Oxford Global Networks

The Bodleian, Blackwell Hall, Weston Library, Oxford

20th May - 27th August 2023

The idea of a globally connected world is not a new one.

This exhibition showcased some of Oxford’s connections to global travel in an age of trade and colonial expansion. From geographies to student plays, these sources reveal various ways that individuals thought about the world and their place in it.

Extract from exhibition introduction by Dr Emily Stevenson and Dr Lauren Working.

Alongside original copies of John Smith’s 1612 Map of Virginia, Richard Hakluyt, The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation (London, 1600), and other publications and manuscripts from this era, Loraine Rutt has created a series of miniature porcelain globes and small domestic vessels, drawing on the research of academics Nandini Das, Lauren Working and Emily Stevenson.

The ceramic vessels above are inscribed with facsimile drawings from Molyneux’s 1592 globe, each depicts map details from Francis Drake’s circumnavigation (1577-1580) paired with the corresponding diary entry from the account of the voyage, a tale of acquisition and plunder. Soft porcelain sheets of clay, rolled paper thin, were formed into cylinders, and breath-inflated in cupped hands until the form resembled the sails on the engraved maps. When held to the ear a sound reminiscent of the sea can be heard. They are listening vessels, receptacles for the voices of the unheard.

Loraine Rutt 2023