Brilliant images of museum pieces outside the glass

Date
25 February 2015

Removed from their cabinets, museum pieces take on a strange quality. Once the glass is gone, some of their mystique goes too; and they feel almost like everyday things to be used and touched, rather than alien relics to be admired. It’s this disorientating new quality that’s captured so beautifully in Thom Atkinson’s series Museums, showing pieces from the Wellcome Trust and National History Museum collections.

The Wellcome Collection pieces were shot to mark its 75th anniversary in a piece for Financial Times Weekend Magazine. The Natural History Museum photographs also featured in the publication to promote the National Treasures exhibition. And if that gorilla isn’t a treasure, I don’t know what is.

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Thom Atkinson: Fakir’s Sandals, Wellcome Collection

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Thom Atkinson: Guy the Gorilla, National History Museum

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Thom Atkinson: Medicine Chest, Wellcome Collection

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Thom Atkinson: Pigeon Skeleton, National History Museum

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Thom Atkinson: Sir Hiram Maxim’s Pipe of Peace, Wellcome Collection

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Thom Atkinson: Torture Boot, Wellcome Collection

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About the Author

Emily Gosling

Emily joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in the summer of 2014 after four years at Design Week. She is particularly interested in graphic design, branding and music. After working It's Nice That as both Online Editor and Deputy Editor, Emily left the company in 2016.

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