Sacred curries favour with the bloggers

Posted by Rob Ainsley, Sacred website editor

This isn't a blog so much as a blog-of-blogs.

The world's bloggers have been visiting Sacred, and writing up their impressions on their Internet diaries - over 1,300 of them so far, according to Google's blog search. You can see a summary on our blog roundup page.

Most of the bloggers are young - under 30, say - reflecting the age of the Web 2.0 generation rather than the typical Sacred exhibition visitor. Though they don't often state their religious views explicitly, it seems pretty clear that there's the whole range of faith groups here: Jewish, Christian, Islamic, atheist and many others, from the devout to the unsure. Quite a few are student visitors from abroad (language learners, exchange students, backpackers); the professionals include film directors, organists, religious academics, software engineers, librarians and teachers.

For some it's a tourist tick-box, in between the British Museum and Camden Market; for others it's a deeply moving spiritual experience. But all, absolutely all, have come away impressed, enlightened, and uplifted.

I've grown quite fond of a certain type of entry, usually by a female north American exchange student or backpacker. It goes along the lines of "We dropped by the British Library. They had a whole bunch of old holy books. It was way cool. Then I bought a bag in Camden Market. Tomorrow we go to Stratford."

It's impossible not to be moved by the reactions of the more reflective bloggers. Take the following, respectively from (one guesses, from reading the rest of their entries) a Jew, Christian and Muslim: "Some of the old Jewish texts and Torahs gave me chills"; "I was very aware of the presence of God as I walked through the exhibits"; "I was so moved that I cried. It was just a beautiful, beautiful exhibition".

Not everyone experiences a spiritual revelation in the exhibition. For many of the blogs, the account of their visit to Sacred is only part of a whole catalogue of activities that day, from the entertaining to the mundane.

But I find precisely those little, personal, everyday details reassuring, as if to emphasise that looking at holy books is not an abstract activity, but a part of everyday life. Such as the chap who extended his multicultural experience in Sacred by going to Southall and having a curry*; the cheerily coping mother whose husband was bored and whose baby daughter kept trying to lick the glass cases and pull the hair of passers-by; the film-maker who was clinching a deal; the student who had to rush out the exhibition to pick up her washing from the launderette before it closed.

Most intriguing for me was the blog entry of Daisy: "Current ex-housemate totals now run at: 2 ordained, 1 married to curate, 1 in training for ordination and 2 potential ordinands. Living with me has an interesting effect on people?!" I've shared houses with people who tempted me to flee to a monastery, too, though I suspect for different reasons to the amiable Ms Daisy.

Anyway, over the next few weeks I'll be keeping an eye on some of the blogs that mention Sacred, and I'll be summing them up and commenting on them here.

*Yes, curry fans, I know: he could have gone up Drummond St, which is much nearer, even Brick Lane. But Southall's variety and quality is unmatched.

Comments

[nigel d]

Harldy any of the blog pages you mention give any indication of who is writing them or why. For example I am quite interested to read the blog of John the organist because he explains who he is, I can relate to the sort of character he is and therefore can put his comments into context. But if the blogger is effectively anoymous and tells us nothing about their life or reason for writing then all we have is a drone on about their humdrum daily activities. This isnt a complaint about Sacred (which incidentally a wonderful exhibition) but of some bloggers who seem to run their blogs as a 'vanity' thing rather than have something genuine to impart. However having said that some of your bloggers do have some interesting and relevant observations. I particularly enjoyed the ones by Tewfic el Sahy and Sara Washford.

[Rob Ainsley]

You have a point. Many blogs (I'm talking generally) sorely lack some sort of explanation as to who's writing and why. A single sentence would do it: 'A Japanese student's summer backpacking round Europe', or 'A lapsed Catholic's view from the staffroom', or whatever.

That said, I'm pleased that so many people have been inspired to mention our exhibition in their online diaries, and happy to reflect that multitude of gentle opinion here, even if we don't have much of a clue who most of the individuals are!

(Rob Ainsley, Sacred website editor)

[Colin]

On the 'multicultural experience of having a curry': it may not sound much, but to be honest it's probably as near as the average British Jew or Christian or foreign visitor gets to having a conversation with a Muslim. I went to the East End last week with some friends and had an excellent meal. Service was courteous and efficient and the place was packed. Perhaps this is the sort of place we should be promoting the exhibition?

[Rob Ainsley]

Award for most intriguing comment before or after a reference to a visit to Sacred goes to a blog published today from one Supafly:

"...As I boarded the bus, I noticed a dog down below wearing sunglasses - everyone on the bus peered down and laughed..."

That post is linked from the blogs roundup page on the Sacred website.

(Rob Ainsley, Sacred website editor)