Beyond Physical Form: Art, Ethics, and Human Remains in Museums

The ethical challenges surrounding human remains in museums are increasingly urgent, raising questions of cultural sensitivity, historical injustice, and the responsibilities of contemporary institutions.

This research project produced a workshop, organised by Dr Halina Suwalowska and artist Anna Suwalowska, that brought together museum professionals, artists, academics, and scientists to explore how human remains should be displayed, studied, and repatriated, and how art can contribute to these vital conversations.

Set within a global health context, the workshop examined how museums navigate ethical complexities around care for the dead with a particular focus on the role of art in these conversations.

The outcomes from the workshop will be a publication summarising the discussions (2025), a special issue on the topic intersecting art, ethics, and science (2026), and a further symposium planned for next year.

The workshop builds on BEYOND PHYSICAL FORM, a platform initiated by Dr Halina Suwalowska and Anna Suwalowska in 2019 to explore the intersections of art, science, and ethics. This work engages with medical institutions, cultural and heritage organisations, and underrepresented communities to open dialogue about the treatment of the dead and the cultural sensitivities that surround it.

This project follows previous GLIDE funded projects Ethical issues in the management of dead bodies during infectious disease outbreaks and Homage to the Departed.

SPEAKERS:

• Professor Laura Van Broekhoven, Director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, UK
• Professor Margaret Chisolm, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins ,University, Baltimore, USA
• Dr Errol Francis, Artistic Director and CEO of Culture&, London, UK
• Luba Kozak, a Ph.D. candidate in the Faculty of Media, Arts, and Performance, University of Regina, Canada
• Professor David Morris, Visiting Professor, Department of Heritage Studies, Sol Plaatje University, South Africa & Honorary Research Associate, McGregor Museum, Kimberley
• Dr Chimwemwe Phiri, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Humanitarian Conflict Response Institute, University of Manchester, UK
• Anna Suwalowska, Artist, Founder of BEYOND PHYSICAL FORM platform, UK/Poland
• Dr Halina Suwalowska, Research Fellow in Global Health Bioethics, Ethox Centre, University of
• Oxford, UK
• Dr Natalie Tegama, Postdoctoral Researcher in Global Health Ethics, University of Oxford, UK
• Iris Terradura, MEG - Musée d’ethnographie de Genève, (Ethnography Museum), Geneva, Switzerland

Workshop details

• Art, Ethics, and Human Remains in Museums – Workshop
• 24th–25th March 2025
• Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford
• Organised by Dr Halina Suwalowska (GLIDE, University of Oxford) and Anna Suwalowska (artist)

© Isaac Cheng © Isaac Cheng

© Isaac Cheng © Isaac Cheng

Photos: top left - Errol Francis & Anna Suwalowska; top right - Laura Van Broekhoven; bottom left - David Morris ; bottom right - Natalie Tegama & Iris Terradura