ICMA Annual IDEA Lecture
Staging medieval art: Photography, archaeology, and living objects in Afghanistan

Martina Rugiadi, speaker

Since centuries, the town of Ghazni has been the site of devotion, visited by those seeking to be blessed and healed at the tombs of its saints. Yet our scholarly gaze has primarily focused on the city’s short-lived royal past of the 11th-12th centuries, the remains of which were meticulously documented with stunning photographs in the 1950s and 60s. Uncovering these images, this talk aims to reveal broader, more inclusive histories that transcend disciplinary boundaries.

Martina Rugiadi is Associate Curator in the Islamic Art Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where she is preparing an exhibition on medieval Afghan marbles. As an archaeologist, she has worked mostly in Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria, and now co-directs the Towns of the Karakum project in Turkmenistan. Her recent research explores medieval drinking, Islamic-period spolia, agency and visual languages, and the juncture of art history, cultural heritage, and the museum.