This Week: Art Olympics, Hiking as therapy, Gardens & more!

[Painting: Luncheon on the Grass, 1866-67 – by Claude Monet]

It’s International Museum Day! This year’s theme is ‘Museums for Education and Research’.

One of my most favourite spaces to spend time is a museum. A few weeks ago I visited Museum of Art and Photography’s stunning exhibit ‘Outside In’ showcasing the sculptures by Meera Mukherjee and Jaidev Baghel. These sculptures are formed through the arduous, labour-intensive lost-wax casting method, also known as ‘cire perdue’ form of sculpting. The sculptures show a vast difference in creative expression albeit through the same tools, of the inner and outer lives of the indigenous communities in the Bastar district of Chattisgarh, India.

The Thinker – Meera Mukherjee

Madiya with Mahua Liquor – Jaidev Baghel

Tree of Life – Meera Mukherjee

Madiya and Madin – Jaidev Baghel

Nothing like reminiscing museum visits on a day set aside to celebrate all the work, contributions and research museums give back to the world!

In other news, I spent a lovely day picnicking with friends at the local park, sprawled under a canopy of trees talking and laughing. Catharsis! After that I swung by my local bookstore to indulge in some retail therapy.

Here’s my book haul:

Now let’s delve into this week’s things and thinks:

As I’m sure readers around the world heard (or mostly did), this year’s MET Gala theme was a short story by J.G. Ballard called ‘Garden of Time’. A compelling story about the temporariness of material pleasures, it sure seemed that most celebrities failed to see the irony in their actions vis-à-vis the theme. The Literary Hub has made the story free to access. Read it here.

Speaking of the temporariness of art, did you know the Olympics used to host competitions for art too? Read this New York Times article diving into the history of the ‘Art Olympics’.

Staying on the theme of art, I was blown away by the photographs (and chutzpah) of Letizia Battaglia in turning the lens upon the ruthless Sicilian Mafia. See them here.

In other thinks, I stumbled upon this fantastic little piece in Outside Online of the ways in which hiking has the power to rewire the brain by making us more patient, accepting, and open-minded. These are changes I myself have experienced as I went through marathon training and trekking in the Himalayas. But it’s great to see it put down in words, reflected in the experiences of others. Read it here.

With that, have a fantastic weekend and I hope you celebrate International Museum Day with a trip to the museum and/or thinking about art!