Karina Corrigan is the principal curator for ‘Asian Export Art’ at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.
- Karina in one of the museum’s spectacular galleries
This is the genre of art that was produced in the major ports of Asia in 18th and 19th centuries – cities such as Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, and most notably Canton (Guangzhou).
- View of Canton, 1750-1800, ivory bas-relief, Peabody Essex Museum
One of the greatest pleasures of embarking on the Ibis Trilogy was that of being drawn into the exuberantly improvisatory, wildly interfused, kedgeree-and-achar, can-do ethos of the world that produced this genre of art. I have come to love its startlingly innovative creations and the unusual characters who populate it.
- Rajinder Dutt, ca. 1848, clay, straw, paint, cloth, attributed Shri Ram Pal
I have long known that the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts
possesses what is probably the world’s finest collection of works of this genre, but for one reason or another I wasn’t able to visit the museum until a couple of weeks ago, when I had the immense good fortune of being shown around the collection by Karina herself, and her colleague Susan Bean, who is the Curator of South Asian and Korean Art at the Museum.
- Susan Bean, framed by Anish Kapoor’s ‘Halo’
I will be writing at greater length about the Museum when time permits, but suffice it to say for now that my viewing of the Museum’s treasures was enormously enriched by Karina and Susan’s erudition and intimate familiarity with the collection.
In the course of the tour I discovered that Karina also supports a voluntary group in Chennai that works on issues of public health and education. Recently she sent me this message:
Do you know anyone interested in a working holiday in India?
This is a great opportunity with Nalamdana, the public health communication non-profit based in Chennai, India with which I am affiliated.
Since 1993, this creative collaboration has created street plays on a variety of health issues, and Nalamdana has reached more than half a million people through street theatre, and many more through other media like tele-dramas, interactive media and print. Nalamdana’s performances are targeted at a semi-literate and illiterate audience in rural and urban Tamil Nadu. They are now launching a radio program with which to reach an even wider audience, so it’s an exciting time to be involved with this dynamic organization.
Would you share this with individuals and/or the universities with which you are connected (or let me know which offices at those institutions to direct this info)?
Here is a link to the page on Nalamdana’s website that has specific information about the working holiday program.