COCIAL | 21 S Evergreen Ave #200 | Arlington Heights

Explore how Chicago’s major museums—the Art Institute, the Field Museum, and the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures—built their Egyptian collections and how these artifacts are presented today. In this visually rich talk, Art Institute curator Ashley Arico traces the stories behind statues, amulets, coffins, and more, revealing how approaches to collecting and exhibiting ancient Egypt have evolved over the past century.

Ashley Arico is Associate Curator of Ancient Egyptian Art at the Art Institute of Chicago. She holds a PhD in Near Eastern Studies from Johns Hopkins University and has worked with collections at the Walters Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and others. In 2022, she curated Life and Afterlife in Ancient Egypt at the Art Institute and co-authored the museum’s 2025 digital catalogue Ancient Egyptian Art at the Art Institute of Chicago.

This program is presented as part of One Book, One Village. 

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