Throughout history, power has been displayed in many different ways such as speeches, music, and art. Whether it be religious or royal power, art has always been made to intimidate and control a population. Statues placed to show symbols of status or wealth were common in some areas of the world. Other areas preferred script or painted art as displays of their power. In China, the Emperor of Qin had a tomb built with thousands of life-sized, personalized soldiers protecting him in the afterlife. This was a display of power because he was able to spend the resources and money to build this army. This was also intimidating because of the thousands of soldiers lined up in formation in a city like tomb. Such a grand display was obviously to show his power, even in the afterlife. The Temple of Warriors in Chichen Itza is another example of a sacred place using warriors to intimidate and display power. The columns on top of the temple have warriors carved into them. There also was a “throne” at the temple that showed human figures holding up the bench which seemed to be crushed under the weight. Another temple with intimidating columns was the Tula columns with the wariors in Tula. The Ashokan Pillar in Vai Shali, India showed the domain of the Buddhist practice in that region and intimidated and showed how big of a domain they had. Another example of power shown in artwork is a Byzantine painting from Mount Sinai depicting Jesus with his eyes in different directions showing that he’s always watching. Lastly, the Moche portrait vessels from South America were portraits of what we assume to be rulers that could be mass produced. This shows the power that they had and that everyone knew who they were. In this exhibition, displays of power from regions such as Asia, America, and Europe will be shown and connected to show how power is displayed in different regions of the world and how they branches off from each other and evolved.
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