Writing Prompt
I’m Buying Experiences, Not Things
Michelangelo's virtual Sistine Chapel exhibition
I’m not a minimalist.
But I’m not a hoarder either.
I read somewhere and it genuinely clicked with me — I’m a curated minimalist.
- Extra apparel doesn't entice me anymore but I’m all up for a whale-watching experience on Vancouver Island.
- I avoid strolling in a mall but love to have a cuppa coffee and relax in the sun.
Is it aging or do I really care to make choices while spending my money, I’m not sure.
But what I can certainly vouch for is that buying useless stuff doesn’t entice me anymore.
For me, an experience, good or bad, is far more enriching than material purchases.
Even a bad experience becomes a good story.
This weekend we got a chance to experience Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel virtually, here in Vancouver.
Even though I had visited the Vatican in 2014, it was an absolute leisure trip. At the time, I casually ticked Italy from my bucket list. I knew nothing about Michelangelo and had no context of western art history paintings.
But this experience was an enlightening one.
You see, when you spend a year and a half in its entirety, reading paintings, researching art history articles and deriving hidden symbolism, this exhibition was an event to look forward to.
As we entered the auditorium, a short animated video of Michelangelo's life and how the iconic Sistine Chapel ceiling came into life was being played. When we entered the main hallway, the fresco panels were arranged in the same sequence that Michelangelo created them.
Undoubtedly, the life-size images of each fresco panel were a visual treat in itself. Noah scenes, Jesus’s ancestors, Prophets, Sibyls and the creation of Adam and Eve.
When I was reading each panel, the things that I would have never noticed previously, tickled my brain and I couldn’t keep calm.
- What did Michelangelo’s schedule look like when he had undertaken the herculean project of painting 40-meter-long by 13-meter-wide ceilings, all accomplished on scaffolding, 14 meters above the ground?
- Why do ancestors of Christ in eight spandrels of the ceiling look melancholic and sorrowful?
- Why males and females in the medieval period are shown with no genital hair in paintings?
- Why Michelangelo’s women were so manly? I wrote at length about it.
- And were the hoods and robes of the Klu Klux Klan inspired by this figure in The Last Judgement?
What amazes me is that these symbols are hidden in plain sight and packed with deep reasoning. This exhibition definitely broadened my perspective and I’m refilled with new writing prompts and ideas.
Writing Prompt
I invite all of you to share a surreal experience — be it travel, museum visits, coffee cafes, sports, or an adventure, which bordered your perspective and fulfilled you more than ever.
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