Good Essay On A Visit To The National Museum Of The American Indian

Museums are home to the historical heritage of all societies in the world and hold historical significant to anyone interested in all the cultures of the world. It is a worthy cause visiting and acquainting oneself with the cultural heritage of any communities or societies in the world. The National Museum of the American Indian in New York City is no exception. It is home to several art pieces from different parts of the world. Among them are exhibits from the indigenous South American communities. The cultural and ethnographic exhibits from this region and other parts of the world are well arranged in such a manner that they tell the cultural stories from where they are collected. Several of the exhibits give a slight history of the people from where they are collected with regard to their ways of life. Most of the objects are esthetic works, religious as well as historical and together they help tell a story of the native South American people.
The exhibits collected from the South American region are adequately contextualized, and not so much information is left out. That means that visitors can identify many of the exhibits and the places they are collected from with so much ease. For instance, there are random display cases and objects displayed with proper identification and explanation as to when and how they were used in the places where they were gotten from, and in this case South America. It is easy just to look at the exhibits, read and know what they are, how they were brought to the gallery and of what use they were to the native South Americans. There is a lot of information given besides the expected dates and names, much to the advantage of the viewers. The section allocated for the South American exhibits, just like several others have a quite some information written on them and it becomes easy to contextualization them in the sense that it becomes easy to draw a relationship between one exhibit to the next.
The good thing about the collected exhibits is that the dates and the places where these items were collected from are written on them. The exhibits are arranged in a semi-circular way around the rotunda and viewing of all the information written on them while making reference from one to the other is a lot easier and fun. With all that information written on them, viewers can take their time getting the information they want without having to go do more research on the exhibits. The museum and this section feels like one place that an art or history enthusiast can spend so much time enjoying and enriching themselves without noticing time lapsing. The older and most recent pieces of art can easily be studied, and anyone who is keen is able to draw comparisons between the past and the present art pieces. By the mere fact that the all the exhibits bare the dates and the places from where the pieces were collected, it means that much value is given to the conditions under which the items were collected.
It feels good to see exhibits that evoke emotions and feelings of the rich South American heritage. The exhibits give an insight into the people’s culture, and it feels good to learn about other people and know how their culture is. The amazing range of collections is just good enough for anyone who wants to enjoy every bit of their visit because they do not want to get tired. Every new piece one comes across is unique and as intriguing as the rest. The one thing that makes the whole experience very interesting is the fact that one is able to read all the information given and put the exhibits in their context in relation to the American culture one gets to appreciate the cultures of other people and that forms an interconnection between people from several cultures.
The exhibits that caught my attention were the hunting and fishing tools as well as the ceramic vessels. They symbolize the simplicity of the people of the ancient South American region, but also tell a lot about their way of life. The fishing tools insinuate that the people there relied on fishing as an economic activity. The items are not as elaborate or big as compared to those collected from other parts of the world, especially the ceramic vessels. What drew me to them was the fact that they were beautifully done and were very detailed with decorations. Some pots and storage jars were intricately decorated to give them a very beautiful and good finish. They are very beautiful and, tell the story of the beauty and richness of the South American culture. It seems that pottery is an art that can be used to define the artistic nature of the people of South America from the ancient times.
The ceramic vessels are put just next to the fishing and hunting tools. And together they tell the story of life in South America. They are typical of the region so much so that their authenticity is explained by the engravings on them. Besides, here are wooden seats, drums, paddles and shields and together they give a sneak preview of the way of life of the South American communities before civilization. They may not be as old as other artworks from the Americas, but they are distinctive of their origin as well as use by the people of South America. It becomes clear that the culture of that region has been kept safely for current and future generations.
Aside from just empowering different cultures through preservation, the museum has succeeded in protecting transitional artworks that can be found in some homes in South America and even visitors to the location that keep these items as souvenirs. It is much more important to see these items for oneself rather than seeing photographs or even studying about them in school. The accompanying texts what come with the exhibits hold the information that is important to viewers in understanding the different objects in the exhibition. One gets to understand the original use of many of these items, for instance, it becomes clear that the ceramic vessels were used as utensils, others for storage and cooking. The fishing items were equally used for fishing just like the shields were used during the times of war with their neighbors or even in the fighting sport. The items from South America bring a lot of cultural richness to the museum, and that helps in educating the rest of the Americans more about life in other parts of the world.