By Justin Mallette
In order to share her discoveries from the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra with the world, UC Riverside faculty member Carly Maris turned her findings from multi-language inscriptions in ancient Syria into a museum exhibit for the public to see. She recently spoke at UC Santa Barbara about the process of co-producing a hands-on exhibition titled “Voices of Ancient Palmyra.” The event was part of a research-focused talk hosted by the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.
An ancient city located in modern-day Tadmur District of Syria, Palmyra is filled with history about the region, much of it, Maris found, contained in the inscriptions in various languages, like Aramaic and Greek, that remained dotted around the city. The project involved having people rewrite words from these inscriptions. “The ultimate goal was to make the history of [Palmyra] more accessible to the public,” Maris said.
Carly Maris, UC Riverside faculty member, recounted the story of the public’s interaction with her work.
She began her project to create the museum exhibit in 2017, and Maris described her project from the ground up, discussing “three different stages,” each distinct from the other. The first was an online, interactive phase. Then an art exhibition was developed. And finally, an immersive family outing component was added.
Maris said she encountered many roadblocks, such as funding and finding artists along the way. But through sheer willpower, she was able to create an exhibit that was featured in the summer of 2019 at the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art at CSU San Bernardino. The project recreated life in this oasis city along the Silk Road caravan route, allowing visitors look at theaters and temples, partake in a banquet, and learn to read and write from ancient inscriptions. In addition, Southern California artists contributed contemporary works inspired by the inscriptions.
Though Palmyra had a rich and storied history, Maris’s exhibit focused almost entirely on the various inscriptions found throughout the site in Greek and Latin. “If we want to understand what was happening, we really need to look at these inscriptions,” said Maris.
They ranged from messages to Empress Zenobia, who reigned during the third century, to dedications to gods worshipped in the area. This first step, selecting and translating inscriptions, was integral for the second step in Maris’s work to take place, which involved having artists work with the inscriptions.
When working with artists, Maris really wanted them to figure out for themselves which inscription they would focus on—which inscription spoke the most to them. Maris wanted the artistic direction to come naturally and fluidly and didn’t want them to feel pigeonholed in any way. “The artists loved it. They thought it was great to let these ancient works speak for themselves,” said Maris.
Carly Maris explained how she laid out the Palmyra exhibit to foster public interaction.
As the artists returned their work to her, Maris was already in the midst of designing the exhibit, including one of its most important components, the interactive section. “People could do their own version of an inscription and pin it up,” she said.
The exhibit also featured a video and Maris herself ended up doing a voiceover for it, something she approached with a bit of hesitation. “It was a little weird to hear my voice on an eight-minute loop,” she said. By time the exhibit went up, Maris had what she wanted: an immersive experience to inform the public more about Palmyra.
The final part of the museum exhibit, titled “Time Tours,” has been likened to a Renaissance fair. Maris’ goal was to people into the world of ancient Palmyra to physically feel and see what a day in the ancient city was like. “We wanted to bring in families, increase traffic to the exhibit, and have a day focused on the diversity of the city,” said Maris.
Due to the weather on the day of the “Time Tour” event last July, Maris ended up combining what had originally been conceived as a split event—one for adults, one for children—into one. “The kid who showed up sat in on the talk, and all the adults ended up wearing togas. They had fun with it,” said Maris with a smile.
Justin Mallette is a fourth-year UC Santa Barbara student majoring in Communication and minoring in both English and Professional Writing. He is a Web and Social Media Intern for the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.