Exhibitions

Sacred Realm: Blessings & Good Fortune Across Asia

Sacred Realm: Blessings & Good Fortune Across Asia
Sacred Realm: Blessings & Good Fortune Across Asia

Sacred Realm: Blessings & Good Fortune Across Asia

in the Cotsen Gallery, Neutrogena Wing
February 28, 2016 - March 19, 2017

 What more can we ask than for blessings and good fortune? Whether perceived as miraculous boons or a response to ceremonious prayer, blessings and good fortune come in many forms and bring joy, comfort, and balance to our lives. God, deities, nature spirits, and other unseen forces exist in human belief, which can bring both great harm and great fortune to people on earth.

Almost universally, yet through varied means and belief systems, people have found ways to connect with these powers to bring stability to their lives, to divert ill-will and harm, and to attract love, fertility, prosperity, longevity, and safety ... essentially, to harness protection, blessings, and good fortune for themselves, their loved ones, and their communities. This exhibit invites visitors to explore some of the ways in which people seek and secure blessings and good fortune in Asia, a vast and culturally diverse region. Presented are amulets, votive offerings, and ritual objects – objects with other-worldly, divine qualities. These intricate and thoughtfully made works of art are drawn mostly from the museum’s Asian collection and are exhibited together with unique media and engaging interactive gallery components.

"Sacred Realm” reflects wide-ranging practices of belief that, at the same time, depict the common human desire to attain balance and harmony in the physical and spiritual realms of life.

View Online Exhibition Site