A culture that is thousands of years old never seems to disappoint. Whether the temples or mosques or monastaries or the songs and dances of the various regions. I am sometimes in awe of the jovial and easy going nature of the areas denizens.
I visited the Asia Society this past weekend in NYC and saw two great exhibits.
The first one, called Banaras in photographs has pictures going back 140 yrs, the timelessness of the photographs is so moving. They also have a software inspired exhibit on the various aspects of hinduism as it relates to Banaras and the world in general. The belief that Banaras, as Kashi, is the begining of the world and in it resides the end. A wonderful display of religion and mythology, intricately woven through state of the art interactive screens mounted atop rickshaws and other native artifacts.
The second more somber exhibit is Afghanistan)The mujaheddin years. It is shown through photographs from 1987-1992. In the faces of the afghans, one sees despair,pain, suffering and resolve all at the same time.
I will not forget the picture of a young girl, with the biggest eyes adorned with surma peering at the photographer as if to say that she has had it.
Another videography talks about a young fighter turned comic who uses his amputated foot and converts it into a machinegun. Sad for the viewer, but one can see that the human spirit is bigger than immediate misery.
I would recommend for those in the NYC area or those planning to visit in the next few months to not miss this.
Chlatahai. When is the exhibit showing until? I am busy for the next couple of weekends, but I would most definitely want to see this one. I just returned from Lahore and as always I paid a visit to Lahore Ajaib Ghar (museum), despite it’s small size (about 1/50th of the Met), it has some fantastic collection, it has the best Gandhara period collection of any museum in the world.
lucky you!! It is always amazing that the best pieces of our cultures are held by the west. Although, it is a shame that much of that is what was taken away duing colonialism. In some ways I am appreciative of the fact that they have a higher regard for our past than we do. (Just comparing the museums and private collections)
The Banaras exhibit runs through september and the Afghani is until the end of next month.
CH, as an avid history enthusiast, like you I am also of two minds about theft and plunder of our heritage. If we were to cry over who possess what, there wont be any museums left in the world. The purpose of the museums is to preserve and care for our past. Without institutions like the Met or the British Museum, how many Europeans or Americans would be aware of the pre-colonial past?