Potsherds. A May bug. The report of a 17th-century magician’s trial. Zazel, ‘the human cannonball.’ The view from Newton’s rooms. A set of old keys still in daily use. Tennyson’s hidden pipe. Plimsolls on cobblestones. Four-year-old Lucas, ready to run across the grass.
These and more feature in Pairings, an exhibition of the people, places, encounters and objects at Trinity College, which have inspired students, Fellows, staff and alumni.
Pairings is part of the celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of women’s admission to Trinity. The idea of the project was to express what inspired those who live work and study at the College. They were invited to send ideas – in photos and words – about a place, object, person or encounter at Trinity.
Dr Clare Walker Gore, Fellow in English, said:
We want to celebrate the fact that it is the many different people with different life experiences, skills and roles – choristers, astronomy students, gardeners, Archbishops, English professors, waiting and bar staff – who together make up the College community.
Although each Pairing is personal, together they express something of the wealth of talents and range of experience among staff, Fellows, students and alumni of Trinity.
Each Pairing combines a photograph (or two) and a short text. Participants worked in collaboration with Dr Wendy McMurdo, the artistic lead on the project.
Dr McMurdo trained as a painter in Edinburgh and turned to photography while studying in New York. Following an MA at Goldsmiths College, she worked in education and museum settings and these projects have been shown throughout Europe. In 2015 Dr McMurdo was awarded a PhD by publication by the University of Westminster for her work exploring the relationship of children and photography to the computer.
Pairings runs 4-25 August 2017, in the Nevile’s Court Cloisters, beneath the Wren Library. Public access is during Wren Library visiting hours, 12-2pm, Monday to Friday (last entry 1.50pm). Entry for members of the public is via Garret Hostel Lane.
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