Spotlight conversations

Dr Daniel Soliman is an Egyptologist, researcher and renowned expert in ancient Egyptian history. Since 2019, Daniel has been curator of the Egyptian and Nubian Collection at the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities, conducting research and creating and contributing to exhibitions on ancient Egypt, including Discovering Ancient Egypt. Among his interests are the histories of collecting Egyptian antiquities and the many ways in which ancient Egypt is interpreted in contemporary pop-culture. Daniel is also co-director of the excavations carried out at the ancient site of Saqqara in Egypt by the Dutch museum and its partners.

Ronika Power is Professor of Bioarchaeology in the Department of History and Archaeology at Macquarie University, and Director of the Centre for Ancient Cultural Heritage and Environment (CACHE). Ronika’s research platform aligns with biocultural archaeological approaches, whereby data derived from scientific analyses of the human body is interpreted in conjunction with all other forms of archaeological and historical evidence to provide meaningful insights into the demography, health, diet, environment, lifeways and world views of individuals and groups from past populations.

Dr Melanie Pitkin is an Egyptologist and Senior Curator of the Nicholson Collection of Antiquities and Archaeology at the University of Sydney. She completed her PhD on the history and chronology of First Intermediate Period Egyptian stelae at Macquarie University (now published as a monograph) and was a Postdoctoral scholar in the Egyptian Antiquities Department at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Melanie has more than 15 years of professional experience working in museums in Australia and the UK and providing support to museums in Egypt.

Craig Middleton is a senior curator at the National Museum of Australia and an honorary lecturer at the Australian National University. He has wide ranging interests in Australian social history, histories of LGBTIQ+ people and communities, and critical museology.

Craig believes in the role of arts and culture to strengthen communities, combat social exclusion, and support a healthy and active democracy. Craig is the lead coordinating curator of Discovering Ancient Egypt.

Living Egypt – Exploring contemporary expressions of culture, creativity and identity

Thursday 4 April 2024

From the deep past to the present day, Egyptians have fascinated and inspired people across the globe with their art, literature, music and architecture. Ongoing cultural connections and ancient traditions continue to inform and inspire contemporary life, both within Egypt itself and across the Egyptian diaspora.

This conversation invited visitors to consider contemporary Egyptian cultural expressions, encompassing art, film, feminism and more. It explored how the creative practices and knowledge held by performers, artists, creatives and scholars can shape and interact with modern society and identity.

Dr Raafat Ishak is an artist and Senior Lecturer in Art at the Victorian College of the Arts, whose practice includes painting, drawing and installation. Informed by architecture and his Arabic cultural heritage, Raafat seamlessly mixes the personal with the political, highlighting the circularity and interdependency of these relationships. His work is subtle, contemplative and responsive to the nuances of cross-cultural dialogue.

Dr Lucia Sorbera is a historian of the Arab world and Africa, specialising in the history of women, gender and sexuality. She is Chair of the Discipline of Arabic Language and Cultures in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at The University of Sydney. Lucia has published extensively on the political and cultural history of modern and contemporary Egypt. She combines her academic activity with public engagement, regularly participating as an invited speaker at literary and film festivals.

Helana Sawires is an Egyptian–Australian actress based in Sydney. She comes from a large, creative family of artists and musicians and has always been involved in the world of performing arts and crafts. She is a passionate visual artist, plays Egyptian tabla and is studying flamenco dancing. Helana is known for her acting roles in the film Ali’s Wedding, the play Tales of a City by the Sea and the highly acclaimed ABC TV series Stateless.

Dr Lisa Agaiby is Senior Lecturer in Coptic Studies and Academic Dean of St Athanasius College, University of Divinity, Melbourne. Her areas of interest include early Egyptian monasticism, archaeology, manuscript studies and Christian–Arabic studies.

Lisa is leading a pioneering project to digitise and catalogue the rich collection of manuscripts at the ancient Coptic monastery of St Paul the Hermit at the Red Sea in Egypt.

Professor Malcolm Choat is Head of the Department of History and Archaeology in the Faculty of Arts at Macquarie University, Sydney. His research focuses on early Christianity, monasticism, scribal practice, and magic in Roman and Late Antique Egypt, which he studies via Greek and Coptic papyri.

Malcolm's current research interests also deal with discourses of authenticity, debates over cultural heritage, and the reception of the ancient world, in particular how it is experienced today and our interactions with the nations and peoples whose pasts we study.

Associate Professor Mehmet Ozalp is a prominent Muslim theologian in Australia. He is Head of School at the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation at Charles Sturt University and specialises in teaching classic and contemporary Islamic history.

Mehmet has written four books, including 101 Questions You Asked About Islam, and numerous other publications. Since 2023 he has spearheaded the establishment of the Sydney Islamic Art Museum.

Dr Lily Withycombe is a curator at the National Museum of Australia. With a background in Roman archaeology, she has worked on international loan exhibitions such as Rome: City and Empire and Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors and Heroes, as well as Discovering Ancient Egypt.

Lily is particularly interested in making such exhibitions relevant to Australian audiences and exploring how ancient pasts can illuminate the present.

Shahy Radwan is an Egyptian archaeologist dedicated to studying the human connections and impact of ancient Egyptian civilisation. Shahy studied archaeology at Cairo University and worked as a curator at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation.

Shahy is continuing her research at Flinders University in Adelaide. In 2022, Shahy was the sole Egyptian woman in Australia selected for a Leadership Fellowship under the Egyptian Women Abroad program, recognising her role in representing Egypt's culture and identity on the global stage.

Dr Julia Hamilton is an Egyptologist from Aotearoa New Zealand who joined Macquarie University, Sydney, in 2022 as Lecturer in Egyptology. Julia was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Egyptology at Leiden University and completed a DPhil in Egyptology at the The Queen’s College, Oxford.

Julia has a particular interest in the visual and multi-modal nature of ancient Egyptian language, especially graffiti and the study of names. She is working on a publication with Bloomsbury, titled The Lives and Afterlives of Ancient Egyptian Names.

Dr Anna-Latifa Mourad-Cizek is an archaeologist and historian who explores links between cultural encounters and socio-cultural transformations. Her research focuses on relations between ancient Egypt and Western Asia during the Third and Second Millennia BCE.

Dr Mourad-Cizek has worked with archaeological expeditions in Australia and Egypt. She teaches archaeology at the University of Sydney and holds honorary research fellowships at Macquarie University and the Australian Institute of Archaeology.

Ali Ibrahim is an archaeologist specialising in the conservation and restoration of cultural materials and heritage buildings. He has worked at the Grand Egyptian Museum and on archaeological sites in Egypt and Chile.

Ali moved to Australia in 2021 to further his studies at the University of Sydney. He is an assistant curator at the Chau Chak Wing Museum, working on a project interpreting the Egyptian collection and connecting with the Egyptian community in Sydney.

Craig Middleton is a senior curator at the National Museum of Australia and an honorary lecturer at the Australian National University. He has wide ranging interests in Australian social history, histories of LGBTIQ+ people and communities, and critical museology.

Craig believes in the role of arts and culture to strengthen communities, combat social exclusion, and support a healthy and active democracy. Craig is the lead coordinating curator of Discovering Ancient Egypt.