Curious Objects found at the Baroda Museum & Picture Gallery, Gujarat, India.
*The vases above are a part of their collection and belong to the Far Eastern section.
In the month of December, my classmates and I had the chance to visit the Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery for a project.
The Baroda Museum has both Indian and International artifacts. The first gallery upon walking into the Museum is the Greater Indian Gallery, the name “Greater Indian” is given so as to encompass a huge range of Southern and Eastern parts of Asia, consisting of artifacts from Burma, Rangoon, Cambodia, Indonesia and China.
What follows next is the Japanese Gallery, consisting of both objects from Japan and China, which was our area of focus. All the artifacts from this section, as well as a majority of the other sections, have been donated by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III.
In a Bulletin published by the Museum itself, eminent German art historian and previously, Director of the Baroda Museum, Hermann Goetz wrote a wonderful introduction to the entire museum, which was sourced from the Museology Department at MSU, Baroda.
A significant part of understanding objects is differentiating them. The first classification comes from the place, in this case, we differentiate between objects taken from China and objects taken from Japan, these clarifications are done on the basis of techniques, careful study of the objects and their details which have been done by professionals over the years. For our convenience as laymen we have referred to credible sources as well as trusted the categorizations of the museum itself. The second classification is done on the basis of time period, in 1952 Hermann Goetz published a detailed handbook on the collections of the Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery as a part of its bulletin, his publication says that most objects belong to the Meiji dynasty in case of Japan and Shang dynasty in case of China, this information in turn has helped us speculate which object has what type of technicalities attached to it. The final part of classification is based on whether the object in question is imperial or common, which for the most part has been done through mere speculation and accessing of the type of materials used as well as a comparison of the norms.
Our visit to the Baroda Museum happened in a scattered time-frame, the most memorable aspect of it was getting to talk to the curators, Dr. Indubala Nahakpam and Varia Kiran D., both of whom were very helpful, patient and understanding in the process of guiding us. Initially, our visits consisted of looking at the objects and deciding which ones we’d choose, after which we discussed a general theme and approach and then, reached out to the curators. The conversations with each curator gave us an insight into the entire structure of the Baroda Museum as a whole.
* More information on the Baroda Museum can be found here.
a poem inspired by Dazai Osamu's No Longer Human, as well as a bit of BSD's Dazai.
The precocity of intuition, premature in all its senses, barely peeking yet I know it all.
A God gifted manifestation of maggots and that five inch rookie prancing around in my dreams, the drooping faces of all who have come before me, and the eyes; the gleaming eyes of the beast.
Goodbye, dear friend, you've been a jest to me.
And now laid to rest, a hunchback hermit's whimsical death.
The perimeter of my affectation, a fatous glimpse into the mirror of self.
In hopes these moths turn into wingless, heartless, cruel things. In hopes I remain convalescent and free.
What a shameful congregation, fruitfully in love with the Devil's leaf, and all these radical adherents with their moderate disbelief, and all these comical capitalists with their pennies in a twist.
And yet, the borderline between my truest self and the imprecise imperial clown, the periphery of a hypothetical hypocrite, a mathematical delicacy.
!! tw !! : mentions of substance, uncomfortable family dynamics
....
The walls had always been the same colours - cream, peach, and pink. Never once had anyone bothered to change it, and throughout the years, it seemed the vibrancy had died down, even if the house had been renovated twice already. The wooden table laid parallel to the sofa, and three chairs had been occupied for the evening.
"Of course, after that entire process you have to consider the ups and downs, just because someone likes the idea of a product doesn't mean that they're going to make the purchase, it needs that extra push…"
And as it did on most Saturdays, the dining room smelt of alcohol and smoke, cigarette butts lined up on ashtrays like soldiers for a march. Instability waving back and forth between the woman on the left and the child in the middle. Neither she (the mother) nor her little girl are capable of comprehending the words which are being spoken to the fullest. The man simply excludes himself from this conversation, he knows too well. The child too, wishes partly, for a peaceful dinner, food on the plate untouched and head constantly in motion. Nodding once, nodding twice and nodding three times, saying nothing.
"No, you don't understand, do you?"
There is a certain twisted annunciation, an annoyance or, more like, a poke; at the child, obviously.
Naive, naive little child.
"I got it." Says the girl, fixing her posture and feigning confidence, yet she has no idea what she would say if her mother asked her what exactly it was that she understood.
"So that's how it works. It's not a foolproof method but it's a good one nonetheless. If you want it to be foolproof you'll need to do a little more than that." It is possible that the mother knows her offspring is less intelligent, however, one cannot guarantee that as it is equally possible the mother is so far caught up listening to herself that she stays oblivious to this.
The man gets up, raises both of his hands to indicate that he is done with dinner and will no longer continue to be a passive participant in the conversation taking place. The child pushes a spoonful of rice into her mouth, swallowing down as fast as she can as if she has to attend an important meeting in just 6 minutes.
This is a common occurrence, dinner in unrest. Secret psychological warfare which takes place but no, she just wants her mother.
She just wants her mother.
The click of a lighter is heard very faintly, and the smell of smoke penetrates her nostril, making her grimace, food still in her oesophagus.
"Well, it'll take some time for you to understand. I guess you'll just have to be like me to get something like this."
The final belittling comment, which signals the abrupt end of the conversation. Moving from her seat, the woman goes back to her room where she will commence an orchestra of a night routine.
And the girl, alone, discards the plate to the side.
Food still left, but what is food to a person with an extinguished appetite?
The same as an idiot daughter to her genius mother : useless.
a conversation i had with my current partner before we started dating.
tbh i half assed writing this so it is kind of sucky but i still ended up liking it, reliving this felt very intimate.
....
"Don't you think that's strange?"
"What?"
"Don't you think that's strange?"
"I don't know what you mean."
Spring heat made the air thick. Blue wooden benches hidden in a narrow pathway faced by walls on either side. One said to the other,
"The perfect line thing."
"Why is that strange?"
There's never any proper answers, only that an answer which is more convenient seems to be a popular choice.
"It* suggests that there's no other way."
[ Silence ]
" Don't you think?
—----------------------------------------------
*Moments ago, in sharp breaths and with heavy words, this conversation had taken place :
"Can you see those two lines there? on the floor?"
"Yes, I sure can."
On the concrete is a cracked line unevenly parting the ground into two. Long, thin fingers also pointed towards the running line of black paint which was at the very bottom of the wall they were facing.
"The line on the ground is the line of perfection… now that line on the wall, those are all the people who're away from the line of perfection."
A brief exchange of eyes,
"But I happen to be a bit closer to that line, that's why people, that's why you, appreciate some of my qualities."
A tangy sensation travels tip-toeing on the tongue.
I wish you'd shut up now.
—---------------------------------------------
"There's only one way for me."
"But, there's a lot of different ways that exist, right?"
"Yeah, you could say that."
Unsaid words scramble around the brain, trotting shamelessly on the rim of the mouth, wishing to be set free and heard.
Instead, the scene is doused with a fresh bout of silence.
"Like…"
"Yes?"
"Like, if you were not close to your own line of perfection but to a different line of perfection, wouldn't that still make you close to perfection?"
A sigh, a weighty sigh. And the heart crunches a little at the sound.
Do I irritate you?
"No, what matters to me isn't the other lines, but whether or not I can stay close to the line I want to follow."
"But, but, there are other lines, why stick to just one?"
"Because that's the only way."
Stiff, unmoving, unfaltering and unable to surrender. Big brown eyes look.
"I see."
"Yes, that's why I try my best."
And this is where it ends, or perhaps where it begins. The dissection of a phrase said in an attempt to communicate and capture the emotions stuck between the folds of the brain.
"Do you want some ice cream?"
A cough and then a sneeze.
And the way that I house you within me and you house me within you, providing strength and shelter to a broken bone which hangs from the string of our souls.
"I don't think an ice cream would do me any good."
Played Ib through for the first time recently. It was really fun and actually still a bit scary. I always used to prefer Mary but I was very fond of Gary in the playthrough because he’s just so caring and kind to Ib. I had to run off quickly while getting ‘together forever’ so that I didn’t get sad about leaving Gary..
I ran off, fists in my ragged seams:
Even my overcoat was becoming Ideal:
I went under the sky, Muse! I was yours:
Oh! What miraculous loves I dreamed!
My only pair of pants was a big hole.
– Tom Thumb the dreamer, sowing the roads there
With rhymes. My inn the Sign of the Great Bear.
– My stars in the sky rustling to and fro.
I heard them, squatting by the wayside,
In September twilights, there I felt the dew
Drip on my forehead, like a fierce coarse wine.
Where, rhyming into the fantastic dark,
I plucked, like lyre strings, the elastics
Of my tattered shoes, a foot pressed to my heart.
As with this post, I want to keep posting these here on Tumblr so people can see them!!!! Because it’s really fucking important, folks! I know it’s a giant fandom and I know it’s messy and it’s difficult to keep track of all of this, but it matters a lot.
Even with credit, you are taking the attention away from the original creators.
Stop reposting art and please respect artists. They deserve credit and notes. Be decent fans!
It’s a lot more complicated than just stealing credit and notes from fanartists.
Japanese fanartists run the risk of getting sued by manga publishers if their fanart (especially nsfw art but it applied to everything) end up on too many websites. The more you spread fanart, the more likely it is that some jerk is going to take it and start making money off of it, and guess who gets sued over that? The artist. We’ve all seen shirts, mugs, mousepads, etc… with Japanese fanart on them (there are people right on Tumblr who make and sell that stuff). Some fanartists are also professional manga artists themselves and they run the risk of losing their jobs if it is discovered that they draw fanart and/or doujinshi.
This is why you need to ask permission. Artists need to know WHERE their art is, and they need to know that it’s possible to get it removed if need be (which means they need contact with those who posted it).
Every time you post fanart without permission, especially on a website like this where it’s impossible to control where it goes, you dramatically increase uncontrollable visibility for the artist. And guess what? Most fanartists don’t even care about visibility or notes or ratings outside of Pixiv and other websites they CHOOSE to post on. A lot of Japanese fanartists employ passwords on their personal sites, and regularly change URLs to minimize the number of Westerners finding them. I have had an artist friend of mine delete her website entirely because she felt too many Western fans had found it, and when she eventually put it up again, she had a password on it that you had to ASK her for (so clearly notoriety was not a concern for her, seeing as maybe 20 of us had access to her site for months).
Sure, some do want popularity and notes and all that jazz, but it’s not everyone by a long shot. It’s unfair to use the “you’re stealing notes” argument because in truth it’s more more complicated than that. Most jerks who repeatedly post without permission are concerned about followers and notes, but that’s really not how it works for a lot of Japanese fanartists. Art theft is RARELY an issue in Japan, even if people might be desperate for attention like a lot of art thieves here are, because they understand that there’s a lot more at stake here than just boosting your internet ego.
also people make up fake permissions and artists have said they’re uncomfortable when overloaded with messages because they feel rude to turn them down. not every artist of course but something to keep in mind.
learn to use pixiv. reblog & encourage original content on tumblr instead. most people repost things bc they cbf to make things on their own. stop it
The scene in the mall with the baby stroller is taken directly from the 1925 Russian propaganda film The Battleship Potemkin - in which a mother is killed by Imperial Czarist soldiers in a town square and her baby stroller rolls down steps in the middle of the fighting. This metaphor is likely paralleling the Proxies as being the power of the domes but not caring/being emotionally connected with their people (who then die as a result of that apathy).
yousharknotpass
prguitarman
baratheonpilled
origamiaround
snowghoul
vaporwave
pixelskylines
dededos
titsay
