Joanna Ebenstein

Joanna Ebenstein Curriculum Vitae

1971 Born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1989 Santa Cruz, California
1994 Budapest, Hungary
1995 San Francisco, California
1999 New York City, New York
2013 London, England
2018 Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
Present Brooklyn, New York

EDUCATION

• University of California at Santa Cruz, BA in Intellectual History (Honors in Major)

• The Carl Jung Center, New York: Introduction to Jungian Thought I & II, Dream Analysis,

• New School for Social Research, New York: Painting, Drawing I, Drawing II

• 92nd Street Y, New York: Oil Painting, Watercolor Painting, Portrait Drawing UC Berkeley Extension,

• Berkeley: Publication Design, Graphic Art Studio, Book Design, Color Theory, 20th Century Art Movements

PROJECTS

Morbid Anatomy: Blog, Library and Exhibitions and Event Series
Founder and Creative Director (2007 – Present)

Observatory Gallery and Event Space
Founder and co-organizer (2008 – 2012) (more here)

Morbid Anatomy Museum
Co-Founder and Creative Director (2014 – 2016) (more here)

BOOKS

• Frederik Ruysch's Thesaurus Anatomicus: A Morbid Guide (MIT Press, forthcoming)

• Cabarets of Death, by Mel Gordon, edited by Joanna Ebenstein (Strange Attractor Press, forthcoming)

• Anatomica (Laurence King)

• Death: A Graveside Companion (Thames and Hudson, 2017)

• The Anatomical Venus: Wax, God, Death & the Ecstatic (Thames and Hudson in the UK, DAP in the USA, 2016)

• The Morbid Anatomy Anthology (Co-edited with Colin Dickey, designed and art directed; Morbid Anatomy Press, 2014)

• Walter Potter’s Curious World of Taxidermy (co-authored with Dr Pat Morris, photographed, designed and art directed; Constable and Robinson, 2013)

PUBLISHED ARTICLES

• Santo Niño Cieguito or The Holy Blind Child: Folk Saint of Puebla, Mexico, The Morbid Anatomy Online Journal, 2020

• El Niño Compadrito: The Miracle Working Skeleton Saint of Cuzco, Peru, The Morbid Anatomy Online Journal, 2020

• Earth Goddess in Christian Form: An Ode to Nuestra Señora de Valvanera, The Morbid Anatomy Online Journal, 2020

• Mary Gravida, or Our Lady of Expectations: The Pregnant Virgin in Art and Beyond, The Morbid Anatomy Online Journal, 2019

• The Anatomical Venus, The Ecstatic, The Fetish and Falling in Love with Statues, The Morbid Anatomy Online Journal, 2019

• The Virgin of Guadalupe, The Black Madonna and Santa Muerte: An Illustrated Meditation on Catholicism in Mexico, Morbid Anatomy Online Journal, 2019

• How to Write a Book Proposal, Creative Independent, 2018

• 10 Death-Obsessed Books to Satisfy Your Inner Goth: The cofounder of the Morbid Anatomy Museum and author of ‘Death: A Graveside Companion’ offers a reading list for mortals, Electric Literature, 2018

• The Brief, Mystical Reign of the Wax Cadaver: Early Medical Models of Human Anatomy Shrouded Death in Feminine Beauty,” Nautilus Magazine, 2016

• A Month Without Words, apexart Fellowship: An Experiment in Vertical Cultural Integration, 2016

• Curator's Choice: Joanna Ebenstein of the Morbid Anatomy Museum Celebrates an Atmospheric Theatre, Dance Gazette: The Journal of the Royal Academy of Dance, 2014

• Henry Wellcome's Anatomical Venus, Wellcome Collection Blog, 2014

• The Birth of Venus, The Morbid Anatomy Anthology, edited by Joanna Ebenstein and Colin Dickey, 2014

• Morbid Anatomy, Medical Museums: Past, Present, Future, edited by Sam Alberti and Elizabeth Hallam; essays and photographs, 2013

• Ode to an Anatomical Venus, Women's Studies Quarterly Journal (Volume 40:3 and 4), 2013

• Morbid Curiosity, special issue of United Academics Journal of Social Sciences, guest editor

• Book Review of Morbid Curiosities: Medical Museums in Nineteenth-Century Britain by Samuel Alberti; Museum History Journal, 2012

• Fleurs du Mal, Not a Rose, Heide Hatry, 2012

• Secrets of the Medical Museum, Strange Attractor Journal, 2011

• The Rise of the Wunderkammer, Pomp and Circumstance, 2011

• Exquisite Corpse, Confronting Mortality with Art and Science: Scientific and Artistic Impressions on What the Certainty of Death Says about Life, Pascale Pollier, Ann Van de Velde and Chantale Pollier, eds., 2007

• La Dolce Vita, Never a Hard Sell, The New York Times, 2006

• Safari Club, K48 Magazine, 2004

• My Pretty Pony, K48 Magazine, 2002

• Eureka! The Forgotten Photographs of Fritz Goro, V Magazine (2003)

CURATED AND PRODUCED EXHIBITIONS AND INSTALLATIONS

• Ladies of Sorrow: A Visual Exploration of Grief and Femininity, Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, curated with Laetitia Barbier, Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, 2019

• Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory: Visions of the Afterlife in the Catholic Tradition, curated with Laetitia Barbier, Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, 2019

• Bridging Two Worlds: The Land of the Living and the Land of the Dead, curated with Laetitia Barbier, Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, 2018

• The Power of Images: Life, Death and Rebirth, curated with Laetitia Barbier, Green-Wood Cemetery, , Brooklyn, 2018

• Woven Strands: The Art of Human Hairwork (producer), The Mütter Museum, Philadelphia, 2018

• The Art of Mourning, curated with Evan Michelson, The Morbid Anatomy Museum; Recipient of The Victorian Society NY Preservation Award for Exhibitions, The Morbid Anatomy Museum, Brooklyn, 2014

• The Great Coney Island Spectacularium, curated with Aaron Beebe, The Coney Island Museum, Brooklyn, 2011

• Exquisite Bodies, Curatorial consultant and designer, The Wellcome Collection, London, 2009

• Morbid Anatomy Cabinet, Barrister’s Gallery, New Orleans, 2008

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

• Ecstatic Raptures and Immaculate Corpses: Visions of Death Made Beautiful in Italy, Last Tuesday Society Gallery, London, 2012

• Savior of Mothers: The Forgotten Ballet of Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, Center for Disease Control David J. Sencer Museum, Atlanta, 2012

• The Secret Museum, Observatory, Brooklyn, 2010

• Anatomical Theater: Depictions of The Body, Disease, and Death in Medical Museums of the Western World, Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2007

AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS AND RESIDENCIES

• Victorian Society of New York, Heritage Award for Exhibitions, Art of Mourning, co-curated with Evan Michelson at The Morbid Anatomy Museum, 2015

• The Last Tuesday Society Gallery Residency, London 2011

• Artist in Residence at The Coney Island Museum, Brooklyn, 2011

• Apex Art Outbound Travel Residency in Seoul, South Korea, 2011

• Warhol Foundation Award for The Great Coney Island Spectacularium, 2011

• Dedalus Foundation Institutional Grant for The Great Coney Island Spectacularium, 2011

• University of Alabama at Birmingham Reynolds Associates Research Fellowship in the History of the Health Sciences, Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences, Birmingham, 2007

• Honors in Major, University of California at Santa Cruz, 1994

• Magna Cum Laude, Anacapa High School, Santa Barbara, 1989

• Anacapa School Annual Achievement Award in Photography, 1987

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS AND LECTURES

• Anatomical Venus at the Fairground: Sex Education, Public Health, and the Anatomized Female Body, Vrolik Museum, 2019

• What is the Relationship Between Art and Death? Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2018

• Author Talk: Death: A Graveside Companion—Joanna Ebenstein with Jennifer Wright, New York Public Library, New York, 2017

• Book Talk: "Death: A Graveside Companion, Brooklyn Historical Society, Brooklyn, 2017

• Death, Beauty, and Metaphysics: Art, Science and Memento Mori in Early Anatomical Representation, Bowdoin College, Maine, 2017

• Anatomical Venus: The Anatomized Female Body on Display from the Fairground to the Science Museum, Science & Popular Culture Area of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference, San Diego, California, 2017

• How We Remember: Death in American Art & Culture, Moderator, Folk Art Museum, New York, 2017

• Death Like You’ve Never Seen it Before, Tedx Talk, SVA Theatre, New York, 2016

• The Art of Making Salon, Conversation with Sukhdev Sandhu, Draper Program at New York University, New York, 2016

• From the Wunderkammer to The Museum of Nature: Exhibiting the Anthropocene: Panel discussion with Mark Dion, Joanna Ebenstein, Earle Havens, and David Harvey, Bard Graduate Center, New York, 2016

• Panel on Museums of the Future, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. 2015

• The Macabre as a Way of Life: Morbid Anatomies and the Grim Side of New England (with J. W. Ocker) Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Boston, 2015

• A Conversation about Art, Science and Anatomy as Muse with Laurens de Rooy, Vrolik Museum, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 2015

• The Lost Museum of Frederik Ruysch, Lost Museums Colloquium, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, 2015

• Keynote, Annual meeting of the Archivists and Librarians of the History of Health Sciences and Medical Museum Association, New Haven, Connecticut, 2015

• From the Anatomical Theatre to the Anatomical Venus: The Intersection of Entertainment and Edification in Public Anatomies, Vesalius and the Invention of the Modern Body, Saint Louis University and Washington University, St. Louis, 2015

• The Morbid Anatomy Museum, NY Laser: A Leonardo Education and Art Forum (LEAF) Rendezvous Event, New York, 2014

• The Thing Is... Morbid Anatomy, The Wellcome Collection, London, 2014

• The Morbid Anatomy Museum, Vesalius Continuum, Zakynthos, Greece, 2014

• The "Once-Alive and the Eerily Lifelike" at The Morbid Anatomy Museum, Naturally Hypernatural: Visions of Nature, School of Visual Arts, New York, 2014

• On Facing up to Death Through Art, The Wellcome Collection, London, 2012

• The Secret Museum: Collections as Muse, Museum of Natural History, London, 2011

• From Votives to Venuses: A Brief History of the Human Anatomical Model, The Science Museum, London, 2011

• Digital Media and New Audiences for the History of Medicine, American Association of the History of Medicine Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, 2011

• Anatomical Venuses, Slashed Beauties, and Three Fetuses Dancing a Jig: An Illustrated Journey into the Curious World of Medical Museums, Dittrick Museum, Ohio, 2011; Listen here

• To Every Man His Cabinet, Modern/Contemporary Art and the Curiosity Cabinet, Seton Hall University, New Jersey, 2011

• A Meditation on Morbidity, The Mütter Museum College of Physicians, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 2010

• Anatomical Venuses, The Slashed Beauty, and Fetuses Dancing a Jig, UCL, Department of History of Art, Rhizome Research Group, London, 2010

• The Private, Curious, and Niche Collection--What They can Teach Us About Exhibiting New Medicine, European Association of the Museums of History of Medical Sciences Conference, Copenhagen, 2010

• Anatomical Venuses and Slashed Beauties: Inside the World of the Anatomical Museum, Coney Island Museum "Ask the Experts" Series, New York, 2010

• Morbid Anatomies and Anatomical Theatres: A Guided Tour through the Macabre World of Medical Museums, Adult-Ed, New York, 2009

• Not Just for Doctors Anymore—On-line Exhibitions, Contexualization, and New Audiences for Old Medicine, The Medical Museums Association Annual Meeting 2009, Ohio, April 2009

• The Anatomical Theatre: The Art, Culture and History of Medical Models and the Contemplation of the Embodied Self, “Lessons in Anatomy Made Easy" Conference, Museum Boerhaave, The Netherlands, November, 2008

• Anatomical Theatre: The Art and History of Medical Models: Exhibitions, Contexualization, and New Audiences for Old Science, European Association of the Museums of History of Medical Sciences Conference, Guthrie Lecture Series, Scotland, 2008

• Anatomic Theater: History of Museum Artifacts, Association of Medical Illustrators Conference, Indiana, 2008

• Memento Mori: Pathological Portraits, Anatomical Visions and Medical Museums of the Western World, Confronting Mortality with Art and Science, AEIMS/MAA Conference, Belgium, 2007

• Anatomical Theater: The Art and Science of Medical Museums in the Western World, in conjunction with the opening of Anatomical Theater: Depictions of The Body, Disease, and Death in Medical Museums of the Western World, UAB Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences, Alabama, 2007

SELECTED PRESS

• Grisly Slabs of Gothic Horror, New York Times, 2020

• The iPhone at the Deathbed, New York Times, 2020

• US-Trend-Thema: Tod und Sterben - "Vergiss nicht, dass du sterben wirst, ZDF, 2018

• The Positive Death Movement Comes to Life, New York Times, 2018

• Outing Death, New York Times, 2017

• Remembering the Morbid Anatomy Museum, Haute Macabre, 2017

• Morbid Anatomy Museum Closes Its Doors, New York Times, 2016

• Gowanus' Morbid Anatomy Museum Closes, WNYC, 2016

• The Morbid Anatomy Museum Has Given Up the Ghost,Bedford + Bowery, 2016

• Brooklyn's Morbid Anatomy Museum Dies a Grisly Death, Broke-Ass Stuart, 2016

• Anne Rice Finds Inspiration Amid Taxidermied Animals, The New York Times, 2016

• Taxidermy at the Morbid Anatomy Museum, The Ministry of Curiosity Blog, 2016

• The Bride and Groom Are Kittens. At Death They Did Not Part, The New York Times, 2016

• The Twin Sisters Bonded by Their Death Obsession, Lenny Letter, 2016

• Not Dead Yet: The Morbid Anatomy Museum Explores Macabre Science in Gowanus, Brooklyn, The Architect's Newspaper, 2015

• Death becomes It: How the Morbid Anatomy Museum Slayed Brooklyn, The Guardian, 2015

• One Year In, Brooklyn’s Morbid Anatomy Museum Still Celebrates Visitors' Curiosity, Metro NYC, 2015

• Above and Beyond: The Morbid Anatomy Flea Market, The New Yorker, 2015

• Meet the Lady Taxidermy Artists of Brooklyn, Brooklyn Magazine, 2015

• Taxidermy Classes: All Guts and a Little Gory, The Wall Street Journal, 2015

• New York City Museums, Ranked, The Awl, 2015

• Finding the Beauty of Death at Brooklyn's Morbid Anatomy Museum, Vice Magazine, 2015

• Morbid Anatomy Museum’s Taxidermy Classes Offer a Slice of Life (and Death), The New York Times, 2015

• Where The Brooklyn Spirits Play: The Morbid Anatomy Museum Celebrates Its One-Year Anniversary, Park Slope Stoop, 2015

• New York Today: Stuffed, The New York Times, 2015

• Swords, Sleight of Hand and a Speaking Mummy, The New York Times, 2015

• Two-Faced Kitten and Cigar-Smoking Squirrels On View At Morbid Anatomy Museum, Gothamist, 2015

• 'People Loved Freaks, And They Still Do': A Bizarre Trip Through Time At Morbid Anatomy Museum, Huffington Post, 2015

• The Art of Mourning, at Brooklyn’s Morbid Anatomy Museum, Shock till you Drop, 2015

• The Dark Side Gets Its Due: The Morbid Anatomy Museum Opens in Brooklyn, The New York Times, 2014

• Flirting With the Dark Side: The Subject of Death Plays a Part in Popular Culture, The New York Times, 2014

• Exploring the Culture of Mourning: Death and Grief Influence New York Exhibitions, The New York Times, 2014

• The Accessories of Death, Hyperallergic, 2014

• Taxidermy, Superheroes, and a Polluted Canal Tour: Weird Things to Do in NYC, Conde Nast Traveler, 2014

• The Headless Horseman Variety Show, The New Yorker,2014

• Brooklyn’s Morbid Anatomy Museum, Financial Times, 2014

• It's Mourning in America, New York Times, 2014

• Summer Is Flying By. Plan Accordingly, The New York Times, 2014

• New York City’s Most Morbid Museum, BBC, 2014

• Brooklyn’s Museum of Death: Inside Morbid Anatomy’s House of Intriguing Horrors, The Daily Beast, 2014

• I See Dead People, The LA Review of Books, 2014

• Sights and Sounds Of The Morbid Anatomy Summer Flea Market, Brooklyn Magazine, 2014

• Morbid Anatomy Museum Opens in Brooklyn, Newsweek, 2014

• Besuch im Jenseits, Die Zeit, 2014

• The Morbid Anatomy Museum reopens, bringing lectures and mummified cat heads to Brooklyn, The Verge, 2014

• 56 Freaky Photos From Inside Brooklyn's Morbid Anatomy Museum, Gothamist, 2014

• New Morbid Anatomy Museum Opens in Brooklyn (Where Else?), Artnet, 2014

• New NYC Museum Explores Death, All Things Morbid,Time, 2014

• Coming Soon to Brooklyn: The Morbid Anatomy Museum,Mental Floss, 2014

• Victorian-era Taxidermist Became Master of Weird Art, The New York Post

• Dead and Beautiful: The Art of Taxidermy, The Daily Beast, 2014

• Walter Potter’s Wonderfully Twisted Vintage Taxidermy,Vanity Fair, 2014

• The Brooklyn Museum of Death, The Awl, 2014

• Fantastically Creepy Images and Tales From The Morbid Anatomy Anthology, Wired, 2014

• It’s Mourning in America, The New York Times, 2014

• Five Must-Visit Oddities Museums Around The World,Gothamist, 2014

• Death in the Afternoon, Then Drinks, The New York Times,2014

• Gowanus Is Getting A “Museum of Morbid Anatomy,Brooklyn Magazine, 2014

• A Place Where Death and Beauty Intersect, Wall Street Journal, 2014

• Museum of 'Morbid Anatomy' to Open in Gowanus, DNA Info, 2013

• Kill time at death talks: Morbid Anatomy lecture series at Last Tuesday Society, The Hackney Citizen, 2013

• Advice to Researchers and Reanimating Dead Mice, The New York Time, 2013

• Brooklyn’s Freakiest Librarian Presides Over Creepy Curios at the Morbid Museum, The New York Post, 2013

• Demon Season, The Brooklyn Paper, 2012

• Wonderful Oddities from the Morbid Anatomy Library, The Village Voice, 2012

• Photo Gallery: Bizarre Gifts from the Morbid Anatomy Holiday Fair, Flavorwire, 2012

• Scary Christmas! A Visit to the Morbid Anatomy Library’s Holiday Fair, The Observer, 2012

• 'Morbid Anatomy Anthology': Brooklyn Art Group Seeks Funding For Curious New Book, The Huffington Post, 2012

• Seize the Day' at the Wellcome Collection, London City Nights, 2012

• The Crazy Cool of Emma Stone, Vogue UK, 2012

• Emma Stone gets Caught in Spider-Man's Web, Herald Scotland, 2012

• 7 Gross Wonders Across America, CNN, 2012

• A Healthy Mania for the Macabre, The Chronicle for Higher Education, 2012

• Beyond the Dollhouse: The Toy Butcher Shop, Los Angeles Times, 2012

• Dead Mouse Walking: New Yorkers Revive the Creepy Art of Taxidermy, The Atlantic, 2012

• Fire, Flood Threatens a Morbidity Emporium on Gowanus,New York Magazine, 2012

• At a Very Peculiar Museum, Supporters Gather to Celebrate All Things Morbid, Capital New York, 2012

• Star-studded Cast of Oddity Experts Gather to Save Morbid Anatomy Library, Brooklyn Paper, 2012

• A Dance for the Dead at Morbid Anatomy Library, Brooklyn Based, 2012

• Unusual Collectors: The Morbid Anatomy Library, Angel Orensanz Foundation, 2012

• Is This The Most Bizarre Art Project Ever?..., The Daily Mail, 2012

• Would You Buy or Make Dead Mouse Art?, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation News, 2012

• Des Souris (Mimi) et des Hommes (Cruels), Liberation.fr,2012

• Death In The Closet, Toronto Standard, 2012

• Very Bad Things, Newsweek Magazine, 2010

• Ten "Cabinets of Curiosities" and Unique Collections from around the World, The Huffington Post, 2010

• Joanna Ebenstein Exhibition, The Warhol Foundation, 2010

• Morbid Anatomy: The Space Where Medicine and Art Intersects is Often ... Well, Weird. And Fascinating, The American Medical News Website of the American Medical Association, 2010

• Anatomical Theatre: Depictions of the Body, Disease, and Death in Medical Museums of the Western World, Second Nature: International Journal of Creative Media, 2009

• Brooklyn Graphic Designer, Photographer Brings Oddities to Life in New Exhibit, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 2009

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

• Joanna Ebenstein on the Pleasures of Morbidity, The Creative Independent, 2016

• Joanna Ebenstein and Her Morbid Anatomy Museum,Mental Floss, 2014

• Death Becomes Her, Bust Magazine, 2014

• Death, Science, Sexology: Joanna Ebenstein of the Morbid Anatomy Museum: Interview with Mark Dery, Boing Boing, 2014

• Learning to Love Death: New Museum Takes a Walk on the Shadow Side, Collectors Weekly, 2014

• Q and A with Joanna Ebenstein, Founder of the Morbid Anatomy Library and Museum, by Elke Weesjes, United Academics, 2013

• Morbid Anatomy: Exploring the Art of Death: Midnight Archive Featurette on Morbid Anatomy, 2013

• Q and A: Joanna Ebenstein Discusses Death and History at the CDC Museum, The Burnaway, 2012

• Joanna Ebenstein's Morbid Obsession, Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2010

SYMPOSIA, SPECTACLES, FILM AND THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS

• St Florian Procession and Variety Show, 2015

• The Man that Married Kittens, award winning short film, 2015

• he Midnight Archive Film Series: Executive Producer 2010–2013

• The Congress of Curious Peoples, with the Coney Island Museum, Brooklyn and London 2011 - 2013

• The Grand Guignol Variety Show, The Coney Island Museum, Brooklyn , 2011

CONSULTING

• 2019 The Museum of Sex, educational advisor for Superfunland

• 2019 The Adirondacks Experience

• 2016 Todd Haynes film “Wonderstruck”

• 2013 The New York Academy of Medicine

• 2013 The Wellcome Collection, London

• 2011 The Science Museum, London, History of Medicine Wing

• 2010 New York Academy of Medicine, Rewriting the Book of Nature: Charles Darwin and the Rise of Evolutionary Theory, exhibition design

• 2009 The Wellcome Collection, Curatorial Consultant and Designer, "Exquisite Bodies"