Like murmurs of an invisible world mentioned only in legends, stories, and folktales, Rosamond Purcell’s images appear as part myth and part science. “Researching the history of monstrosity, Purcell presents age-old gossip along with rare scientific and medical texts, historical images, and her own exquisite photographs,” writes Rose Gallery in Santa Monica, California.
Rosemond Purcell will be at Mary Baldwin University at 7:30 p.m., September 18 in Francis Auditorium to speak with the public about such things.
Purcell works as a photographer in the back rooms of old museums. She is the author ofSpecial Cases: Natural Anomalies and Historical Monstersand three collaborative works with the late paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould, includingFinders Keepers: Treasures and Oddities from Peter the Great to Luis Agassiz. Her new book, Owls Head, was published in 2003.
This public lecture is sponsored by the Department of Art and Art History, the Biology Department, and the Division Coordinators at Mary Baldwin University.
The event will be at 7:30 p.m. on September 18 in Mary Baldwin University’s Francis Auditorium at the corner of Coalter and Frederick Streets, Staunton. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call (540) 887-7009.