Two exhibits in NYC touch on the past, the present

I loved going to the Metropolitan Museum with my little sister and learning more about the history and iconography of early (ancient) Buddhist and Hindu art. The show was sparsely attended compared to other galleries in the Museum, and enabled us to really pause and study the sculptures. We went twice through the exhibition titled: Lost Kingdoms.

The day before, when I came into the city, I went down to the Bowery to the New Museum with my friend Deborah and saw the Here and Elsewhere show of Arab art. It was deeply moving. Half of the work was from thirty years ago, and half was a contemporary dialogue. While we were watching videos of the wall in Palestine, Israel was launching a land strike in the Hamas controlled region. They're trying to find the tunnels into Gaza. The humanity at stake, as seen in the exhibition, was sobering. I had to walk away and gather myself.