In Search of Pearlescence: Pearls, Visual Culture and Obsolescence in South Asia
Lecture by Dr Natasha Eaton (UCL)
Lecture by Dr Natasha Eaton. The talk will be followed by a reception!
The lecture
In her talk Dr Eaton seeks to track imperial exploitation and developing international/mimetic rivalry over pearls by focusing on Baroda and the Gulf of Manaar during a time of British imperial expansion. Deemed mysterious in their origin and development, as well as being risky even fatal to dive for, the unearthly luminescence of pearls puts pressure on western European ideas of aura, kitsch and shamanistic/economic practices.
The speaker
Dr Natasha Eaton is Reader in the History of Art at UCL. Her research which has been awarded grants from among others the V&A, AHRC, British Academy, Yale University and the Society for 18th-century Studies, focuses on art and visual culture in South Asia.