The Project

Illustrated manuscripts are in some ways the ancestors of our contemporary graphic novels. Leafing through the pages of Medieval manuscripts, either in person or virtually, is an exciting journey among colors, miniature illustrations and historiated initials, as well as a precious testimony of the past. Our project aims at interpreting those illustrations and in particular the ones of the famous Prudentius' poem Psychomachia. Thanks to the power of digitalisation, many manuscripts are now available and ready to be enhanced in different visualisation projects. This work focuses especially in the Anglo-Saxon illustrated Cambridge Corpus Christi College, MS 023 (CCCC MS 23) and does it through the lens of gender expression and interpretation. Metaphor and allegory have always been employed by classical and late antiquity authors as a rhetorical device for conveying their messages and moral precepts. Gender expression and representation played a crucial role in the construction of what are considered good or bad behaviors. Upholding gender roles meant living up to the expectations, but what happens if the concept of gender is destabilised? How do recent gender- and queer-theoretical thoughts allow us to (re)interpret medieval writings on vices and virtues? Each drawing discussed in this project could be narrated through a queer lens with which to view the past—“queering,” if you will. Thanks to the employ of IIIF and OpenSeaDragon, our project wants to deconstruct and subvert gender representation by interpreting and describing from a different perspective the illustrations of CCCC MS 23. If you would love to know more about our modelling process, here is a detailed documentation.

Who are we?

ELEONORA ZORDAN

During my experience as a librarian, I understood the key role of data and digital humanities in the preservation and dissemination of knowledge, research methodologies and information retrieval. That is why after my bachelor degree in Language, Civilisation and the Science of Language, I decided to attend a MA Degree in Digital and Public Humanities at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Digital projects allow the creation of an interdisciplinary environment, as well as an intersectional usage of data and information. Merging the digital world with history, representation of gender roles in arts and cinema, women’s writings and intersectional feminism is what excites me the most!

SARA BETTIN

With a degree in Art Economics and a Master's degree in Tourism, I have always felt that the world of culture and everything that can surround it is mine. I am intrigued by how technology can bring more and more people closer to humanistic subjects, which are sometimes difficult to understand. I would like to be able to introduce as many people as possible to the variety of subjects that make up history, literature and art. I think that the new computer languages as well as the more banal social media can reach a wide audience and make more people passionate about the humanities, creating a greater understanding of them.