbols, and stay for as long as they are able to do so.
Donna Honarpisheh is Associate Curator of Knight Art and Research at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami, where she curates global exhibitions in modern and contemporary art. She is the writer and host of ICA Miami’s podcast, Tomorrow is the Problem, which covers pressing issues in art and culture. In addition to her curatorial work, Honarpisheh is a scholar of Contemporary Literature and Critical Theory and has taught undergraduate courses in Global Modernisms, postcolonial studies, and aesthetics at Fordham University, Sarah Lawrence College, UC-Berkeley, and Georgetown University. She is the recipient of the 2025 Vilcek Prize in Curatorial work.
Lingxin Zhang specializes in ancient Egyptian languages and cultures during the Graeco-Roman period (3rd century BCE — 4th century CE). Her research uses written records and material cultures to study aspects of ancient Egyptian society, including topics such as entangled cultural identity, the construct of gender, and the transmission of early scientific ideas. Her forthcoming book, Writing Her Fate, offers a critical textual edition as well as analytical discussions for two women’s astrological manuals from Roman Egypt. Currently, she is working on a project that explores Egyptian priests’ complex cultural identities under the Ptolemaic rule.
Event Links
Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/3331181-0
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/3331181-2
