The Amici di Via Gabina Traveling Fellowship will provide generous funding for Department of Art History Ph.D. candidate Shane Harless to engage in Italian field research for his dissertation, entitled "Veiled Epiphanies: Encountering the Body of Christ within the Art and Architecture of the Poor Clares of Central Italy (ca. 1212-1350)," which will focus on the Eucharistic devotion of the Clarissan Order in Italy during the 13th and 14th centuries, and the manner in which the Poor Clares participated in the solemnities from the remote location of their choir. By analyzing the spatial experience, architectural layout, and painted embellishment of extant nuns’ choirs throughout the region, this study will attempt to glean further insight into how cloistered viewers sought access to the body of Christ through images, thereby transforming their enclosed prayer chambers into prime resources for ocular communion.
The Amici di Via Gabina grants a summer traveling stipend for a student (undergraduate or graduate) to provide a transformational opportunity in the study of architecture, art, history, archeology, language, music and culture. This award honors Dr. Walter Widrig and Dr. Philip Oliver-Smith, whose leadership in the Via Gabina excavation project for 14 years gave students opportunities to participate in their own transformational experiences.
Shane Harless’ research explores the intersections of narrative, performativity, imagination, and gender in the devotional art of medieval Europe. He is particularly interested in gendered areas within the worship space, and how architectural implementations designed to conceal monastic communities also affected their experience of the liturgy.