Mark Roskill Symposium 2022: ‘The Witching Hour: Occultism and Magic in Visual Culture’

The Department of History of Art and Architecture is hosting the second annual Mark Roskill Symposium on Wednesday, Sept. 21, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Amherst Women’s Club.

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The  2022 annual Mark Roskill Symposium presents “The Witching Hour: Occultism and Magic in Visual Culture.” Interdisciplinary at its core, this symposium aims to recognize the relevance of spiritual practices that have shaped history and culture, a conversation that will be enriched through the lens of contemporary feminism.

The symposium will feature public scholar Pam Grossman– writer, curator, and teacher of magical history. Her writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, TIME.com, and many more widely-read publications. Grossman is the host of The Witch Wave podcast, co-organizer of the biennial Occult Humanities Conference at New York University, associate editor of Abraxas International Journal of Esoteric Studies, and co-founder of the Brooklyn arts and lecture space observatory, where her programming explored mysticism via a scholarly yet accessible approach.

For this event, she will be presenting her lecture “Witch Pictures,” which overviews how visual representations of witches and magic intersect with changing historical attitudes towards minoritized genders. Grossman’s talk will be expanded upon by three scholars from within the Five College network: Debbie Felton, classic, UMass Amherst; Alexis Callender, art, Smith College; and Natasha Staller, art history, Amherst College.

The event will take place at the iconic Amherst Woman’s Club, whose Victorian architecture creates the perfect intimate and intriguing atmosphere for this year’s conversation. The Woman’s Club supports our mission of accessibility to the Five College campuses and the surrounding community. This location is walkable from campus and is located right off the PVTA bus routes 30 and 33. If other arrangements for transportation would be necessary, please contact the department at the email listed to the left of this page.

Esselon Café catering will be served from 5:30 to 6 p.m., after which the symposium will begin.

The event can be accessed via the following Zoom link: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/95223181033