"Living With Gods" 

“Living With Gods” Exhibition at The British Museum looks at how people believe through everyday objects of faith.  The exhibition provides a view on what makes believing Vital part of human behaviour. Entering through a low lit hallway, with dark walls and sounds that echo,  I eagerly await the reveal. The title of the exhibition makes me believe the show is going to reveal other worldly findings, and I am excited to see .

It starts off with the oldest known Zoomorphic sculpture in the world, and dates back around 40,000 years old. “The Lion Man” appears to look like a human figure with the look of a lion head, it is so intriguing , that it is quite hard to take your eyes away from it. The way it has been carved adds to the mystery of what it is we are looking at, with bold shapes, that aren’t delicate, or joined in a ordinary way. It is like an imaginary being, and expresses beliefs in worlds and beings beyond nature. It made me realise how long we have been imagining and creating these hybrid ideas of existence, and how we are still no closer to understanding the world beyond today. The actual sculpture is quite small but very powerful. The light created quite a large shadow of the “Lion Man”  on the wall behind, and it was this that struck me. Looking at the Sculpture I was able to spend as much time contemplating it, knowing that if I was allowed to I could even touch it, it was present. The shadow however was the mystery of the piece. I could see it was the “lion Man” but without the detail I couldn’t identity with it. This gave it a sense of another being, something completely other worldly and almost un nerving. The reflected shadow creates a new perspective of seeing , it becomes something different. As we the viewer reflect our own thoughts upon this difference, it becomes even more different for everyone. There is no text to dictate what it is you are looking at , this is something we work out for ourselves. The object itself along with others in the show that house beliefs are still without movement, and is why I find the reflections so fascinating. They move and change like the mirror of our thoughts.