R E C E N T TAA S A E V E N T S – TAASA Review June 2012

Josefa Green Special TAASA Viewing of Love and Devotion: From Persia and Beyond at the State Library of Victoria, 11 April. SLV Conference Love and Devotion: Persian Cultural Crossroads, 12-14 April. Over 40 TAASA members, mostly from Victoria but joined by a strong interstate contingent, enjoyed meeting over drinks and canapés at SLV’s smart Mr Tulks café where Susan Scollay (co-curator of the SLV exhibition) gave an introductory talk about this exhibition.

This was followed by a private viewing of this exquisite collection of manuscript paintings, mainly on loan from the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, where Susan and other expert guides were available to answer questions. For those of us who were lucky enough to be able to attend the conference held on the following days at the SLV, this truly offered an immersion in the rich legacy of Persian poets and writers, beautifully presented in illustrated manuscripts produced in Iran itself and in the wider Persianate world, especially from the 15th to 18th centuries. The conference was launched by an opening keynote address on Thursday evening by Dr Charles Melville, Professor of Persian History at University of Cambridge.

This was attended by an astounding 500 or so people...