Launching Women's Iconography in the Twenty-First Century: A Digital Archive

You are cordially invited to the launch of Women's Iconography in the 21st Century, a new archive for Lancaster University's Digital Collections Platform.  ​​​​​​This archive is part of the AHRC-funded Impact Acceleration Project, Contemporary Women Icons, led by Dr Azelina Flint (associate researcher) and Dr Brian Baker (senior lecturer), of ELCW.

This project raises awareness of women's understudied accomplishments in orthodox iconography: a practice of Christian sacred art that was historically male dominated.  Known as 'windows to eternity', icons allow viewers to meet holy figures who gaze out at them from an invisible world.  As the first documentary project of women's iconography, Contemporary Women Icons explores how women from a range of denominational, cultural and ethnic backgrounds make a space for themselves in this ancient tradition. 

The archive is the first of its kind and digitally preserves the work of women from across the world, including Armenia, Brazil, Canada, Latvia, Lebanon, Greece, Finland, Mexico, Russia, the USA and the Ukraine, as well as the UK.  It features both traditional iconography and iconography-inspired sacred art that modernises the tradition through using present-day techniques and depicting figures outside the traditional canon of sainthood.

The launch will include talks from a range of artists on the platform and lectures from the project's Co-Is.  Registration is free with refreshments, snacks and possible musical entertainment included.