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Selina Hurley

As part of the medical curatorial team, Selina is Curator of Clinical and Research Medicine. She worked on the Engineers gallery looking at biomedical engineering and was lead curator of the Medicine and Treatments gallery. During the pandemic, Selina collected objects for the collection related to COVID-19, from testing kits to home made crafts to support key workers. She has an interest in the ways people and objects intersect to tell stories about medical places and treatment. During her time at the museum, Selina has worked on meteorites, clocks, climate science and almost everything in between.

Its a worrying title for a blog, but ‘remember that you must die’ or ‘memento mori’ in Latin, was a common saying that our historical counterparts took to heart. Popular from the 16th to the 19th centuries, memento moris can can be anything from pocket watches, pendants, rings, ribbon slides, even statues and walking sticks. Some carried a lock of hair from a departed loved one, woven into a scene. Most show skeletons, skulls or coffins and – not for […]