What’s Inside Those Museum Walls?

A poem about the unseen truth of art

I have seen horrible things

Witnessed murder, betrayal, violence and all things possible.

How and where you ask?

Being a person who loves art

has enabled me to travel to numerous cities around the world

hence museums, where every piece of artwork speaks of a story

Or incidents that have been masked with glory

I have indulged myself in one sided cultural and historical love

without knowing the realities some of these artworks hold.

I have grown to love art for what they represent to the naked eye.

Appreciated the visual calmness they brought to my mind.

Looked for stories even when objects eroded,

and searched for truth behind myths that were promoted.

Seen murder in paintings of innocent men, women and children

and believed that they were figments from the artist’s imagination.

From the Roman empire to present-day remains of war torn cities,

I have witnessed the changing concepts of world territories.

I have further seen the best and worst of the human civilization

From political manipulation to modern day invasion.

Ancient findings that were extracted in the name of conservation

Without addressing how this act impacted particular nations.

Made a void in their culture

and produced detachment from their own history.

Some incorrect interpretations, some false myths

and the added disengagement of a community

What I saw inside the galleries were just preservations

Preservation of numerous cultures and their rich traditions.

I thought of dominance — trophies collected by people from superior cultures

And that history has been effortlessly altered

into changing the true intention of those ancient artworks.

We don’t know how those artworks were carried or preserved

Among institutions of the modern society, which were shared with the world

We walk into museums to witness remains of historical events in the past

projecting our assumptions just like viewers do to art.

But what I see is destruction of numerous civilizations, now left on display

Do we realize what this means or what this gives away?

they were part of cultures where ‘artwork’, ‘artifact’, ‘relics’ would mean something else,

Today, it means dominance and sometimes unlawful possessions.

Art is the definition of such creative extent

The silent language it speaks to us can be vaguely deafening

Today all we appreciate are artists’ brush strokes and highlights

That makes paintings and sculptures come to life.

We have blindfolded ourselves and still continue to deny

But it’s high time to accept that art is more than what meets the eye.