I Prayed For The Resin Not To Melt

It was on the 16th of November 1925 that Tutankhamun saw for the first time the faces of the archaeologists who had opened his tomb two years earlier. The records documenting this meeting, made by the British archaeological team, continue to shape how the public imagines this historical discovery. Recently, many efforts have been made by contemporary academics and archaeologists to accentuate and challenge the power imbalances entangled in the one-sided narrative perpetuated by this archive of records. Their focus has largely been on subduing the mythical framing of the tomb discovery while shedding light on the contributions of Egyptian labor. With this audio-visual work, I am proposing a different counter-narrative, one that criticises the archaeological gaze, be it performed by Western or Egyptian eyes. 

I Prayed For the Resin Not To Melt offers an alternative record of Tutankhamun’s first encounter with the archaeological apparatus, narrated from his imagined perspective. It accentuates the violence that he was subjected to in the name of scientific study by re-enacting the procedures performed on his mummified body. By relying primarily on an audio-centric form of retelling, I avoid replicating the invasiveness of the operations that took place in his tomb. Addressing the viewers’ auditory senses is also my attempt to bypass the dominant public gazing practices, which have been desensitised by the notions of gold and treasure typically associated with this discovery.

The black frame dominating the film is intermittently juxtaposed with segments documenting my intervention with a 1926 photograph of Tutankhamun’s head taken after it had been detached from his body. By covering his unwrapped, exposed skin and bones with gold leaf and pieces of linen, I contrast the violence he endured with the delicate concealment of his photograph. With this act, I return metaphorically to the king his wrappings and golden funerary objects, which were keeping him safe in his eternal sleep. On the whole, this project is an invitation for an intimate way of relating to Tutankhamun’s bodily experience and bearing witness to his violated humanness.