Marcus Milwright

Marcus Milwright is Professor of Art History and Visual Studies in the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Victoria (UVic), Canada, where he has taught since 2002 and is presently on research leave from February 2023 to February 2027.

Educational background:

• MA, University of Edinburgh
• DPhil, Oriental Institute, University of Oxford (1999)

His scholarship centres on the art, architecture and archaeology of the Islamic world, with particular attention to medieval and early-modern cross-cultural exchange in the Mediterranean, the history of medicine, and the continuity of traditional craft practices in Syria and Iraq. Through monographs, edited volumes, peer-reviewed articles, encyclopaedia entries and public-facing digital projects, he brings together archaeological evidence, visual analysis and textual sources to illuminate how objects, technologies and artistic ideas circulated across political, religious and linguistic boundaries.

Recent publications engage themes as diverse as the occupational health of Islamic craftsmen, the destruction and re-presentation of art, ceramic drainage systems, and the revival of Mamluk metalwork. Collectively, his body of work charts the intersection of material culture with social, economic and intellectual history from the seventh to the twenty-first centuries.

Honours and distinctions:

• Best Edited Volume, 2023 – University Art Association of Canada / L’Association d’Art des Universités du Canada for Made for the Eye of One Who Sees

Research dissemination & public engagement:

• Co-editor, Brill book series Art and Archaeology of the Islamic World
• Editorial board, Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World
• Principal behind the websites Crafts of Syria and Crafts of Iraq
• Producer of podcasts and recorded lectures available via UVic’s Gateway to Art portal
• Curator of exhibitions at UVic’s McPherson Library and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Current projects include the final publication of early Islamic ceramics excavated at Raqqa, Syria, alongside ongoing digital archiving of endangered craft traditions of the Levant and Mesopotamia.