What can the medieval face mask tell us about the role that medical face coverings play, not only in prevention of illness, but also as a signifier of identities and anxieties? Sadegh Attari explores how medical, cultural, and religious ideas shaped pre-modern mask-wearing
The campaign for women’s ordination dominated discussions about the Church of England’s gender politics during the twentieth century. Grace Heaton examines the badges produced by campaigners and untangles some of the powerful emotions which animated the movement in favour of women priests.
Urvi Khaitan explores how US Air Force photos reveal the hidden history of female labour in World War II India.
What can a gallery comments book tell us about the role radical photography can play in social change? Ruby Rees-Sheridan discusses the Half Moon Photography Workshop Comments Book as a radical object.
At the end of a long day of physical domestic work, Margaret Nagle, an Irish-born domestic servant living in 1860s New York, was finally able to sit down and compose a letter to her father John back home in County Cork. A few weeks later, John read the letter aloud […]
What does the vaginal speculum have to do with power? How does the history of this instrument help us to understand how bodies have been understood, policed, and governed? Can this object be reclaimed?
Lisa Godson explores.
How does a small gavel on display in the offices of Britain’s National Secular Society commemorate past struggles for free thought and free speech? Robert Forder explores.
