Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas

08/10/2026

alumnus news

17/08/2026

Info and registration sites for the SRU’s autumn symposium (25-26 Sept), entitled "Surface Work as Crafting Worlds: Perspectives on Making and Meaning in the Indigenous Americas," are now up, including for the speakers/abstracts and the registration site. Advance registration for lunch/tea catering numbers (any bookings refundable up until 12 Sep). We look forward to seeing you here in late September!

Date: 25-26 Sept 2026 (Fri 11 am to Sat 1.30 pm)
Venue: Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts & ZICER Building (Univ of East Anglia campus, Norwich)
For queries, e-mail: [email protected]

18/06/2026

A milestone for Recuay culture! SRU are glad to have been part of this new minting and Peruvian Nuevo Sol coin release, adding value and commitment to Peru's amazing history and millenary past.

29/05/2026

Announcement for Online Conference Series hosted by the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino--

Art in Patterns: Form and Geometrization Across Time and Space
June 4, 11, and 18, 2026 · 10:00 AM (GMT-4)

For more information and registration:

The Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino presents a new online seminar exploring geometric art and the use of patterns across cultures, historical periods, and regions of the world.

19/05/2026

Hot off the press! Very pleased to announce the most recent issue of World Art, on "Artiplaces: Ecological & Ontological Entanglements of Ancient Artworks" (Vol. 16(2), a special issue coordinated by Ben Alberti and Christopher Watts) -- https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rwor20/16/2

21/04/2026

Please join us for a seminar by Chris Heaney (Penn State University), entitled "From Huaqueo to Museum: Andean Ancestors and the Early History of South American Archaeology in Britain."

Friday 15 May 2026, at 4 pm. SRU Seminar Room, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia (UEA). Further details attached.

27/02/2026

Please join us for a seminar by Prof Anita Herle (Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, Cambridge), entitled "Activating Anthropology’s Archive: Alfred Haddon and Torres Strait Islander Kastom."

>Wednesday 11 March 2026 at 4:30pm
>Room 01.10 at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia (UEA). Further details below.

27/02/2026

Photographer Andy Crouch, longtime Sainsbury Centre and SRU colleague, has a show, "Norfolk Suite," soon in Norwich, Crypt Gallery. Private view 17 April, 6-8 pm, an exhibition of 50 colour photographs from a period from 2002 to the present of journeys around Norfolk. www.andycrouch.co.uk

20/02/2026

New (lunar) year, new World Art issue! And aptly, on the cover, Venetian-made glassware featuring aventurine paste prized by the Qing court -- Gung Hay Fat Choy!
https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rwor20/16/1

16/02/2026

Lecture next month by SRU alumnus Prof F***y Wonu Veys (Wereldmuseum Leiden & Leiden University), 5 to 6pm, Thursday 5 March 2026. The Queen’s Lecture Theatre, Emmanuel College (Cambridge University), followed by 6.15-7.30 pm Drinks reception, MAA. For more info: maa.cam.ac.uk.

Abstract: When the exhibition Pasifika Styles opened in 2006, I was a staff member of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. For me it was the first time I collaborated with contemporary artists who worked with the museum’s ethnographic collections. Looking back at this foundational exhibition – in terms of curatorial, museological practices and thematic explorations – I will discuss the diversification of Pacific stories that ensued in European museums and propose pathways for the future.