Yasmine El Meleegy

The sculptural piece is a recreation of an anatomical eye model artifact:  located in the pharmacy museum in Basel. ElMeleegy re-produced a similar version of it; only she decontextualized it, displaying it in Bimerstan Qalalwoon (Islamic old hospital in Cairo) like a non functional museum giftshop – the only obvious reference to its origin being the work's title "Ivory Eye Model -The 16th century-The pharmacy museum Basel''. as reflection of the narratives of power that are invested in pharmaceutical artifacts. Over the course of the project, ElMeleegy traces the trajectory of those narratives surrounding the history of medicine in an age of globalization and museology. It seeks to reconcile early forms of looting and dispossession, and official, accepted narrative forms that are found in science museums and pharmacy museums.

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*The research started and was partially developed during a residency at Atelier Mondial Basel, Prohelvetia Cairo in 2018. Produced with support from MARMONIL.

 

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