Burrell Collection 'transes' Buddhist figure

[DomesticatedZombie]

The utter fannies.

'Two porcelain figures of the Buddhist goddess of mercy which are at least 300 years old have been put on display at the revamped museum described as “Guanyin: A Transgender Icon”. '

www.heraldscotland.com/politics/20072923.burrell-collection-accused-politicising-exhibits-transgender-row/

@Wauden

I wonder whether some Bhuddists would find this offensive. However, the museum hasn't thought to check that, because no doubt religion isn't approved of. Ironic, given the preachy message.

Oh, they consulted.

With trans people.

Not with Buddhists, as far as I can see, because presumably nobody cares what they think or feel. Or they are far away and don't speak English so obvs not important.

It's odd how only one group's views matter isn't it.

@PurgatoryOfPotholes

I'll add this to my list of Times That Trans Activists on MN Justified Racism/ Cultural Insensitivity To Score Points Off Feminists.

I think we need a dedicated thread for this. As well as one for crimes committed against women by TW or transactivists. And one for TW winning women's medals and prizes. And one for TW taking jobs that require women. Etc etc. Maybe we need a whole new board.

Shitting hell.

I'm from an SE Asian background and was brought up Buddhist. Although I've been firmly atheist since I was a teenager, I find this 21st-century privileged Western cultural colonialism astoundingly offensive. Slow hand clap, TRAs.

@TerrificEchidnaSpikes

Shitting hell.

I'm from an SE Asian background and was brought up Buddhist. Although I've been firmly atheist since I was a teenager, I find this 21st-century privileged Western cultural colonialism astoundingly offensive. Slow hand clap, TRAs.

And it also uses today's terminology and ideas to reinterpret something which didn't have the same meaning in the past.

In some religions gods became goddesses (or the reverse) slowly, over many generations or the same divinity was viewed as a god in one area and as a goddess in another area. These have nothing to do with transgender concepts in the modern sense.

I live in Singapore. Both my chinese neighbours have home altars where Guan Yin is the primary deity and they would be side eying this. Did a teen Vogue journalist curate this exhibition?

Glasgow has a sizeable Chinese population, and there is at least one Chinese Buddhist group that I know of. Perhaps the museum ran it past them...

What are the chances?

I think it's great to try to engage the interest of children, but those captions...they're a bit 'see Spot run'.

They could possibly have consulted one person as a selected representative, who they knew would be gratified by the opportunity to be agreeable.

That's a common tactic. When you have the immense privilege that is part-and-parcel of managing to get into the arts sector and you have a minority group who you suspect will be 95% in opposition to what you want, you often have the power to carefully select who gets to be the spokesperson for that group from the outside.

Now that the placards are up, and it's a fait accompli, would any Glaswegian Buddhists dare take on the Burrell Collection? As we've seen on this thread, if the trans activists have to choose between backing down over this or trampling over an ethnic minority's religious sensitivities, they will trample over the ethnic minority's religion every time.

Well they have do something to justify the 68 million it cost to fix the roof in the Burrell Collection, which houses, (and yes, I'm aware I will get fire for this) a rather tedious collection of random objects.

OK, the tapestries are impressive.

The scones were good.

Ah, I love(d) the Burrell.

@Lovelyricepudding

So western cultural imperialism is progressive now?

There was a superb panel of speakers who spoke about this in a WHRC event: they referred to it as rainbow imperialism. E.g., Yeye Luisah Teish on Rainbow flag imperialism gave a fascinating overview of Yoruba traditions and how culture and traditions are ignored/suppressed by NGOs. She also shared her experience of being a black woman in the US.

Yeye Luisah Teish on Rainbow flag imperialism:

[s]]

You know I might have conceded a nod to gender fluidity in the changing sex of this example of religious iconography - but that totally patronising preachy piece of sloganeering can get tae fuck.

A curator made a decision about this. It was approved by a committee. It's an embarrassment. I loved the Burrell as a space. I loved the way the exhibits sat within that space. It was contemplative and I could appreciate that these objects were ancient and sacred to those who created them. I felt a little uncomfortable that they were now sitting very far from their place of origin but at least we could learn something about their provenance and meaning. But honestly that label is absurd and insulting and perfectly encapsulates the competitive, gesture politicking that's going on in Scotland at the moment. Sort it out FGS.

This is just another clown fish. Mythical figures or deities changing sex has no more similarity to men identifying as women (but remaining male) than a clown fish does.

Be more clown fish

To be extra pedantic Guan Yin never 'changed sex '. She has always been female. Some aspects of her are based on an earlier Buddhist figure from a different country and tradition. The reason she was female are not known but I can think of several possibilities- historical, cultural reasons most likely.

There's also a label in the British Museum's Stonehenge exhibition which states:

Gender neutral

Some objects found exclusively in male or female burials around Stonehenge were combined in a single burial from East Anglia. The dagger, a male symbol, was combined with a knife-dagger, the provision of important women. An amber necklace, usually found in female graves, was placed around the neck. Although the body does not survive,these objects suggest gender rules were being transformed. Beyond Stonehenge, power could be expressed in different ways.

That's a real shame as its such a lovely place.

I was thinking about taking the kids at some point now it's reopened.

Those descriptions are the most vapid things I’ve ever read. I don’t want to be treated like a naughty seven year old when I go to an exhibit.

@TheMarzipanDildo

Those descriptions are the most vapid things I’ve ever read. I don’t want to be treated like a naughty seven year old when I go to an exhibit.

tbh, many of the social justice notes about art exhibits seem to be written by addle-minded work experience students with a drive to educate everybody despite their lack of knowledge or expertise in history, the arts, or social justice .

British Library notes are regularly uninformative to asinine which is a pity as their exhibitions used to be outstanding up until about 5-7 years ago.

A long (long, long) time ago, when I worked in an allied academic field to museums and curating, the suggestion that some mythological figures could be interpreted through the lens of what were (in 90's) known as 'theories of gender' was fairly mainstream - within academic discourse. It would NOT have been good curatology to interpose one of these interpretations between the museum viewer and the object! Whereas the academics might make a career on various waffly papers around these theories.

I was one of those, though my career never took off and now I feel that the post-modern scales have fallen from my eyes. Museums remain among my favourite places to be. Museum-goers should certainly be invited to think about artefacts more deeply, so I'm not against labelling that comprises more than just a basic description, era, accession number etc. But giving one narrow, not to mention prescriptive, interpretation is not the job of a museum label. Many curators would be horrified at this blatantly biased and agenda-ridden tripe!

I often wonder where I'd have been, had my chosen career in museums ever happened. I think either I'd have been totally brainwashed by this rubbish, or I'd be eating myself up from inside, terrified of speaking out for fear of losing my job.

I love(d) the Burrell, btw. Some really lovely things in there - I remember the medieval Madonna statues particularly. God knows what they've done with those.

They're in corsets with conical bras, Vogueing.