Rachel Owen: The Inferno Illustrations displays 34 photographic prints of mixed-media collage works, created in response to the Inferno in the Divine Comedy, a 14th century poem by the Italian poet Dante. This exhibition marks the culmination of Rachel Owen's (1968 - 2016) lifelong academic and artistic engagement with the text.

The Cardiff-born printmaker studied Fine Art and Italian at the University of Exeter and painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. She attained a PhD in the ‘History of Illuminated Manuscripts of Dante’s Commedia’ at the University of London in 2001. Until her death in December 2016, she taught Italian Literature in Pembroke, and at other colleges within the University of Oxford.

Rachel’s prints are accompanied by selected reproductions of pages from the remarkably illustrated late 14th century Italian manuscript ‘MS. Holkham misc 48’ in the Bodleian Library’s collection. This exhibition invites viewers to share in the artist’s deep consideration of the poem and to revel in its aesthetic possibilities, past and present.​