BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:VISUALISING IDENTITY - Ludmilla Jordanova\, King's College London
DTSTART:20070126T173000Z
DTEND:20070126T183000Z
UID:TALK6189@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Janet Gibson
DESCRIPTION:I shall explore the ways in which portraiture mediates visual 
 identity. Although I have some reservations about the ways in which the te
 rm 'identity' is currently used\, it is nonetheless extremely useful for t
 hinking about the manner in which portraits have been used for many centur
 ies in at least some societies. They form\, I shall argue\, a distinctive 
 type of social commentary by a specialised group - artists - who deploy th
 eir visual intelligence to interpret what they see and give it tangible fo
 rm. They thereby occupy a special\, privileged role with respect to 'ident
 ity'. In the course of producing portraits\, artists also draw upon and mo
 bilise skills that most people use in everyday life - forming judgements o
 n the basis of what they observe in others. Largely without thinking\, we 
 not only notice stance and gait\, pose and demeanour\, facial expression\,
  colouring\, dress\, make up and hair style\, but assume they provide clue
 s of some kind about 'identity'. In making a careful study of portraiture\
 , historians can use a genre\, its associated forms of display and institu
 tions\, to think more critically about 'identity'. Portraits have complex 
 life histories\, taking on fresh meanings\, testifying to 'identities' in 
 ways their makers could hardly have imagined. In the lecture I hope to exp
 lore the complexities of visual identity via portraiture\, and to do so us
 ing examples that will have resonances for a Cambridge audience. 
LOCATION:LMH\, Lady Mitchell Hall
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR