Dakhleh Oasis: Art from the Oasis

Find out more about art found at the Dakhleh Oasis Project and artwork inspired by the project with Dr Paweł Lech Polkowski and artist John O'Carroll. This event is the second in a mini event series about the Dakhleh Oasis Project.

Over more than four decades, archaeological work in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, has uncovered an immense collection of artefacts and monuments that reveal a long and fascinating history. From prehistoric rock art to pharaonic reliefs and Roman-period wall paintings, this lecture provides an introduction and brief overview of such discoveries made by the Dakhleh Oasis Project.

A small selection of John’s work inspired by the Dakhleh Oasis will be on display during the talk.

About the speakers:

Paweł Lech Polkowski PhD, leads the Rock Art Unit at the Poznań Archaeological Museum. He is Director of the Dakhleh Oasis Project and its Petroglyph Unit and has been involved in archaeological fieldwork in Egypt and Sudan for the past two decades. Paweł’s primary scientific interests are in rock art and archaeological theory.

His latest books include two edited volumes entitled Rock Art in the Landscapes of Motion. Proceedings of a session of the 20th International Rock Art Congress IFRAO 2018 in Valcamonica, Italy (2022, with Frank Förster) and Stone Canvas: Towards a better integration of ‘rock art’ and ‘graffiti’ studies in Egypt and Sudan (2023).

He is currently a member of the University of Warsaw mission to Miseeda in the Third Cataract region in Sudan.

John O’Carroll is a contemporary artist with a backstory in Egyptology, working as an archaeological illustrator and recording artist at the Dakhleh Oasis Project since 1989 and on various projects in the Valley of Kings, Luxor and Saqarra near Cairo.

John's interest and accrued knowledge built up through the handling and observation of ancient artefacts and wall paintings has helped him understand many of the techniques and materials used by the artisans, which he employs in his own artworks. His home is in Cornwall and he exhibits his work internationally, regularly leading art workshops tutoring abstract landscape painting at the Fayoum Winter Academy in Egypt and at Circle Contemporary in Cornwall. John was a consultant on the BBC series 'Treasures of Ancient Egypt'. John is currently working on a project with artist Dina Danish recreating Egyptian blue with funding from the Mondrian Foundation

About the Dakhleh Oasis Project

The Dakhleh Oasis Project (DOP) is a long-term regional study of the interaction between environmental changes and human activity in the Dakhleh Oasis, Western Desert of Egypt. The study includes all the time since the first incursion of humans around 400,000 years ago, down to the 21st century oasis farmers, and all the human activity and all the changing environmental conditions for which there is evidence within the time period.

Pay as you feel £6/£8/£10

This event is a talk, a Q & A, and a viewing of artwork by John O'Carroll.

Tickets include entry to the event, evening entry to the museum, and access to the museum shop. A bar will also be open on the night, serving wine, soft drinks, tea, coffee, and snacks for an additional cost.

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