J-emine's reflexionando

Last weekend, H (the husband) and I visited the ACM (Asian Civilisation Museum) to catch hold of the last weekend of the ‘Body & Spirit: The Human in Body Thought and Practice exhibition, which was running since March. The exhibition was borne out of the restrictions during the pandemic and the impact on body, mind and soul.

I remembered during the pandemic, when restrictions was sparingly placed and lifted due to various occurrences, evoking not only a physical but mental claustrophobia for many. The solace in familiarity, conversations, rekindling of bonds and finding peace through meditation was my outlet. What was yours?

The exhibition featured many pieces from private and existing collections, local donations etc and was grouped via religion, practical or spiritual similarities. Whilst there was abundant of information on different religions, I personally found it rather eclectic in form – better curation of religion, practices and eventually bringing it full circle to demonstrate the impact of religion, practices on our thinking and behaviours would be whole lot more meaningful, however I’m akin to believe the demonstration of impact, is rather subjective. For ex – the display of rituals & practices (i.e. circumcision , moxibustion) in the far end of the level, was very interesting but hard to implore further, if one didn’t have a good understanding of its origin, and the connection was carried out very lightly – be it religion, spiritual or even for an ethnicity perspective.

With that said, I really enjoyed the Tibetan Buddhism segment, which touched upon tantric rituals and tools used in the ritual. My favourite relic originated from Japan, a Christian cross with a buddha sitting in the middle, depiction of that period in history, where religion had to be kept under wrap or disguised due to religious ban in the late 1500s.

[ACM – Asian Civilisations Museum – Religion and well-being come together at the new Body & Spirit exhibition, Nov 25 – 26 March 2023]