Crafting Conversations: Discourses on the Craft Heritage of the Islamic World – Past, Present and Future

Title: Two Sides of the Same Coin: Is There a Difference between Islamic Art and Craft?
Presenter: Marcus Milwright, Professor of Islamic Art & Archaeology and Chair of the Department of Art History and Visual Studies, University of Victoria, BC, Canada

This conversation will focus on the ways in which the crafts of the Islamic world have been represented in scholarship and in contemporary art and museum practice. A particular issue in this respect is the imposition of a dichotomy, derived from Western European art historical scholarship, that a distinction can be made in material and visual culture between ‘Fine Art’ and ‘Craft,’ with the latter being accorded less significance in art historical terms. The session will question the validity of this distinction and suggest ways in which we can view the making of Islamic art, both historically and in the present day, on its own terms.

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