Candace Richards

Candace Richards is the assistant curator of the Nicholson Collection, and has been part of the Sydney University Museums team for more than 15 years. Candace's research interests bring together ancient world studies with contemporary museum practice to re-evaluate how and why collections were formed and explore the ways archaeology and antiquities collections can offer new insights into human endeavor.

Candace is particularly interested in multi-disciplinary and collaborative approaches to research design and exhibitions, with a particular interest in reception of the ancient Mediterranean across time.

Candace is an archaeologist interested in Mediterranean and Balkan archaeology and has worked on research and commercial excavations in Europe and Australia. She is a senior team member of the Paphos Theatre Archaeological Project (Cyprus) and is undertaking her PhD on the prolific reuse of architecture in the area of Nea Paphos, Cyprus from the Hellenistic period to the modern day.

Research interests

Mediterranean and Balkan archaeology
Reuse and recycling in antiquity
Archaeology of board games
Digital humanities approaches to museum collections and archives
The historic roles of women in museums and gendered approaches to institutional histories.

Current projects

Finding Naukratis in the Nicholson Collection
Woodhouse Archive Flickr project
The ‘Hidden’ Women of the Nicholson Museum
Recycling Paphos (PhD research topic)

Exhibitions

Curator, Hercules: Myth and Legacy, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney. November 2022-November 2024. Exhibition catalogue.
Curator, Pharaonic Obsessions, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney. November 2020 – current. Exhibition catalogue.
Curator, Mediterranean Identities, Across the Wine Dark Sea, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney. November 2020 – current. Exhibition catalogue.
Curator, Roman Spectres, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney. November 2020 – current. Exhibition catalogue.
Curator, Impressions of Greece, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney. November 2020 – current.
Co-curator, Animal Gods: Classics and Classification, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney. November 2020 – November 2022. Exhibition catalogue.
Curator, The art of Storytelling, Nicholson Museum, The University of Sydney. July 2018 – February 2020.
Digital content designer/developer, The Sea and the Sky: Ancient Cypriot Art, Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney. February 2016 – February 2020.
Curator, Memento: Remembering Roman Lives, Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney. October 2015 – February 2020. Exhibition catalogue.
Co-curator, Children in Antiquity: Greece and Egypt, Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney. July 2015 – November 2017. Exhibition catalogue.

Grants and awards

Carlyle Greenwell Research, Scholarship, The University of Sydney (2021).
The Leone Crawford Travel Grant, Near Eastern Archaeology Foundation (2019).
Cultural Heritage Program Grant, ANSTO for project ‘Scientific Analysis of the Nicholson Museum's Animal Mummy Collection using neutron tomography’ (2017).

Academic publications

C. Richards and M. F. Whitford (2022) 'Displaying the fragmented: Damaged and mutilated ancient Egyptian figures from Sir Charles Nicholson’s collection' Breaking Images: Damage and Mutilation of Ancient Figurines. Oxbow Books. pp. 259-291.
C. Richards and E. Guerry (2022) 'Rediscovered: The Shabti of Senseneb, a Museum Provenance Study' Collections vol. 18/3
C. Richards (2021) 'Beyond the curator: Understanding the women who helped to shape the Nicholson collection' Classicum. 47.2. pp.3-15.
C. Richards (2021) 'Playing games at the Paphos Theatre: an examination of graffiti games uncovered by the Paphos Theatre Archaeological Project' HEROM vol. 10. pp. 77-98.
C. Richards, R. Vokes, Y. Inall, V. Lowry, and J. Oreskovich (2021) Egypt in Australia. University of Western Australia.
C. Richards (2021) 'Beyond the Curator: Understanding the women who helped to shape the Nicholson Collection' Classicum vol. 47/2. pp. 3-15.
G. Marsh-Letts and C. Richards (2021) 'Sir Charles Nicholson and the Nicholson collections at the University of Sydney' in Explorers, First Collectors and Traders of Textile from Egypt of the 1st millenium AD. Antwerp: Hannibal Books. pp. 75-85.
Salvemini, F. Lord, C. and C. Richards (2020) ‘Neutron Imaging, a Key Scientific Analytical Tool for the Cultural Heritage Project at ANSTO - Investigation of Egyptian Votive Mummies’ Materials Research Proceedings 15. 256-261.