New exhibition: Creatures of the Nile

The Garstang Museum of Archaeology in Liverpool has just launched a new exhibition focussing on the role that animals played in the lives and mythology of those living in ancient Egypt and Sudan. It’s called Creatures of the Nile, and is being hosted by their sister museum, the Victoria Gallery and Museum.

In June 2023 (the last time I was able to get to a museum and do some artefact photography before the Great ME Crash of 2023), I spent a few days at the Garstang photographing objects for the exhibition.

I was excited to then be invited to the preview evening when the exhibition opened in early May 2024, but sadly, a combination of my currently overly-restrictive ME and a migraine meant I wasn’t well enough to go. And yes, I did cry a bit when I couldn’t make it; it’s been more than a year since I’ve been able to get out and see my Egyptology friends face-to-face.

There is, however, still some glory in which I can bask.

Some of my photos have been featured in the accompanying online exhibition, and I’m excited that one of my photos – that of an amulet of Thoth holding a wadjet-eye (the image at the top of this post) – has been used as the main image for the exhibition.

Here are a few of my favourites you’ll find in the online exhibition.

String of beads with a fly pendant

These gorgeous, slightly transparent carnelian beads – restrung in modern times – have a tiny, copper-alloy fly pendant in the centre. The necklace is just under 30 cm long, and the pendant is just 1.1 cm in length.

My photo of the beads is on the Sky page of the online exhibition, and I’ve written an article giving more about the object and how I went about photographing it here.

Fragment of a Meroitic beaker with a hyena

This was a fun (read that with some air quotes …) one to photograph – it’s in three separate pieces, and the pieces don’t lie particularly flat, so I had to prop areas of them up using small pieces of Plastazote foam to get them lined up for photography (which I’ve then removed again in post production).

This piece is on the Identification of Species page of the online exhibition.

Wooden statuette of Bes

Bes is not your typical Egyptian god, but I honestly don’t know any Egyptology fan who isn’t partial to a bit of Bes. This statuette depicts him in his dwarf form. He would have originally donned a large plumed headdress, but all that remains now is the tenon joint.

This piece is featured on the Manifestions of Power page of the exhibition, and is the featured object of my third Artefacts in Focus article.

Amulet of a bound calf

Amulets like this one would have represented ritual food offerings for the deceased to keep them fed in the afterlife. It’s made of red jasper, and is a tiny little thing, measuring just 2.5 cm in length.

It’s featured on the Food and Transportation page of the online exhibition.

Fragment of a Meriotic pot

Whilst this photo isn’t actually featured in the online exhibition (although you can see the museum’s Sketchfab 3D model of it on the Grasslands page), it’s in an article about the exhibition on the BBC News website. It isn’t often we get to see our photos used by news behemoths like this, so I feel it appropriate to include a not-so-humble brag about it …

The exhibition is on until October 2024. If you’re able to get along to see it, please do; the Garstang puts on beautiful, well-informed exhibitions that are always worth your time. At some point soon, I’m hoping to feel well enough to venture out and see it for myself (keep your fingers crossed for me!).

If you’re not geographically close enough, you can still enjoy the online exhibition, and I’ll share some more of my photos and the stories behind their photography (and, hopefully, some photos of the exhibition itself) over the next bit.

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Julia

Unless otherwise credited, all photos in this post are © Julia Thorne. If you’d like to use any of my photos in a lecture, presentation or blog post, please don’t just take them; drop me an email via my contact page. If you share them on social media, please link back to this site or to one of my social media accounts. Thanks!