The speaker will discuss her work with the Walters Art Museum’s Curator of Ancient Art on Egypt’s Mysterious Book of the Faiyum, an upcoming exhibition built around an ancient Egyptian text on papyrus. Some of the objects in the show have lost parts of their authentic selves to the ravages of time and the antiquities trade, but reconstructions offer opportunities to see the objects in new ways. Topics to be addressed include how curators determine which part of an object’s story represents its most authentic self, how museums display multiple authenticities, and whether authentic objects are necessary for authentic experiences.