I went to the Wellcome Museum in London Euston yesterday. It sounded very promising as it was a free destination for the incurably curious. 
There were two exhibitions on
‘Infinitas Gracias’ features over 100 votive paintings drawn from five collections held by museums in and around Mexico City and two sanctuaries located in mining communities in the Bajío region to the north: the city of Guanajuato and the distant mountain town of Real de Catorce. Together with images, news reports, photographs, devotional artefacts, film and interviews, the exhibition illustrates the depth of the votive tradition in Mexico.
The other exhibition, ‘Charmed Life’ features some 400 amulets, selected by Felicity Powell from Henry Wellcome’s vast collection, which will be exhibited encircled by ten works by the artist. The amulets, ranging from simple coins to meticulously carved shells and from dead animals to elaborately fashioned notes, are from a collection within a collection, amassed by the banker and obsessive folklorist Edward Lovett. I was fascinated the most about this exhibition and started asking the “Ask me” guide about it. Turns out he was a boat maker and we began talking about the link of the symbolism, the magic and miracle appeal of this exhibition, and the other one to Art Psychotherapy, Jungian theories such as Active Imagination and Archetypal symbolism and also transformation and my thesis’ subject kept creeping in there too! It was so fascinating to be making links, to be having a really interesting conversation with someone who not only knew what I was talking about but was able to link it to both these exhibitions… for any UK clubfooters or any other readers of my blog, I highly recommend these free exhibitions – and a good nose through the bookshop afterwards both in the forum upstairs (I must have sat in there and read 2 books intensely – highly recommend the Bobby Baker book on the table furthest away in the forum, it has a photo of her wearing antlers, she is a performance artist struggling with mental health difficulties, and she makes art according to how she feels that day for every day spanning over 3 years in her life.)
Art is a means of expression, a means of a prayer, a means of a thanks to, a dedication, a progression and a “way in” or “holding onto” our life.
