Manchester Museum’s latest installation at Manchester Central Library, Young, Rich and Famous, looks at how we will be remembered after death.
In an age of selfies and, let’s face it, oversharing on social media, the Museum asks what immortality actually means. Images and memories of us could live on forever digitally, but what of the Ancient Egyptians?
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Young, Rich & Famous features some of the highlights of Manchester Museum’s Ancient Egypt and Sudan collection of over 18,000 objects. The installation explores the stories and significance of life, death and immortality in Egypt.
Most of what survives from ancient Egypt comes from the tombs of the wealthy. And it reinforces the ideal of eternal youth, with tomb paintings, statues, coffins and masks showing people as they hoped to appear instead of the filters of today’s social media. These objects were designed for the journey to and existence in the afterlife resulting in the popular impression of all Egyptians being rich and perfectly youthful. However, most ancient Egyptians were farmers and left no trace of their existence.
Manchester Museum’s Young, Rich and Famous offers an opportunity to see the collection from the Ancient Worlds galleries in different locations during Manchester Museum’s huge refurbishment. Its Ancient Worlds gallaries are closed until early 2021, but Manchester Museum is working with local communities and businesses to display its collections across the city. It is inviting people to share their ideas of where in Manchester they would like to see other artefacts from the museum, if you have an idea please tweet #MMAsMyCity
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Young, Rich and Famous runs at Manchester Central Library until 1 January 2020.
