An ex voto is a votive offering to a saint or deity, given as a token of gratitude for a miracle performed. It is, in its essence, a tangible celebration of an ephemeral event, the material commemoration or expectation of supernatural activity. The impulse to create such objects is global and trans-historical. Examples range from antiquity to the present, from the Himalayan slopes to the forests of South America. Ex votos represent an intimate act of religious devotion that bridges cultural divisions.

April 28

Peter N. Miller
Bard Graduate Center, New York
Welcome

Ittai Weinryb
Bard Graduate Center, New York
Introduction: Ex Votos as Material Culture

Jessica Hughes
The Open University, Milton Keynes
The Biography of an Anatomical Votive from Hellenistic Italy

John Guy
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
New Evidence for the Circulation of Buddhist Votive Tablets in early Southeast Asia

Alexia Petsalis-Diomidis
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Shifting Scales and Perspectives: Votive Dedications from the Classical Greek Healing Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidauros

Megan Holmes
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Renaissance Perspectives on Classical Antique Votive Practices: Antonio degli Agli at Impruneta

Fredrika Jacobs
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond
The Narrative Modes of Sixteenth Century Tavolette Votive

Hilary K. Snow
Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore
Donated Before the Gods: Popular Display of Edo Period Ema Tablets

Clara Bargellini
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City)
Whose Devotion? Votive Arts in New Spain

Christopher S. Wood
Yale University, New Haven
The Votive Scenario

April 29

Hannah Baader
Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florence
Vows on Water: Ships, Naves, Wreckages

Christiane Gruber
Indiana University, Bloomington
Nazr Necessities: Votive Practices and Objects in Iranian Muharram Ceremonies

Diana Fane
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York
A Mountain Made of Amaranth Dough, A Gingerbread Cookie shaped as a Female Breast, A Tortilla Marked by a Christian Cross: Some Observations on the History and Significance of Votive Offerings in Edible Media

Kristin Hass
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Speaking the Sacred with the Profane? A Return to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection

“Ex Voto: Images Across Cultures” has been supported in part by a grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation