The inspiration for this academic course and art exhibition is the early 19th century travel writer, Maria Graham (later, Lady Callcott).
Graham’s travel writings influenced many other women writers during her lifetime, and still raise important questions about gender, travel, and culture for women artists today:
- How have/do women conceptualize travel?
- How do women approach travel as a topic?
- What do women see/notice/attend to through their travel “gaze”? (Is this different from a male “gaze”?
- How did/do women circumvent travel challenges or impossibilities?
- Where do our ideas about culture come from?