Exhibition Design by Adam Pugh

A twist of the hand

Fri 18 June 2021 - Fri 3 September 2021

Museum of Classical Archaeology

A twist of the hand is an exhibition of wall drawings informed by the use of pattern and colour in ancient Greece and Rome. Preserved architectural details, remnants of colour, geometric mosaics, and objects all serve as points of departure for the creation of new works, carefully sited among the Museum of Classical Archaeology’s cast collection. James Epps evokes the colourful worlds from which the ancient sculptures derive, inviting new relationships of pattern and colour.

Epps' works are bright, playful and mounted directly onto the Museum’s breeze-block walls. The mountboard is arranged in patterns, formulated to sit within the architectural features of the museum’s gallery itself, or in dialogue with casts from the collection. Visitors can gain a unique insight into Epps' working methods in his arrangement of the museum’s pottery sherd collection alongside materials and research sources from his own practice.


Epps’ work creates a compelling and complex dialogue between our contemporary moment and the historic past. Plaster casts such as the Loacoön Group, where the figure’s arm has changed position over a lifetime of repairs, are emblematic of how these casts and their originals are not fixed but like all artworks change across time.


For more information visit www.classics.cam.ac.uk/museum/exhibitions/exhibitions/twist-hand






The exhibition design identity is by Adam Pugh.

The development of work for this exhibition was supported by Arts Council England, Developing your Creative Practice.

Cost: Free