Join the School of History of Art for the next talk in the Research Seminar Series - 'In-Jokes: Art and Unruliness at Norwich Priory' by Dr Jessica Barker. This seminar will be chaired by Dr Lizzie Swarbrick.

This talk trespasses onto a centuries-long debate over the presence of humorous and obscene imagery within medieval monastic art. It suggests that one way to understand these apparently contradictory images is to consider them within the texture of particular communities, their lived relationships and evolving practices. The focus will be the Norwich Benedictines, whose extraordinarily rich archival and visual record offers a unique opportunity to consider how these ‘in-jokes’ might have operated in one increasingly fractious and highly regulated monastery at the turn of the Middle Ages.

This talk will be in person only. The seminar will be followed by a drinks reception in the John Higgitt Gallery.

About the speaker

Jessica Barker is Senior Lecturer in Medieval Art at The Courtauld in London. She is a specialist in monumental sculpture in northern Europe and the Iberian peninsula. She is curating a major exhibition on monastic art at the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich, Regular Life: Contemporary Art and Medieval Monasticism, which will open in May 2026.

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