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    Visiting Mummy

    Visiting Mummy: Special exhibition wraps up unique view of our fascination with the dead

    Tarra Gaines
    Oct 4, 2016 | 10:57 am

    Mummies. For some, the word might conjure images of homemade Halloween costumes, tame horror movies or silly adventure-flicks, but the Houston Museum of Natural is trying to dispel such misconceptions with Mummies of the World: The Exhibition, an informative yet fun examination of the science of mummies. The exhibition, touted as the largest traveling collection of real mummies and related artifacts, allows visitors to walk among the dead and discover how often mummification becomes just one last stop on nature’s life cycle.

     

    I recently headed down to the museum for a special tour of Mummies of the World with expert guides Dirk Van Tuerenhout, HMNS curator of anthropology, and James Schanandore, the exhibition’s curator. Before viewing the galleries I knew would feature shrunken heads, mummified cats and bog bodies, I worried the macabre and bizarreness of the subject matter might overwhelm the experience.

     

    I soon found with its focus on the process of corpse preservation along with a respect for the varying cultural attitudes towards the dead, the exhibition does much to show that mummification is sometimes a very natural part of death.

     

     Mummy-kinds

     

    Organized thematically more than by geography, Mummies of the World is divided by the two different types of mummies, naturally created mummies and anthropogenic (human-created) mummies, with examples from both categories on display and all equally fascinating.

     

    Nature and environmental factors mummify the dead more often than human cultures have. Mounted texts, videos and interactive stations within the galleries give easily understood lessons on the process of decay. The key ingredients needed for decomposition are water and oxygen. Whether they are intensely cold or hot, dry environments can imbed bacteria from beginning the process of breaking down organic material and instead bodies become dried and mummified.

     

    Meanwhile, some great civilizations like the ancient Egyptians succeeded in artificially preserving bodies. While modern mortuary practices embalm the deceased for the living to view one last time, Egyptians wanted to preserve the dead for immortality since they believed the body was the house for a soul.

     

    Nature and humans have sometimes clashed in a strange struggle over the dead, as one culture might strive to return the body to the earth while environmental factors instead preserved the flesh. In other places and time periods people established rituals and methods for preserving the body from natural decomposition.

     

     Forces of Preserving Nature

     

    Within the galleries displaying naturally preserved mummies we get to know the stories of individuals and even families whose bodies over the centuries withstood decay because of the dry conditions within the crypts where they were laid to rest. The exhibition begins with Baron von Holz, a 17th-century nobleman, who’s still wearing some fantastically enduring boots, and ends with the Orlovits family–mother, father and son–who all died from tuberculosis in the early 18th century. Scientists have even been able to study the inert bacteria still present in their lungs.

     

    I also found the galleries filled with nameless mummies, those without records and stories, like two Peruvian child mummies and the remains of a woman found in a bog in the Netherlands to be most sad yet somehow beautiful.

     

     Humans Raging Against the Dying Light

     

    About half the galleries focus on human attempts to combat death’s decay, with a special focus on Egyptian practices. HMNS visitors will likely find the fully intact mummies Nes-Mer and Nes-Hor, satisfy all their classic mummy expectations. The exhibition even gives us some background on the lives of these exhibition stars along with a fascinating look into Egyptian burial practices. Look for wall text information on the mummified animals entombed to join the dearly departed into the great beyond.

     

    But these thousands-of-years old mummies have competition from the 22 years-young whippersnapper, MUMAB a.k.a the Maryland Mummy. In an attempt to replicate ancient Egyptian practices, scientists at the University of Maryland at Baltimore preserved the body of an elderly man who had donated his remains. The MUMAB room allows viewers to pay their respect to a modern man treated in death like a pharaoh.

     

     Mummies of the World does try to explore the whole world and even gives insight into the shrunken head trade in South America. (In the mid-19th century Europeans were so taken by the practice, they created replica shrunken heads from unclaimed bodies.) We also can view a mummy head from Vanuatu, the South Pacific Island near Papua New Guinea. The culture so revered their ancestors they smoked the heads of deceased, painted them and kept them close to watch over the living.

     

    In the end, the exhibition tells us as much about the human relationship with death as it does how the dead preserve.

     

     Mummies of the World: The Exhibition will be on view at the Houston Museum of Natural Science until May 29, 2017.

    Three shrunken heads in the exhibition.

    Mummies of the World at HMNS
      
    Mummies of the World Courtesy Photo
    Three shrunken heads in the exhibition.
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    Best July Art

    Where to see art in Houston now: 9 fun new exhibits opening in July

    Tarra Gaines
    Jul 9, 2025 | 4:30 pm
    ​Artechouse presents "Blooming Worlds"
    Photo courtesy of Artechouse
    Artechouse presents "Blooming Worlds"

    Art blooms in our world class museums but also on our city streets this July. From exhibitions featuring traditional paintings and sculptures to high tech immersive and interactive shows, we’re weaving art into the best of summertime fun and dreaming up beautiful new artistic creations all over Houston.

    “Town Meeting 1978-2028” at Art League Houston (now through July 20)
    Pioneering Houston-based interdisciplinary artists Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin continue their decades-long project to create new and sometimes monumental artworks in response to little-known pre-Stonewall queer histories. For this latest exhibition, the duo explore a more recent and influential piece of Houston history, “Town Meeting I,” the pivotal convening of 4,000 LGBTQIA+ Houstonians at the Astro Arena in 1978. For this show at Art League, they’ve used their “wind drawing” technique of stenciling unfixed charcoal powder on paper and blowing it away, leaving a ghost-image. Using archival images of “Town Meeting I” as the bases of their stenciling, the finished “wind drawings” highlight the ephemerality, beauty, and loss of queer histories. In addition to these new works, Vaughan and Margolin hope to inspire, facilitate, and develop programming in 2028 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of “Town Meeting 1.”

    “Fragmentos de un sueño que yo también soñé (Fragments of a Dream I Also Dreamed)" at Art League Houston (now through July 20)
    “Every house is a body, and every individual body is a house full of memories and hopes,” says award-winning Venezuela born, Chicago-based artist, Jeffly Gabriela Molina, of her artistic focus. Molina’s fragmented, layered, and figural compositions explore that idea of home and memories. Delving into memories and stories, these figurative compositions, depicting people and relationships, fluctuate between stories of the present, past, and future. Taken together, the works in “Fragmentos de un sueño” aim to visually capture the feelings of vulnerability, nostalgia, and hope embedded in the experience of many immigrants. Art League notes that Molina’s pieces emphasize optimism over hardship, specifically addressing the longing for a home that no longer exists while striving to create a new one.

    “Every Fiber of Their Bodies” at Art League Houston (now through July 20)
    Working with natural fibers such as linen, paper collage, and hand-spun paper yarn made from calligraphy paper and book pages, textile artist Lin Qiqing weaves stories ofhuman relationships, gender, immigration, and language. As the title hints, the labor-intensive weaving process brings thematic depth to the images of bodies depicted in the pieces. The woven pieces also make connections to the natural world, as when Lin crumples then smooths handmade mulberry paper to resemble human skin, or when she uses handwoven fiber to mimic the body’s movement. Lin process includes research and experimenting with natural materials to explore themes of the internal human struggle for existence and our interactions with the world around us.

    “Annual Juried Exhibition” at Archway Gallery (now through July 31)
    For the 17th year, the artist owned Archway Gallery celebrates Houston artists with its juried exhibition of area artists who are not members of the space. This year’s exhibition is juried by Project Row Houses founder and MacArthur "genius" fellow, Rick Lowe. The acclaimed artist and social activist has selected work from over 35 area artists representing a diversity of medium and styles. Sales from the exhibition will go to Houston’s Brave Little Company, the theater company for Houston’s kids and their gown ups.

    “Foyer Installation: René Magritte” at Menil Collection (now through August 3)
    After a critically acclaimed trip to Australia, some of our favorite Belgian-born Houstonians are back home. Yes, the Magritte paintings have returned to the Menil Collection after taking a star turn in a monumental Magritte retrospective at Sydney’s Art Gallery of New South Wales. Now the Menil is celebrating their return with a special installation in the main building foyer. The Menil Collection owns the largest collection of work by René Magritte outside the artist’s native Belgium, and this display focuses on a core group of paintings from the 1950s and ’60s that truly represent Magritte’s status as a master creator of impossible painted worlds and an icon of the Surrealist movement. The paintings were purchased within a couple years of their making by the museum’s founders, John and Dominique de Menil. They represent and important part of 20th century art history, as the de Menils became Magritte’s biggest champions in the United States, helping to shape the artist’s reception and reputation in the postwar American art world. Stop by to welcome them home and slip into their enigmatic wonder.

    “Blooming Wonders” at Artechouse (now through September)
    The latest immersive exhibition from the Houston venue that brings art, science, and technology home together, Artechouse, lets the flowers blossom. The exhibition contains several dynamic installations, including “Timeless Butterflies,” a 270 degrees projection space that puts visitors in the middle of a butterfly cloud. Audiences journey with a flock of butterflies into an immense garden of flowers. Another immersive piece, “Infinite Blooms” takes audiences on a journey through an endless digital forest of cherry blossoms. The installation, “Akousmaflore et Lux” creates a very different type of garden where plants transform into musical instruments. “Clay Pillar” by Interactive Items / Vadim Mirgorodskii invites visitors to sculpt new forms using clay and a little help from an AI program. Note that “Blooming Wonders” runs simultaneously with the rock ‘n’ roll exhibition, “Amplified” with “Wonders” open during the daytime.

    “Weci | Koninut” at Avenida Houston (now through September 1)
    Houston is a place for big dreams, and this wondrous outdoor exhibition near George R. Brown Convention Center gives us the space to do so. Created by First Nations artists Julie-Christina Picher and Dave Jenniss, this interactive installation weaves together visual arts, Indigenous storytelling and sensory technologies in the form of six immense sculptural dreamcatchers. Each of these dreamcatchers are unique and represent one of the six seasons from the Atikamekw culture, an Indigenous people in Canada. Activated by people passing by, the dreamcatchers come to life with lights, sounds, and story, making the whole installation truly interactive. “Weci | Koninut” creators say that they want the installation to offer a total immersion experience for visitors, to create a moment where nature and dreams converge. Each piece offers a place for the public to slow down, sit, reflect, and yes, dream.

    New Murals in the East End and Midtown (ongoing)
    We could spend days viewing all the new murals painted across town, just in the last few years. But in honor of summer outdoor art viewing, we thought we’d spotlight two noteworthy new additions to our city-wide gallery of murals. As part of his major exhibition last spring at the CAMH, Vincent Valdez worked with San Antonio muralist Rubio and local students to create “Memoria, Memory.” Dedicated to his mother Theresa Santana Valdez (1947–2020), the vivid mural on historic Navigation Boulevard features her favorite bird and flower. Over in Midtown, check out “Stellar Illumination,” the latest installation in the city’s Big Walls Big Dreams mural series. Created by Robin Munro, also known as Dread, the seven stories high “Illumination” depicts a celestial scene of an astronaut gazing at Earth from space.

    “The Weight of Place” at Anya Tish Gallery (July 11-August 23)
    This group exhibition will explore themes of memory and the emotional, psychological, and physical landscapes memories can evoke. The will showcase three contemporary Texas-based female artists: Megan Harrison, Marisol Valencia, and Lillian Warren. While these artists work in different mediums–including large-scale paintings, mixed media works, and elegant porcelain sculptures–they are inspired by personal reflection and nature to create artworks that reflect on the ways we hold onto the past through sensory experience.

    “In Residence: 18th Edition” at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (July 12-June 27, 2026)
    This annual exhibition celebrating the Center’s Artist Residency Program reaches it’s big 18th anniversary. Over the many years, the residency program has supported so many emerging, mid-career, and established artists working in all craft media. The program gives them a space for creative exploration, exchange, and collaboration with other artists, arts professionals, and the public. Now arts and craft lovers will get a chance to see the culmination of that work with this exhibition featuring pieces in fiber, clay, copper, and found objects by 2024-2025 resident artists Prerata Bradley, Stephanie Bursese, Atisha Fordyce, Nela Garzón, Gbenga Komolafe, Gabo Martinez, Preetika Rajgariah, Macon Reed, Jamie Sterling Pitt, Adam Whitney, and Dongyi Wu.

    “My Texas” at Our Texas Cultural Center (July 27-August 22)
    Award winning, Russian-born photographer, Anatoliy Kosterev, chronicles his personal exploration of Texas with photographs he took around the Lone Star State. The photos offer extraordinary views of Texas, from our dynamic cities to dramatic and sometimes lonesome landscapes. Kosterev’s photographic style blends science and technology with an artistic eye. He puts those two perspectives into practice when documenting all facets of life in Texas. Using HDR, drone imaging, macro photography, and traditional camera methods, he captures a diversity of subjects from quiet human moments to vast landscapes to delicate close-ups of insects and flowers.

    \u200bArtechouse presents "Blooming Worlds"
      

    Photo courtesy of Artechouse

    Artechouse presents "Blooming Worlds."

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