Visual Studies Network Research Seminar

Iconographies of Civilisation and Ruins – Aotearoa

New Zealand Soldiers’ Encounters with Ancient Egypt during the First World War

Dr Anya Samarasinghe

Letters written by Aotearoa’s soldiers stationed in Egypt during the First World War reference the ancient monuments, sites, and stories associated with Egypt’s ancient past. These accounts have a vivid visual character expressed through descriptions of ruins. Some of these descriptions are echoed in sketches and watercolours made by soldiers. Formal and iconographic analysis of this visual material situates ancient Egypt in a wider cultural imaginary space and encapsulates an interest in the picturesque and the concept of ancient Egypt as a mysterious landmark in the history of Western civilisation. This paper considers how contested histories, visual imagination, and concepts of Egypt, the British Empire, and Aotearoa New Zealand are refracted through the prism of Aotearoa soldiers’ encounters with Egypt’s ancient past during the First World War.

Anya Samarasinghe is the 2025 Ihupukutaka Kairaupī Curatorial Intern at Dunedin Public Art Gallery. She completed her PhD on Victorian art collections in Aotearoa’s public art galleries in 2023 and has worked on projects involving the reception of ancient Egypt and medieval culture in Aotearoa.

For a link to attend online please contact Ed Hanfling: ed.hanfling@op.ac.nz