Field research in ancient Rome
Ramsey says she will use the funding from the scholarship to support a research residency at the CRETA ceramics centre in Rome from September 18 to October 22.
“As part of my field research, I plan on taking tours of the ancient Roman sewer, the Cloaca Maxima,” she explains. “According to Mark Bradley, a classics professor at the University of Nottingham, the sewer functioned both technically and metaphorically, as it was often used as a place to cast out society’s unwanted, from tyrants to criminals — literally washing them from the city.”
Ramsey adds that she’s excited to observe the shapes, forms and ideas embedded in ancient Rome’s hygiene infrastructure.
“I have always loved visiting caves and subterranean places during my travels, and this funding allows me to experience and research a part of the Eternal City that is often forgotten about.”
The artist’s travel itinerary also includes a visit to Ostia Antica, where there are well-preserved examples of the city’s famous ancient communal toilets and the Forum Baths.
At the end of October, before returning to Montreal, Ramsey will travel to Visby, Sweden, the home of the Brucebo Foundation, to give a public lecture on her research and travel experience.
