Trauma and Cuteness

So after a wonderful Thanksgiving with Neil, Andy and Laura we decided to do our annual trip to MASS MoCA.

One of the things that really caught my eye was Robert Taplin's work. As described by the MASS MoCA website:

Robert Taplin's Everything Real Is Imagined (After Dante) consists of nine sculptures, each referencing scenes from Dante's Inferno as modern allegories of political strife. Taplin's story begins as Dante's does with the uncertain sense of whether or not we are in a dream or reality. Thus My Soul Which Was Still In Flight (The Dark Wood) depicts Dante, as a modern-day everyman, rising from bed to start his journey. As Talpin's story unfolds, things become more complicated. The third canto of Dante's Inferno brings Dante and Virgil to the River Acheron in order to cross into the First Circle of Hell. In Across The Dark Waters (The River Acheron), Taplin takes this iconic scene and turns it into a metaphor for the refuge crisis, representing people trying to cross waters, unknowing, just like Dante, of what awaits them upon their arrival. Taplin's cycle ends with Dante mourning the fall of civilization -- in We Went In Without a Fight (Through The Gates of Dis), Dante stands witness to a city destroyed, mourning both life on earth and what may await down below.

What's crazy is that these scenes are in diorama form, essentially a very adult and dark message in a childish medium. It got me thinking and I think I've got to polish up my thoughts on Japanese trauma and cuteness and either get the essay published or put it up here and see what happens. I feel like Ive put so much time and thought into it that its worth putting up somewhere. Right? Probably.