Between Us and The Ancients: The Instant and Eternity, Katerina Jebb at Museo Nazionale Romano

Between Us and The Ancients: The Instant and Eternity, Katerina Jebb’s series of studies of the human body at Museo Nazionale Romano

British artist Katerina Jebb presents a series of large-scale works set amidst the ruins of the Baths of Diocletian at the Museo Nazionale Romano in Rome. Displayed alongside a curated selection of the museum’s sculptures, vases, and antique works, Jebb’s  scanographic works depict nude Venuses assembled with scans of female bodies.

The works juxtapose timeless standards of beauty that span several millennia with the raw forensic ‘impartiality’ of scanning technology. In their life-size form, these overlayed scans of physical bodies capture the vulnerability and intimacy of the body. As the scanner registers and flattens the body into an image, the works are transformed into relics and imbued with an aura. The palpable sense of aliveness of the works, with their vivid and corporeal subjects, contrasts with the museum’s collection—cold, immobile, and crystalized in time.

On view until July 30th, 2023 at the National Museum of Rome – Baths of Diocletian.
Viale Enrico de Nicola, 78, 00185 Rome, Italy

Text and Images by Aleph Molinari