Papers by Sanchita Balachandran
West86th Journal, 2020
What if art conservators wrote stories rather than just condition and treatment reports about the... more What if art conservators wrote stories rather than just condition and treatment reports about the work we do? To physically conserve an object is also to converse with it, to ask after its health, to be with it in a way that alleviates its loneliness a little. Conservators encounter objects in their most vulnerable state and we work to prolong the life story of the things that come to us even as we see how much they have lost of themselves over time. Such practices of care are emotional work, requiring a more empathetic and imaginative language of documentation. Because conserving things of the past and writing a fuller accounting of the ways that we change things and the ways things change us, is more truthful; in fact, it is a love story.
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Arts, 2019
The study of Athenian black-figure and red-figure ceramics is haunted by nearly a thousand “hands... more The study of Athenian black-figure and red-figure ceramics is haunted by nearly a thousand “hands” of the artisans thought to be responsible for their painted images. But what of the bodies attached to those hands? Who were they? Given the limited archaeological and epigraphic evidence for these ancient makers, this study attempts to recover their physical bodies through the ceramics production process—specifically the firing of vessels—as a communal activity potentially including a large cast of participants including craftsmen and craftswomen, metics, freed people and slaves. Using an experimental archaeology approach, I argue that we can begin to approach the sensory experiences of ancient potters and painters as they produced all the colored surfaces (and not only images) that endure on Greek vases. I propose a four-stage sensory firing in combination with the three-stage chemical firing process known for the production of Athenian ceramics, suggesting that each stage—and the colors produced at each stage—had their own “sensory signatures.” Examining extant vases with this awareness of the bodily experience of their ancient makers has the potential to bring back these ancient bodies, moving us beyond the limiting narrative of a single hand wielding a paint brush.
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Studies in Conservation, 2019
The tenure of archaeological chemist Dr. S. Paramasivan (1903–1987) at the Chemical Conservation ... more The tenure of archaeological chemist Dr. S. Paramasivan (1903–1987) at the Chemical Conservation Laboratory of the Madras Government Museum, India, sheds light on the development of the field of conservation science outside the scholarly centers of Europe and North America. Between 1930 and 1946, Paramasivan defined and broadened the role of a scientist responsible for the care and study of cultural heritage. From building and equipping his own laboratories to serve the museum's many departments, to collaborating with scientists, commercial metallurgists, and even religious practitioners across south India, Paramasivan's work is marked by a sense that the conservation scientist could and should practice beyond a laboratory's typical confines. In fact, working in this way created opportunities not only to physically transform ancient objects through conservation interventions, but also transform the understanding of ancient objects. In tracing his correspondence with Rutherford J. Gettens at the Fogg Art Museum, this paper provides insight into the complexity of defining the work of the conservation scientist even at one of the intellectual centers of the nascent field. Reflecting on Paramasivan's early career provides perspective on enduring challenges in conservation, and offers a way forward for a more expansive, collaborative, and community-engaged practice.
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Postprints of the October 2016 Penn Museum symposium, “Engaging Conservation: Collaboration Across Disciplines.”, 2017
Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 2017
Using the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum (JHAM) as a case study, this article explores the ... more Using the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum (JHAM) as a case study, this article explores the unique approaches used to rehouse a collection with a core teaching mission. Unlike the collections of more traditional museums, the JHAM's holdings are meant to be used by students, faculty, and researchers as a means of pursuing knowledge. Supporting this pedagogical mission requires innovative rehousing approaches that protect the collection while ensuring its use. This paper discusses recently implemented rehousing strategies that emphasize high visibility, ease of accessibility, and guided handling of objects, and considers the unique challenges and advantages of providing access to such a collection. Rehousing is also posited as only one aspect of collections care; rather, the authors propose that a more holistic approach to the long-term preservation of objects in the museum's care encompasses not only their physical stability through rehousing and conservation, but also the stability and stewardship of their provenance histories and collection data. The ultimate goal of these various modes of care should be ensuring that the collection “works” such that the use of objects maintains and extends their meanings and utility.
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E-News, International Committee for Egyptology in the International Council of Museums., 2016
Conservators Converse, 2016
Conservators engage with legacies of the past; specifically, how artifacts were created, used, co... more Conservators engage with legacies of the past; specifically, how artifacts were created, used, collected and conserved. Most museum collections contain historically significant objects that may never be displayed or studied because they were damaged by prior collecting or conservation processes. Damaged objects, however, are worthy of investigation because they evidence the moment of their creation, and more recent attempts to collect and conserve them.
This paper argues that conservators working on human remains preserve not only the physical remna... more This paper argues that conservators working on human remains preserve not only the physical remnants of a once-living body, but also the traces of the narratives of a human life and its afterlife. The author examines the conservator's ethical and moral obligations to the dead and their associated artifacts, and considers the conservator's role in both dehumanizing remains into mere "objects," and in rehumanizing such "objects." These issues are explored in relation to the conservation of the remains of three specific individuals and their possessions: an ancient Egyptian female mummy now in a museum in the United States, an ancient Egyptian child excavated on an archaeological site, and a beatified Catholic nun's relics and bone fragment. The author recounts her personal interactions with these three individuals to argue that the traditionally detached, technical role of the conservator may be inappropriate or inadequate when preserving both the tangible and intangible aspects of human remains. The paper suggests that even minimal and mundane conservation practices can take on invasive qualities or new ritual significance when performed on human remains, and that respectful conservation treatments elicit an empathy for, and emotional response to, the remains themselves.
The preservation of cultural property is never a neutral activity; and the question of who is to ... more The preservation of cultural property is never a neutral activity; and the question of who is to possess, care for, and interpret artifacts is highly politically charged. This paper examines how preservation was used as a justification for the removal of pieces of immovable archaeological sites in the early twentieth century, and became a tool for building museum collections. This study focuses on a collection of 12 wall painting fragments from the site of Dunhuang, China, which were removed by art historian Langdon Warner in 1924 for the Fogg Art Museum. The removal process resulted in significant damage to some of the fragments as well as to the site itself, calling into question what is preserved: an intact ancient artifact or an ancient artifact scarred by and embedded with its modern collection history? Using the Harvard collection as an example,
Books by Sanchita Balachandran
Selections from the Eton College Myers Collection, 2016
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Papers by Sanchita Balachandran
https://www.west86th.bgc.bard.edu/articles/malignant-patina/
https://doi.org/10.3390/arts8020070
http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/uncovering-ancient-preparatory-drawings-on-greek-ceramics/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00393630.2018.1433002
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01971360.2017.1285164
Books by Sanchita Balachandran
https://www.west86th.bgc.bard.edu/articles/malignant-patina/
https://doi.org/10.3390/arts8020070
http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/uncovering-ancient-preparatory-drawings-on-greek-ceramics/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00393630.2018.1433002
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01971360.2017.1285164